Iowa basketball: Next two months will be important for 2020 recruiting

To date, the Iowa basketball team has just one commitment in the class of 2020. Here’s a quick pulse check on who they are recruiting.

Unlike the Iowa football team that had a fantastic summer recruiting for the class fo 2020, the Iowa basketball team’s recruiting has been quite the slow play, and recently, it hasn’t been going quite well.

Three-star point guard Ahron Ulis was the first and only commit in the class and he verbally committed nearly two months ago.

In the last two months though, aside from hearing five-star prospect Xavier Foster’s favorable visit schedule, there hasn’t been much to get excited about.

In the last month, the Iowa basketball team has hosted four players on official visits, one of which was a guy I thought we could actually land (Andre Jackson). In less than a month, and in Jackson’s case less than a week, three of those guys have committed to programs other than the Iowa basketball program.

Not sure what’s going on in Iowa City, but that’s not super promising Fran.

That being said, there are still a number of guys out there that should get Iowa basketball fans excited about the possibility of playing for the Hawks at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Xavier Foster – Widely regarded as one of the top prospects in the nation, the Hawkeyes have been hot on his trail for some time, and landing him would put this recruiting class on the map. More seriously though, not landing him would be a terrible loss for the Hawks. As an Oskaloosa native, the Hawks are the closest team in proximity to this kid, and he would be one of the highest-rated recruits the program has ever signed.

He is visiting the Hawkeyes the weekend of the Penn State game, and it sounds like he will make his decision shortly after that.

Jamari Sibley – This kid is the only one to have visited the Iowa basketball program and not committed elsewhere, yet. The 6’8” Oak Hill Academy product is a top-100 player, but as of now, he is projected to sign with Iowa State. Pairing him with Foster though would make for quite a dynamic duo in the front court.

Martice Mitchell – This 6’10” center has the versatility to play the 3, 4, or 5 and his recruitment has really heated up as of late. The Iowa basketball program jumped into the fray not too long ago and as of today, the Chicago native has 20 offers with 4 being from the Big Ten. Currently, he does not have a visit scheduled with the Hawks.

Josh Ogundele – Last but not least, Ogundele is the most recent high schooler to get an offer from the Iowa basketball team. A top-300 prospect, Ogundele holds 16 offers and the Hawks are the only power five school currently among those. He’s a bit bigger framed, and I’m not sure how he fits into the mix with the aforementioned guys above, but his game reminds me a bit of Cyrus Tate’s game.

Hopefully, in the coming weeks, we can get a bit more clarity on the recruitment situation, and if the Iowa basketball team can land Xavier Foster and one of the other three players on this list, I would feel pretty good about the 2020 class.