![\"KCCI](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760437153_669_kcci.png\")
<\/p>\nBennett Stirtz’s rise from overlooked to NBA draft prospect<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBENNETT HAD ZERO DIVISION ONE OFFERS COMING OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL. HE WAS NAMED A FIRST TEAM ALL-AMERICAN IN THE BIG TEN THIS SEASON. I CAUGHT UP WITH HIM TO FIND OUT HOW HE GOT TO WHERE HE IS. I LOOK LIKE A NORMAL DUDE, SO IT\u2019S NOT THAT BAD OUT IN PUBLIC. YOU DO LOOK LIKE A NORMAL DUDE. YOU WOULDN\u2019T ANTICIPATE DROPPING 20 A GAME. YEAH, I\u2019M NOT THAT TALL. LIKE IF I\u2019M OUT WITH MY TEAMMATES, I\u2019LL GET NOTICED A LITTLE BIT MORE. BENNETT STURTZ IS KNOWN BY THREE DIFFERENT FAN BASES. NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE, DRAKE AND IOWA. WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THAT THERE WAS THERE A MOMENT? OH, RIGHT. WHEN I STOOD ON CAMPUS, YOU KNOW, HE\u2019S GETTING TARGETED EVERY GAME. YOU KNOW, AT DIVISION TWO HE WAS. AND AT DRAKE HE WAS IN THE BIG TEN. HE IS TOO. AND HE CONTINUES TO ANSWER ANY, ANYBODY MIGHT HAVE. THIS PAST AUGUST, IT WAS TIME FOR BENNETT TO START ASKING QUESTIONS. RATHER, ONE BIG QUESTION GOT DOWN ON ONE KNEE. LUCKILY SHE SAID YES, THE RING DIDN\u2019T FIT, BUT OTHER THAN THAT IT WAS GOOD. IT\u2019S TOO BIG. BENNETT PROPOSED TO HIS HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART. YEAH, IT WAS LIKE ON AN OVERLOOK IN FRONT OF A LAKE AND SHE KNEW MY FAMILY WAS OUT THERE BECAUSE IT WAS OUR FAMILY VACATION. BUT I FLEW HER FAMILY OUT JUST TO SURPRISE HER. HE\u2019S PRETTY LOW MAINTENANCE. I\u2019M A SIMPLE DUDE. YEAH, PRETTY QUIET. WELL, HE\u2019S QUIETLY EMERGED AS ONE OF THE TOP PROSPECTS IN THIS YEAR\u2019S NBA DRAFT. I DIDN\u2019T REALLY THINK I\u2019D BE IN THE NBA IF I GET THERE. I DIDN\u2019T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT UNTIL LAST YEAR AT DRAKE. SO IT WAS KIND OF A FAR, FAR AWAY DREAM. AND SEEING IT COME TO LIFE AND IT ALMOST BE THERE IS PRETTY SURREAL. FROM DIVISION TWO TO MID-MAJOR TO D-1, AND NOW A POTENTIAL PRO, YOU KNOW, HE DESERVES EVERYTHING. HE\u2019S HE\u2019S HE\u2019S GOTTEN AND HE HASN\u2019T BEEN GIVEN ANY OF IT. YOU KNOW, HE\u2019S, HE\u2019S EARNED EVERY OUNCE OF IT ALL THE WAY UP TO THIS LEVEL. HE\u2019S MADE ALL THE RIGHT DECISIONS AND HE\u2019S MADE ALL THE RIGHT DECISIONS BASED ON PEOPLE. AND HIS TEAMMATES DEFINITELY RESPECT HIM. BUT THEY DO KNOW THAT BENNETT STURTZ CANNOT JUST BE THE ONLY ONE PUTTING UP POINTS IN THIS BIG TEN TOURNAMENT. THEY KNOW THAT THEY DO HAVE TO HAVE HIS BACK. SO WE SAW GUYS LIKE COOPER, KOCH TAKING ON STEPHEN BAYNES CAMANCHE ALL STEP UP, WHICH WE DO EXPECT TO SEE LATER IN THIS TOURNAMENT. BENNETT SHIRTS DID HAVE 17 POINTS TODAY, PRETTY CLOSE TO HI\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Bennett Stirtz’s rise from overlooked to NBA draft prospect<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tUpdated: 10:18 AM CDT Mar 12, 2026\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tEditorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\tIowa point guard Bennett Stirtz has one wild journey. “I look like a normal dude out in public,” Stirtz said. Stirtz is known by fanbases at Northwest Missouri State, Drake, and Iowa, where he has faced pressure since stepping on campus.The senior has gone from Division II, to mid-major, to Division I and now a prospect in this year’s NBA draft.Through his unexpected rise in basketball, he’s still kept the big picture clear. KCCI’s Shannon Ehrhardt found out, he’s more than just basketball. \u00bb Subscribe to KCCI’s YouTube page\u00bb Download the free KCCI app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tCHICAGO \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Iowa point guard Bennett Stirtz has one wild journey. <\/p>\n “I look like a normal dude out in public,” Stirtz said. <\/p>\n Stirtz is known by fanbases at Northwest Missouri State, Drake, and Iowa, where he has faced pressure since stepping on campus.<\/p>\n The senior has gone from Division II, to mid-major, to Division I and now a prospect in this year’s NBA draft.<\/p>\n Through his unexpected rise in basketball, he’s still kept the big picture clear. <\/p>\n KCCI’s Shannon Ehrhardt found out, he’s more than just basketball. <\/p>\n \u00bb Subscribe to KCCI’s YouTube page<\/a><\/p>\n \u00bb Download the free KCCI app to get updates on the go: Apple<\/a> | Google Play<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bennett Stirtz’s rise from overlooked to NBA draft prospect BENNETT HAD ZERO DIVISION ONE OFFERS COMING OUT OF…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7695,7,2466,28296,5799,10337,1094,84552,4726,3735,23250,27202,6,12,1996,16393,20881,4628,702,34815],"class_list":["post-655783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-draft","tag-apple","tag-basketball","tag-bennett-stirtz","tag-big-ten-basketball","tag-division-ii","tag-download","tag-drake","tag-free-kcci-app","tag-go","tag-hawkeyes","tag-iowa-basketball","tag-kcci","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-draft-prospect","tag-northwest-missouri-state","tag-rise","tag-subscribe","tag-year","tag-youtube-page"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116220373103471576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}