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Iowa basketball: Moss transfer leaves void at shooting guard, what’s next?

By Andrew Wade

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Isaiah Moss #4 of the Iowa Hawkeyes goes up for a shot against Derrick Walker #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers during their game in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Isaiah Moss #4 of the Iowa Hawkeyes goes up for a shot against Derrick Walker #15 of the Tennessee Volunteers during their game in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Isaiah Moss announced his intention to leave the Iowa basketball team and become as a graduate transfer. What will the Hawks do to fill the void at SG?

First of all, I don’t want to undersell the loss of starting shooting guard Isaiah Moss from the Iowa basketball team. Although he was just the 5th leading scorer on the team, he was an integral part of the team at the guard position. He’s a great scorer, and he was one of the Iowa basketball team’s best and most consistent defenders last season.

Unfortunately for the Iowa basketball team (and I’m just speculating here), Isaiah Moss has bigger plans like playing professional basketball and he just wasn’t getting the exposure necessary as the 5th option for the Hawks. Granted, with the departure of Tyler Cook, Moss was likely to see a bump in intentional possessions, but he would still have been just the fourth option.

His departure was announced earlier today, and now the Iowa basketball team is officially without their two shooting guards from last season after Maishe Dailey announced his transfer to Akron.

So where do Fran McCaffery and the Iowa basketball team go from here? Whatever direction they head, it will be difficult to replace a 3 and D player like Isaiah Moss who can also attack the basket, but there are a few options

  1. Move Bohannon to shooting guard and play McCaffery at the point – This is a lineup the Iowa basketball team deployed throughout the season, and it seemed to work relatively well until teams began sagging off McCaffery because his shooting touch wasn’t there.
  2. Move Joe Wieskamp to shooting guard and open the door for 4-star recruit Patrick McCaffery to play small forward – This option seems more likely to me as long as the younger McCaffery can put on some weight heading into college. In the last five games of the 2018-2019 season, Wieskamp played shooting guard 7% of the time. He’s a smart and athletic player who would be able to keep up on D, and his 6’6” height would help impact passing lanes.
  3. Play Joe Toussaint at the point and move Bohannon to shooting guard – I could only see this happening if McCaffery decides to focus on baseball, but all reports say that Toussaint could be the dynamic playmaker the Iowa basketball team is missing.
  4. Redshirt freshman CJ Fredrick could step into a starter role – He’s a sharpshooter from behind the arc and would be a solid complementary piece to the Iowa basketball team’s explosive offense.
  5. Explore the transfer market – There are a plethora of guys still on the transfer market and we highlighted three yesterday who could be of interest to the Iowa basketball team. Unfortunately, the two options that are actually connected to the Hawks would have to sit out for a season meaning Fran would have to look elsewhere for instant starters.

Moss leaving is certainly not ideal for a Hawkeyes team with aspirations of a deep NCAA Tournament run, but it’s not a situation they can’t overcome.

Next. Three possible transfers to fill scholarship spot. dark

It’ll be interesting to see how Fran McCaffery ultimately decides to fill this spot and Moss’ 845 minutes.

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