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Iowa basketball: Redshirt freshman CJ Fredrick poised for huge role

By Andrew Wade

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: The Iowa Hawkeyes celebrate the win of the championship game against the Connecticut Huskies during the 2K Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 16: The Iowa Hawkeyes celebrate the win of the championship game against the Connecticut Huskies during the 2K Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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With a number of abrupt departures from the Iowa basketball team, fans are sleeping on redshirt freshman CJ Fredrick, and they shouldn’t be.

I get it. When a team loses possibly five of their top eight players from an NCAA Tournament team, fans rightfully panic so it’s understandable that Iowa basketball fans are beginning to question not if the Hawks will go far in the NCAA Tournament next year but will they even make the tournament.

Losing your star forward to the NBA Draft is rough, but it was expected.

Losing starting shooting guard Isaiah Moss was surprising, but not the end of the world.

Losing a three-year starting point guard to a possible season-ending hip surgery on top of all of that can be downright scary, and that’s a fair assessment.

I am here to tell you, however, that Iowa basketball fans shouldn’t be sleeping on redshirt freshman CJ Fredrick. By all reports, this kid is ready to play some college basketball after redshirting his first year in Iowa City.

The Kentucky native was the 2018 Kentucky Basketball Player of the Year while averaging 23.1 points per game on a ridiculous 48.4% shooting percentage from three.

Because of the older guys in front of him, it made sense to redshirt him his first year to space out the backcourt depth for the Iowa basketball team, but it’s also resulting in fans forgetting about the promise of this kid.

Fran McCaffery is here to remind you though.

In an interview with Chad Liestikow, Fran had this to say about Fredrick.

"He’s complete. He can play the point, he can play the 2, he can come off screens, he can shoot 3s. He’s quick, and he’s a really good athlete. He can guard. He can get to the rim and finish. He can score in a bundle. He gives it up easy. Those guys are hard to find, guys that can really score."

If Bohannon does end up missing the 2019-2020 season, Fredrick will not only be playing, but he will be an integral role of the offense as he is the frontrunner to be the starting shooting guard come November unless the Iowa basketball team decides to go big with Wieskamp sliding over and Patrick McCaffery taking the 3 spot.

Even then though, Fredrick would likely get at least 20 minutes a game backing up Connor McCaffery and Wieskamp.

While nobody can truly replace the production gap left behind by Isaiah Moss and possibly Jordan Bohannon, Fredrick’s shooting touch could certainly help fill in the space.

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