Iowa Basketball News Round-Up: Kris Murray Testing NBA Draft, Billy Taylor Leaving, Big Ten Tourney Moving
Gonna try out to get on a very little little bit far more typical posting timetable, but in the meantime let’s recap some current hoops stories above the past 7 days or so.
Kris Murray: Dipping His Toes In The NBA Draft Waters
— Kris Murray (@KrisMurray24) April 14, 2022
Keegan Murray currently announced his strategies to forgo his remaining higher education eligibility and enter the NBA Draft and now his twin brother Kris is becoming a member of him — form of. Kris will also be likely by way of the NBA Draft process and finding comments from expert coaches and scouts, but he isn’t planning to signal with an agent and is not going to be forgoing his remaining college eligibility, which indicates he would still be in a position to return to Iowa next period, dependent on what suggestions he will get.
This is not an abnormal determination for Iowa gamers in the latest a long time we’ve also seen Luka Garza, Joe Wieskamp, and Tyler Prepare dinner do the identical factor. Obtaining that NBA Draft opinions can be extremely worthwhile, the two supplying a participant a obvious(er) sense of whether or not he is possible to be selected (and at what part of the draft) and also supplying him excellent responses about competencies to attempt and strengthen. We never know what type of feed-back Kris will acquire or what his selection will finally be, even though Fran McCaffery expressed self confidence earlier this thirty day period that Kris would be back at Iowa future year. And when Keegan has been a fixture on mock drafts, Kris hasn’t been very as current. You can find a good opportunity that he returns to Iowa City future season in hopes of duplicating the sort of stupendous leap forward that Keegan took this previous season. We might surely welcome that with open arms.
Obviously, while, we are going to aid Kris Murray with what ever choice he eventually opts to make. Most effective of luck in the NBA Draft course of action, Kris.
Billy Taylor Leaving Iowa Team To Become Elon Head Mentor
Breaking, for each resources to @CBSSports: Elon is employing Iowa assistant Billy Taylor to be its subsequent mens b-ball mentor. Taylor, 48, was formerly head mentor at Lehigh from 02-07 and took Lehigh to the 04 NCAAs. He coached Ball State from 07-13 and D-II Belmont Abbey from 16-19.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 15, 2022
We’ve also received a lil’ shake-up on the coaching employees for Iowa men’s basketball, with assistant Billy Taylor transferring on to grow to be the new head mentor at Elon. Taylor was Iowa’s director of basketball functions from 2013-2016 and turned an assistant coach in 2019, changing Andrew Francis, who took an assistant coaching job at Cal.
As pointed out in Matt Norlander’s tweet, Taylor has previous head coaching expertise at Lehigh, Ball State, and Belmont Abbey, so it is no surprise that he nonetheless has the itch to be a head gentleman. Taylor even (briefly) acquired to provide as head mentor at Iowa, filling in for Fran McCaffery (out with COVID) in Iowa’s gain above Minnesota on February 6. Great luck at Elon, mentor.
Taylor’s key recruiting target was Chicago/Illinois. As a mentor, he didn’t focus in any particular tactics or operate with a distinct position unit, but he was reportedly quite effectively-preferred by Iowa’s players and that bond will definitely be missed. Will Iowa look for an exterior use (Jeff Horner? Dean Oliver? Someone who did not attend the University of Iowa?!) to switch him or promote from within just? TBD, although quite a few Iowa media forms imagine Courtney Eldridge is a potent contender to get the job. He is been Iowa’s director of participant progress and recruiting for quite a few several years. Iowa players (and particularly some the latest recruits) have raved about Eldridge, so he could be ready for a additional described (and official) purpose on the Iowa workers.
Major 10 Basketball Tournaments: On The Transfer
The two the men’s and women’s incarnations of the Massive Ten Basketball Tournaments are having a crack — at least briefly — from residency in Indianapolis. They are heading to the other considerable -apolis in Large 10 territory… and I ain’t talking about Mediapolis. The Massive Ten Basketball Tournaments are headed to the Land of 10,000 Lakes and Minneapolis’ Target Center.
B1G tourneys Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/WwhG32h8C1
— Significant 10 Community (@BigTenNetwork) April 20, 2022
The women’s Massive 10 Tournament is headed to Minneapolis right away and will enjoy its future two iterations there, in 2023 and 2024. That need to be a significantly thrilling information for Iowa followers, producing for an even shorter vacation to see Caitlin Clark & Co. — defending Large Ten Event champions! — do their point. The men’s Big 10 Tournament will also be in Minneapolis in 2024.
To some degree surprisingly, this will be the initially time that Minneapolis has hosted both the men’s or women’s tournaments. Minneapolis’ web hosting bona fides are effectively-founded, although it can be hosted a Super Bowl and a Final 4 in the very last five yrs (situations they’ve also hosted prior to that), as properly as various NCAA Match regionals. And Focus on Middle basically just served as the site for the Woman’s Last Four.
Both equally tournaments have been held outdoors of Indianapolis before, of program. The men’s tournament has regularly rotated among Indianapolis and Chicago, moreover East Coast excursions to Washington, D.C. in 2017 and New York Town in 2018. The women’s event has been a lot a lot more of a fixture in Indianapolis only a few of the past 28 women’s Massive Ten Tournaments haven’t been in Indianapolis. Welcome to Minnesota, Big 10 Basketball Tournaments!
Emerald Coastline Hawkeyes
Iowa hasn’t been to a neutral website non-meeting match in November since 2019 — COVID limits put all those situations on ice in 2020-21 and Iowa opted not to participate in a person past season — but the Hawkeyes are headed back to a Thanksgiving weekend celebration in 2022.
The #Hawkeyes are returning to Florida for the 2022 @EmeraldCClassic in Destin Thanksgiving weekend
Story: https://t.co/YJ3h12fRy2 pic.twitter.com/JGCzbXHu0m
— Iowa Mens Basketball (@IowaHoops) April 12, 2022
Iowa’s set to perform in the Emerald Coast Common in Niceville, FL, on Thanksgiving weekend 2022. The Emerald Coast Typical is set to get location on November 25-26 at Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida Point out College. If the Emerald Coast Classic appears common, it can be most likely simply because Iowa competed in this occasion back in 2016 it, uh, did not go nicely. Iowa went -2 in that event, obtaining demolished by Virginia, 74-41, and losing 100-92 to Memphis in the observe-up recreation. Jordan Bohannon was but a callow freshman in individuals game titles.
The 2022 Emerald Coastline Traditional field is established to include Iowa, TCU, Clemson, and Cal. TCU experienced the ideal season of those people squads in 2021-22, rising from the meat grinder of the Major XII convention with a fifth-put finish and an 8-10 convention record they completed 26th in the KenPom rankings and acquired a 9-seed in the NCAA Event and thumped Seton Corridor (69-42) ahead of bowing out to Arizona in the 2nd spherical in a slim 85-80 OT defeat. Clemson went 17-16 overall, finished 71st in the KenPom rankings, and played in no postseason tournaments. Cal was dreadful, likely 12-20 total and finishing 142nd in the closing KenPom rankings.
Does any of that matter significantly for the 2022 Emerald Coast Traditional? Most likely not. It’s tough to know particularly who will be back again and who will not be (as Iowa lovers know pretty well suitable now — see the Kris Murray merchandise previously in this post), which makes it awfully tough to forecast who could possibly be fantastic and who may well not be in 7+ months when these game titles tip off. (Despite the fact that it really is worth noting that Cal has not had a profitable record due to the fact 2016-17, so the latest record surely indicates that they could be very awful yet again, barring a substantial expertise improve this offseason.) We can speculate about opportunity wins and losses in this function in a couple of months’ time, when we have a better strategy of who each group will be actively playing in the event — as well as who will in fact be actively playing on each crew. In the meantime, if you want to shell out Thanksgiving weekend looking at Iowa basketball play someplace heat, rejoice — you can head down to Florida and do so this November.
