Big Ten Basketball: Biggest storylines for each team entering 2024-25 season

Iowa Hawkeyes: Development, development, development

When looking at the best player developers in college basketball, Fran McCaffery’s name often gets overlooked. Recent examples of his superb development include the year-to-year jumps taken by Keegan Murray and Kris Murray. Both turned into first-round picks.

Looking deeper into the past, names such as Peter Jok and Jarrod Uthoff ring the bell as players who McCaffery has developed into high-volume Big Ten scorers in the past.

Entering the 2024-25 season, Fran McCaffery will once again put his development skills to the test. Returnees Payton Sandfort, who withdrew his name from the 2024 NBA Draft, Owen Freeman and Josh Dix were named the top three most impactful players on the roster, according to BartTorvik’s preseason rankings. Freeman -- who had an excellent freshman season -- will command an expanded role with Ben Krikke gone in the frontcourt.

Reserves Brock Harding, Pryce Sandfort and Ladji Dembele played serviceable minutes as freshmen. All three will look to develop into solid roles, even with a sneaky-solid portal class haul headlined by Drew Thelwell (Morehead State). How Iowa’s core develops will be the key storyline for the Hawkeyes come November.