Busting Brackets
Fansided

NCAA Basketball: Updated 2020-21 power rankings after NBA Draft deadline

By Tristan Freeman

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 05: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats walks the sidelines in the game against the Butler Bulldogs at Hinkle Fieldhouse on February 05, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 05: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats walks the sidelines in the game against the Butler Bulldogs at Hinkle Fieldhouse on February 05, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
23 of 27
Next
NCAA Basketball
COLLEGE PARK, MD – JANUARY 07: Luka Garza #55 of the Iowa Hawkeyes (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

. . . Hawkeyes . 5. team. 483

The biggest NBA Draft decision that we all were waiting for had to be from Luka Garza, who along with Dayton’s Obi Toppin was the best player in the country last season. His 24 and 10 numbers are absurd for any player, let alone one from the Big Ten. But with his draft stock seemingly as high as it’ll ever be, the 6’11 forward could’ve easily stayed in the draft.

But now that he’s confirmed to be back, the Hawkeyes are a confirmed top-10 preseason team with Final four aspirations. In fact, this team should be the favorite to win the Big Ten regular-season title, along with Garza being a back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year. In fact, he should be the heavy favorite to win the 2021 National Player of the Year if the numbers roughly stay the same.

Yet Garza isn’t the only player set to return for Iowa. Point guard Jordan Bohannon is back after just 10 games last season, dealing with a serious hip injury. He and Connor McCaffery will be a great passing backcourt, with Bohannon more comfortable as a scorer. And rising sophomore guards CJ Fredrick and Joe Toussaint will have an even bigger role in the offense now that the backcourt has been cleared up a bit.

The two biggest questions Iowa will have to deal with involves whether the team defense will improve enough to be a true Big Ten and national contender, along with having frontcourt depth beyond Garza. Junior forward Jack Nunge will have a big role but when Garza is off the court, he’ll be tasked with keeping the Hawkeyes top-tier offense from dropping off. If he can do that, Iowa can capitalize on having one of the best players ever in program history.

Home/NCAA Basketball News