Iowa men’s basketball has spent the last decade landing the kind of players who can change a program’s ceiling, whether they arrived as blue-chip high school recruits or came in through the transfer portal. Some became stars the moment they stepped on campus.
Others took a little longer. But the Hawkeyes hit on enough major recruiting battles to leave a real mark across the Fran McCaffery era and into Ben McCollum’s tenure.
At the top of the list sits Luka Garza, and it’s not close. The former Hawkeye big man, now with the Boston Celtics, came to Iowa as a four-star prospect ranked No. 2 in Washington D.C., No. 12 among centers and No. 93 overall.
He spent his first two seasons developing behind the scenes, averaging 12.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game over that stretch before taking over as a full-time starter as a junior. Once he did, everything exploded.
Garza jumped from 13.1 points per game as a sophomore to 23.9 as a junior, added a career-best 9.8 rebounds per game that season and went on to win back-to-back National Player of the Year Awards in his final two years. He finished as Iowa’s all-time leader in points (2,306), field goals made (870) and field goals attempted (1,594), and he ranks second in rebounds (931).
He’s also one of only nine former players to have his number retired by the program.
The No. 2 spot goes to Bennett Stirtz, whose Iowa story was brief but unforgettable. A five-star transfer and the No. 2 overall transfer in the Rivals rankings, Stirtz was a major portal win because the Hawkeyes had to beat out multiple suitors - with the NBA showing heavy interest, too - to get him to follow McCollum to Iowa.
Stirtz said he was always going to follow McCollum, and the fit paid off immediately. In his lone season, he led the team in points (19.8), assists (4.4) and steals (1.4), and he helped push Iowa to its first Elite Eight appearance since 1987.
He also earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors from the media, becoming the first Hawkeye to land on the first team since Kris Murray in 2023.
Keegan Murray checks in at No. 3, and his rise is one of the most dramatic in recent Iowa history. A three-star recruit ranked No. 17 in Iowa, No. 53 among small forwards and No. 237 overall, he arrived in the 2020 class with his twin brother Kris and didn’t enter with the kind of buzz that followed him later.
As a reserve and Luka Garza’s primary backup, Keegan started just four games as a freshman and averaged 7.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Then Garza graduated, and Murray seized the opening.
In his second season, he led Iowa in points (23.5), rebounds (8.9), blocks (68) and steals, powering the Hawkeyes to a Big Ten Tournament title while earning unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten and All-American honors. He also won the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year award and became Iowa’s first first-round draft pick since Ricky Davis in 1998.
Joe Wieskamp lands at No. 4 after giving Iowa exactly the kind of steady production the Hawkeyes needed. The Iowa native came in as a four-star prospect, ranked No. 1 in the state, No. 17 among small forwards and No. 58 overall.
He started as a freshman and never left the lineup, starting all 97 games of his career. Wieskamp averaged 11.1 points per game as a freshman and shot 42 percent from three, then kept climbing from there.
His scoring rose every season, finishing at 14.8 points per game as a senior, and he shot 41.2 percent from deep for his career. He’s the only junior in program history with at least 1,250 career points, 550 rebounds, 175 made threes, 100 assists and 75 steals, and he averaged double figures in scoring in all three seasons he played for Iowa.
Tyler Cook rounds out the top five. The St.
Louis forward was a four-star recruit, ranked No. 2 in Missouri, No. 8 among power forwards and No. 62 overall, and he gave Fran McCaffery a major frontcourt piece in the 2016 class. Cook didn’t bring much shooting, but he more than made up for it with athleticism and effort.
He started all but three games in an Iowa uniform, became a force inside and averaged double figures in scoring in each of his three seasons. Known for his rim-rattling dunks and physical play, Cook handled an undersized role at center and still held his own in the paint.
His Iowa teams had their struggles, aside from his final season, but he was part of the group that went 23-12 overall and 10-10 in Big Ten play, rebounded from a 14-game year before, and got the Hawkeyes back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2015-16 season. He left Iowa as one of nine players in program history with 1,300-plus points and 600-plus rebounds.
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