Official 2022 Panther Basketball Recruit List

[PantherAlum09]

The more I've looked into him, the more I've noticed how much interest Iowa has. Fran has gone to a few of his games to watch and he's had an unofficial visit to Iowa. If UNI is interested, I'd be willing to bet we offer, and Iowa offers shortly after to snipe him. It just seems all so predictable.

[edgecat]

Not sure about his other offers. Sounds like the Hawks have cooled a little bit but are still monitoring. UNI is putting its best foot forward.

[FOTY]

The more I've looked into him, the more I've noticed how much interest Iowa has. Fran has gone to a few of his games to watch and he's had an unofficial visit to Iowa. If UNI is interested, I'd be willing to bet we offer, and Iowa offers shortly after to snipe him. It just seems all so predictable.

Let’s be honest…. Iowa will wait until another dozen offers go elsewhere. Then they will come down and snag him from us.

[PantherAlum09]

Since it seems as though we are pretty interested in Fens, I looked at some of his video. He's a big sturdy kid. He also has some explosiveness as he routinely dunks during games. I haven't seen much from him outside of some dunks and blocks, but he is shooting about 55% from the FT line. So, there's probably some work to do as far as actually shooting. Having said all that, I like the idea of having a guy with his explosiveness, and letting him work with Tuttle and Phyfe on some low post moves. I actually see quite a bit of potential with this kid. I put his stats below and will update them throughout the year.

Name	PPG	FG%	EFG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	BPG	SPG
Cameron Fens	19.3	63.7%	64.1%	20.0%	64.2%	10.7	1.1	2.3	0.4

[BCPanther]

Fens is a nice player and I don't mean this as a slight at all....

There comes a point where we have to cast the net a little wider. That was my biggest concern with hiring Tuttle is that it opened up zero new recruiting areas for us.

If we get Fens, the roster next year is 13 Iowans plus Kimmons and Heise. High School Basketball in Iowa is very good but, man, it feels like there needs to be some balance.

[unipanther2154]

Fens is a nice player and I don't mean this as a slight at all....

There comes a point where we have to cast the net a little wider. That was my biggest concern with hiring Tuttle is that it opened up zero new recruiting areas for us.

If we get Fens, the roster next year is 13 Iowans plus Kimmons and Heise. High School Basketball in Iowa is very good but, man, it feels like there needs to be some balance.

Yeah, not sure Fens is the player that makes our almost all Iowa roster a problem but we definitely have too many prospects from the same area.
wolf, Courbet, betz are those guys who we grabbed up because they were local. Wolf could end up being good and I guess Courbet could as well but some offers seem almost lazy and out of convince rather then going out and winning contested prospects that are not within a stones throw from campus. One of my biggest problems with coach Jake has been his inability to recruit high end prospects at the mid major level after big time seasons. now we’re finishing middle of the pack almost every year so it gets harder to get top mid major prospects.

[orangetennis]

After watching video on Fens I want him for his 6'11'' size alone, but his highlights were almost exclusively dunks. If he doesn't have a more versatile game he could end up a bigger version of Ted or McDonnell. That can be useful for us but not a game changer by any means.

[edgecat]

Yeah, not sure Fens is the player that makes our almost all Iowa roster a problem but we definitely have too many prospects from the same area.
wolf, Courbet, betz are those guys who we grabbed up because they were local. Wolf could end up being good and I guess Courbet could as well but some offers seem almost lazy and out of convince rather then going out and winning contested prospects that are not within a stones throw from campus. One of my biggest problems with coach Jake has been his inability to recruit high end prospects at the mid major level after big time seasons. now we’re finishing middle of the pack almost every year so it gets harder to get top mid major prospects.

I’ll say it again… it’s NOT a choice the staff has made to build the roster as is. They have missed on a lot of different prospects the last several years and have fallen to the Iowa guys.

[orangetennis]

I’ll say it again… it’s NOT a choice the staff has made to build the roster as is. They have missed on a lot of different prospects the last several years and have fallen to the Iowa guys.

True. Just look at page 1 of each year's recruiting thread to see the guys we were in on who went elsewhere. Specifically, we were in on a lot of WI and MN guys and missed on them all (except Nate). Several went to Ali at Colorado St. And we're going to be up against coach Green for MN guys in the future. We desperately need to bring in someone who has recruiting ties to surrounding states. We can't consistently contend for championships with a roster comprised entirely of Iowa kids.

[SteinPizza]

Fens is a nice player and I don't mean this as a slight at all....
There comes a point where we have to cast the net a little wider. That was my biggest concern with hiring Tuttle is that it opened up zero new recruiting areas for us.
If we get Fens, the roster next year is 13 Iowans plus Kimmons and Heise. High School Basketball in Iowa is very good but, man, it feels like there needs to be some balance.

Agreed. We’ve always had a roster that was very heavy with catch and shoot type players. Iowa produces a lot of those. It’s almost always a couple of true bigs, a guy (maybe two if we’re lucky) with the quickness to guard athletic players and drive to the hoop, with the remaining seven or eight spots filled with jump shooters. Location would be irrelevant if we could bring in more Jeremy Morgan type players - guys with some height who are athletic enough to guard the opponents quicker players. Loyola always seems to have four or five of those every year. Drake has a few on the roster now. If they can do it, no reason we can’t, or at least be more consistent in our ability to sign guys who fit that mold.

[unipanther2154]

I’ll say it again… it’s NOT a choice the staff has made to build the roster as is. They have missed on a lot of different prospects the last several years and have fallen to the Iowa guys.

And this is my criticism of the staff. Win those recruiting battles. We have had to settle for guys who (if we’re the program we think we are) shouldn’t be here. I’m not picking on some of the kids we have I’m just trying to point it out from a program building prospective. We have failed pretty badly at times in bringing in recruits and just giving rides to guys we shouldn’t. The one person this rings true the most was McDermott. He was at the right place in North Dakota and somehow ended up on scholarship here. The staff has to start doing better or we need to hire ppl who are better at that specific job. Tuttle was probably not the right choice because he offers absolutely nothing new.

[Khan4Cats]

And this is my criticism of the staff. Win those recruiting battles. We have had to settle for guys who (if we’re the program we think we are) shouldn’t be here. I’m not picking on some of the kids we have I’m just trying to point it out from a program building prospective. We have failed pretty badly at times in bringing in recruits and just giving rides to guys we shouldn’t. The one person this rings true the most was McDermott. He was at the right place in North Dakota and somehow ended up on scholarship here. The staff has to start doing better or we need to hire ppl who are better at that specific job. Tuttle was probably not the right choice because he offers absolutely nothing new.

McDermott was never on scholarship here. It looked like he might, but then he left.

[SteinPizza]

I’ll say it again… it’s NOT a choice the staff has made to build the roster as is. They have missed on a lot of different prospects the last several years and have fallen to the Iowa guys.

Other comparable teams are bringing in athletic players from various parts of the country who aren’t problems and fit in with their roster. UNI needs to get more creative. Transfers, Juco, etc. Look at DeVries and Drake. They lose a good PG, they reload with another really good player. Going from memory, but they’ve done that with three players in a row at that position, all transfers.

Bringing in guys like Jesperson, Washpun, etc., needs to be far more common, and not just one off type moves. You won’t hit on all of them, but the ones who stick will immediately upgrade your roster.

[edgecat]

Other comparable teams are bringing in athletic players from various parts of the country who aren’t problems and fit in with their roster. UNI needs to get more creative. Transfers, Juco, etc. Look at DeVries and Drake. They lose a good PG, they reload with another really good player. Going from memory, but they’ve done that with three players in a row at that position, all transfers.

Bringing in guys like Jesperson, Washpun, etc., needs to be far more common, and not just one off type moves. You won’t hit on all of them, but the ones who stick will immediately upgrade your roster.

I don’t disagree- I just get the sense that some believe the staff hasn’t even attempted in reaching outside Iowa. They just have not had success.

Honestly, I know they are at least reaching out but I almost wonder if Jake’s looking for an out.

[FOTY]

Bringing in guys like Jesperson, Washpun, etc., needs to be far more common, and not just one off type moves. You won’t hit on all of them, but the ones who stick will immediately upgrade your roster.

IIR, weren’t we in on both those guys pretty hard before they committed to their initial school? It seems like we don’t really go searching for “waiver wire” type players. If we knew them in HS, we’ll reach out when they become available. Otherwise there doesn’t seem to be much activity. At least, reported publicly.

Or, maybe, I’m just missing it.