In the modern-day age of college basketball, the transfer portal has become king when it comes to building and creating a roster.
Every offseason, thousands of players jump ship into the portal, hoping to go somewhere that has more money or playing time for them. This puts a ton of pressure on the coaching staffs at these schools, who have to replace key pieces every single year. While Iowa has certainly been involved in the transfer portal, it's not the main avenue through which they want to build their roster.
Hawkeye head coach Ben McCollum sat down with WHO 13's John Sears last week, where he revealed how he wants to build his team at Iowa.
McCollum's approach is more old-school, with a focus on the high school ranks and using the portal as a supplement to that. This offseason has been the perfect example of that.
Iowa is only bringing in two transfers, the same number of high school recruits coming to the program next season. Tate Sage, Trey Thompson, and Trevin Jirak were all high school recruits last offseason for McCollum, who are slated to play huge roles next season. It wouldn't be shocking to see Ethan Harris or Jaidyn Coon, the two newest high school recruits, play a role in 2026 either.
McCollum practices what he preaches. His words aren't empty. When he says he wants to build his roster at Iowa from within with a lot of high school recruits, he means it. And he's building a culture in which that's a strong possibility. In the modern-day era of college basketball, that might be the most impressive thing he's done so far in Iowa City.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Ben McCollum comments on Iowa basketball recruiting strategy
