With the first official game less than two weeks away it’s about time for the High Porch Picnic to start talking about Iowa basketball. We’ll start with a positional breakdown of returning Hawkeye starters and follow it up with a general basketball preview and what we can expect from Iowa throughout the year. We'll start with center. Note that the lists are ordered by projected starters first.
The Flying Brit – Gabe OlaseniHeight/Weight: 6’10/225
Position: Center
Year: Freshman
While there may be some debate about who starts as Iowa’s “center” come November, Olaseni is undeniably the only “true center.” At 6’10, he is the tallest player on the team, beating out Andrew Brommer by an inch. He also boasts a 7’2 wingspan and averaged 8.3 rebounds and 4.2 blocks as a senior in high school. Naturally, we haven’t seen Olaseni in action but his teammates sing his praises. Bryce Carwright says he “just blocks everything” and Matt Gatens thinks “he’s one of the fastest guys on [the] team.”
In only two weeks of practice he has emerged as Iowa’s best rebounder, beating out Melsahn Basabe and impressing Coach McCaffery. Naturally, Fran wants to keep Basabe in his true position at power forward but realizes that Iowa faces a tough time replacing Jarryd Cole. While Olaseni will likely take time to develop into a true offensive player, he managed to shoot 72% from the field and averaged 10.3 points per game in high school. Obviously, there’s a big leap from high school to college but the stats are encouraging. Finally, as Brommer appears to be injured (see below), Olaseni will likely be the starting center come opening day.
Coach McCaffery on Olaseni via the DMR:
“He’s been tremendous…He’s an energy guy. He’s 6-10, and long, and blocking shots, and running the floor and rebounding. He’s our leading rebounder. He’s not that far ahead of Basabe, but Basabe’s a pretty good rebounder. That’s encouraging.”
The BROMMERCIDE* – Andrew BrommerHeight/Weight: 6’9/247
Position: Power Forward (Forward-Center)
Year: Senior
Technically, Brommer is a power forward who filled in at center when Jarryd Cole was not on the floor. At 6’9, 247, he is Cole’s heir apparent and Iowa’s all around largest player. In a way, Brommer is the epitome of Iowa basketball over the past few years. He’s hard-working, slightly unathletic, mistake prone and has a tendency to show flashes of brilliance but then look like Paul Shirley the following game.
The encouraging thing about Brommer is that his averages saw an increase from 2009-2010. Sure, it primarily had to do with him spending twice as much time on the floor, but you have to consider the drastic drop in his FG% from his freshman to sophomore year. As a freshman Brommer shot .529 from the field. As a sophomore? .385. His junior year he bounced back up to shooting .569. Brommer isn’t an offensive player. That much is certain. Thus, it’s good to see that when he does decide to shoot they’re at least high percentage shots. His true strength lies in his defensive play and we can count on him taking the charge (a lot) or picking up a few blocks and rebounds every game.
The discouraging thing about Brommer is that we may never see him start a game for Iowa. He aggravated an old knee injury on the first day of practice and will probably be out around three weeks. This is the same knee that he injured last March in the Big Ten Tournament. With all of the praise for Olaseni and Brommer continuing to have problems, he faces an uphill battle to win the starting job. Regardless, center is Iowa’s thinnest position and he’s sure to see plenty of time when he’s fully healed.
The Sharpshooter – Devon Archie
Height/Weight: 6’9/222
Position: Power Forward (Forward-Center)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Ok, why don’t we get this out of the way right now:
Yep, that actually happened. If you’re waiting for Devon Archie to develop an offensive presence you might as well pitch a tent and get comfortable cause it’s gonna be a while. No, Devon Archie will probably never score more than 5 points in a basketball game. What he will do is clog the lane, block shots and pick up rebounds. If Olaseni does end up becoming Iowa’s permanent starting center you can count on Brommer and Archie to fight for the remaining minutes. Honestly, they have a lot of similarities. However, if you have to Archie credit for something it’s that he doesn’t commit hilarious bad fouls like the BROMMERCIDE.* We’ll get a good idea of Archie’s progression early on as Brommer will be sidelined with the knee injury. Let’s hope he worked on that free throw shooting during the offseason!
* - BROMMERCIDE may or may not be a registered trademark of BHGP.
Image credits to the University of Iowa and KRUI Blog.
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