By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Imagine the Iowa men’s basketball team without Bennett Stirtz playing point guard.

Kind of scary isn’t it?

But with Stirtz now more than two-thirds of the way through his first and only season with the Hawkeyes, first-year Iowa head coach Ben McCollum obviously is preparing for life on the court without his star point guard.

McCollum has said publicly that signing at least one point guard, or possibly two, would be a recruiting priority this offseason, along with adding another post player.

It would certainly help McCollum’s cause if Iowa were to close the season on a high note.

“It’s a pretty good place to play point guard, I would say,” McCollum said recently on his weekly radio show. “It’s probably a good opportunity for somebody.

Ben McCollum just prior to tipoff on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of hawkeyesports.com.

“I think the best available is how we’ll recruit.”

The Hawkeyes, who are coming off a 57-52 victory over No. 9 Nebraska this past Tuesday in Iowa City, are currently on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble with records of 19-7 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten.

A win at Wisconsin on Sunday would be a major boost to Iowa’s postseason resume.

Assuming Iowa were to make NCAA Tournament in McCollum’s debut season, there would be momentum and something tangible to sell to recruits, especially point guard recruits.

The chance to replace a star such as Stirtz, and all the minutes that he plays, would almost certainly appeal to some point guard recruits, but even more so if Iowa were to make the NCAA Tournament.

This season also has shown the need for Iowa to add to its frontline.

A 7-foot center who make threes, runs the court like a guard and rebounds relentlessly would certainly be nice.

But there aren’t many of them around, and the ones that are available don’t come cheap in this age of the transfer portal and NIL.

McCollum will have to spend his NIL money wisely in search of the right fits at point guard, and in the post.

There is reason to be optimistic about 6-11 freshman center Trevin Jirak simply due to his size and shooting ability, which stretches to 3-point range.

There is also a chance that senior forward Tavion Banks under what is called the “Diego Pavia rule” could be granted another year of eligibility since he played his first two seasons in junior college.

The “Diego Pavia rule,” which is named after former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia refers to a 2024-25 NCAA blanket waiver and related court-ordered injunction allowing college athletes, specifically targeting former Junior College (JUCO) transfers, to regain an extra year of eligibility.

To have the 6-7 Banks return for another season would be significant since he has arguably been Iowa’s second best player this season behind Stirtz.

However, Banks isn’t a point guard or a post player, while Stirtz didn’t play in junior college, meaning the end of Stirtz’s spectacular college career, which has included stops at Northwest Missouri State, Drake and Iowa, is almost over.

Kael Combs (left), Bennett Stirtz in action at Purdue. Photo courtesy of hawkeyesports.com.

McCollum has a history of developing standout point guards and there is no better example than the 6-4 Stirtz, who has gone from making second-team all-conference under McCollum at Division II Northwest Missouri State to being the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year under McCollum at Drake last season to now being one of the top collegiate point guards in the country.

McCollum can show recruits how much Stirtz has improved under his tutelage, while also showing just how important the point guard position is in his system.

Junior Kael Combs has played some at point guard this season and would also be an option for next season.

But even with Combs, McCollum still would have to restock the point guard position.

The ideal scenario would be for Iowa to add a 2026 high school point guard, along with a point guard from the portal.

“We’re going to see what the end of the season brings,” McCollum said recently. “Obviously, a perfect world; can you get a high school 26 point guard and possibly get one in the portal? Yeah, perfect world that would be great.

“But recruiting doesn’t always work like that. I think you want a certain style and you want a certain player, but sometime the portal and recruiting has a different plan for you. So you have to adapt to it.”

McCollum has been the Iowa head coach for less than a year after being hired last March.

From a recruiting standpoint, he’s had to sort of re-introduce himself as a head coach at the major college level, but he hasn’t had much time to do that with 2026 recruits.

Iowa currently has one player signed in its 2026 recruiting class – 6-9 four-star forward Ethan Harris from Camas, Washington. He chose Iowa over Gonzaga and Washington.

Options from the transfer portal, on the other hand, will start to emerge after the end of this season as players look to improve their situation.

Iowa has reportedly offered at least 10 uncommitted guards in the 2027 recruiting cycle and already has hosted some on unofficial visits, including four-star guards Jaxon Davis and Chase Richardson.

The 6-0 Davis, who is from Gurnee, Illinois, has Iowa listed as a school of interest, along with Illinois, Purdue, Arizona State, Indiana, Missouri and Michigan among others.

The 6-1 Richardson, who is from Friendswood, Texas, has Iowa listed along with Notre Dame, Nebraska, California, and Georgia among others. He reportedly has at least 32 scholarship offers.

“We are in on quite a bit of 27 point guards and there’s some really good ones in that class,” McCollum said.