Ben McCollum has a track record of helping develop elite point guards. Next up is Ty’Reek Coleman, a transfer from Illinois State, and he is eager to learn from his new head coach in Iowa City.
“I took four visits, and I think it came down to Nebraska and Iowa. To be honest, man, I didn’t know I was committing to Iowa until that final meeting with Coach McCollum. Just hearing him breaking down the film in what he saw in my game. My thing was through this time I was talking to my dad and he was just, like, ‘Man you will know when it’s the right decision for you to make.’ I want to take all my visits to make sure I had enough information to make a decision. And when I sat down in that final meeting, he just broke down my game and talked about ways he can improve me and take me to that next level,” Coleman said. “That’s what I was looking for in the schools that I was transferring to because I didn’t know if I was going high-major or mid-major. I just wanted to do what was best for my career and when he broke that down it was a no-brainer. I got in the car and it was like, ‘Boom, dad, I want to become a Hawkeye.’ It just went from there. I think it was just kind of like he did a comparison, film breakdown of stuff that I could get better at. Like how much he went in depth on the game of basketball, I never really heard the game be talked about it in that way. Like in the sense of he be breaking down the difference between playing fast but playing with pace. So when he went into depth about and all the things that went into that and just breaking down my game and how he can help me take that jump and allow myself to be the best player I can be that was when I was like Iowa was the spot that I needed to go and play for.”…