Iowa men’s basketball hasn’t lacked star power over the past decade, with some of the program’s best players coming through.
Across the Fran McCaffery era and briefly into Ben McCollum’s tenure, the Hawkeyes have been a team to be reckoned with in a loaded Big Ten. Not all of Iowa’s best players were highly ranked coming out of high school, and they were developed in-house. Over the past decade, Iowa has won multiple critical battles on the recruiting trail, including with prospects and transfers. We are ranking Iowa’s top-5 biggest wins and how they helped mold the program into what it is today.
No. 1: Luka Garza (2017)
Rivals ranking: four-star prospect, No. 2 Washington D.C., No. 12 center, No. 93 overall
Current Boston Celtics center and former Hawkeye star Luka Garza was the obvious choice for the No. 1 spot with all that he accomplished in Iowa City. Garza waited patiently and put in the work during his first two seasons to become arguably the best men’s basketball player in Iowa program history. After averaging 12.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in his first two seasons, Garza finally became a full-time starter as a junior, and he made the most of it…