Iowa Basketball: Departure of Christian Williams Hurts Hawkeyes Depth

Junior guard Christian Williams, Iowa’s primary backup point guard from the last two seasons, notified Fran McCaffery last week that he will be transferring next semester and leaving the Iowa basketball team immediately.  His last minute departure has the team searching for replacements, and the options are limited.

“Christian is a terrific young man with tremendous character,” McCaffery said in a university news release. “We are disappointed that Christian will no longer be a Hawkeye, but the players and coaches wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

Williams, a 6-5 combo guard from Peoria, Illinois, appeared in every game last season but struggled offensively. He averaged just 2.4 points while shooting 34.8% from the floor over 12.8 minutes per game. Williams’ struggles to score have come mainly through his inability to prove himself as an outside threat. He has attempted only 19 three pointers in his career, and connected on just 21% of them.

What Williams brings to the table defensively is how he earned his minutes. He has the length at 6’5 to guard taller wings and the quickness to stay in front of smaller point guards. Iowa finished dead last in the big ten, , by a large margin, in scoring defense last season. A large part of that was relying on freshman point guard Jordan Bohannon and senior wingman Peter Jok for 30+ minutes a game. With Jok gone, minutes have freed up for defensive minded players such as Williams and his classmate Nick Baer.

However, if you look deeper into Williams’ media day comments, it appears as if McCaffery might not have been considering Williams as an option on the wing.

“I just kind of see myself as a combo guard, not specifically at one position because I can do a little bit of everything,” Williams said. “I”m kind of an all-around guard that you can throw anywhere.”

Williams brought that point up unprompted, which leads me to believe it’s possible McCaffery could have been using him exclusively as a point guard. With the sophomore Bohannon cemented as the starter, it makes plenty of sense that Williams would want to transfer to school where he could compete for a starting job.

For what it’s worth, Williams also released this statement: “After careful consideration and discussions with my family, I have asked for my release from the University of Iowa. I would like to finish my athletic and academic goals closer to home. I would like to thank coach McCaffery and my teammates for their understanding and support with this decision.” Classy by Williams, no bridges burned.

As a strong ball handler with an aggressive, down hill style of play that McCaffery loves in his guards, combined with his defensive prowess, I was expecting Williams to be Iowa’s main guard off of the bench. With his absence, who will step up?

The only other guard on the bench that saw regular playing time was 6’4 junior Brady Ellingson, who is almost exclusively a spot up shooter. That leaves McCaffery with 6’6 wingman Maishe Dailey and his son, true freshman Connor McCaffery.

Connor McCaffery was originally planning on putting baseball first, but now it appears as if he will be the backup point guard this season for the Hawkeyes, while the decision on whether or not he will have to redshirt in baseball remains unclear.

With Baer and sophomore Isaiah Moss locked in as starters on the wing, there should be about 25 minutes available at the 2 and 3 off the bench.

1-Double up on Ellingson’s minutes. He and Bohannon make a lethal shooting combo, but an equally dreadful defensive one.

2-Give senior Dom Uhl a longer leash. Uhl is the only scholarship senior on the roster, but man oh man has he struggled to make an impact on the floor, with regular minutes, during his first three years. His length at 6’9 can be a problem for opponents, and can be useful in multiple defenses as we know Fran loves to mix and match man and zone. At least to start the regular season, this is the route I see the Hawkeyes taking.

3-See what you have in Maishe Dailey. The sophomore saw his redshirt burned last season, but he didn’t see any minutes in a rotational role. That leads me to believe that the Hawkeyes aren’t too high on Dailey, at least not yet. He played 10 minutes in the exhibition against Belmont Abbey and had 4 points on 2-4 shooting.

4-Go big. Iowa has six big men that Fran feels comfortable playing. His best big, sophomore Tyler Cook, has reportedly been beefing up his all-around game. This could allow Fran to get creative with his star player, putting him out on the wing and letting him terrorize smaller, less athletic players with two other post players on the floor. In the exhibition against Belmont Abbery, Iowa actually started with Baer on the bench and Ahmad Wagner, the 6-6 junior who was the starting power forward for the majority of the 2016-17 season, in the starting lineup alongside Cook and freshman center Luka Garza.

Any option Fran McCaffery chooses is likely to be scrutinized, because that’s the sports climate we currently live in. But with Williams gone, it’s up to him to figure out how the Hawkeyes will replace the 15-20 minutes Williams figured to play. That’s why he’s paid the big bucks.