Following a tumultuous offseason for Iowa basketball that required a near program-wide roster overhaul with Ben McCollum replacing former head coach Fran McCaffery, the Hawkeyes‘ 2025 transfer class is now ranked as one of the top groupings in the nation entering the 2025-26 season.
Given the mass exodus amid the coaching change and uncertainty surrounding the program’s direction following McCaffrey’s departure in mid-March, McCollum had to reform the Hawkeyes basically from scratch over the past six months.
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In that time, he managed to add eight players from the transfer portal, including a highly-skilled group of six who followed McCollum from Drake to Iowa. Among those six former Bulldogs to join the Hawkeyes was senior point guard Bennett Stirtz, who was listed as the No. 2 point guard and No. 3 overall portal target that won the 2024-25 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and averaged 19.2 points and 5.7 assists.
Provided the impressive restructuring of the roster in such a short time, Iowa has now been listed as the No. 8 program in the nation, with fellow Big Ten foes Michigan (No. 2), USC (No. 7), and Indiana (No. 10) joining them in the top ten, according to 247Sports’ transfer portal team rankings.
While the Hawkeyes improves have Iowa fans eager to see how the team performed under new leadership and a talented roster, the valuation of the hype will ultimately be determined by how the new players adjust to the guantlet that is the Big Ten conference.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa basketball transfer portal class among 247sports elite
