May 10, 2026, 3:15 p.m. CT<\/p>\n
With just over a month until the 2026 NBA Draft, mock drafts are running rampant as everyone tries to figure out where the top college stars will land.<\/p>\n
For the first time in a couple of years, the Iowa<\/a> basketball program has a guy who is firmly in first-round pick conversations. Point guard Bennett Stirtz excelled in his lone season as a Hawkeye<\/a>, propelling his draft stock forward as he led Iowa to the Elite Eight. He averaged 19.8 points and 4.4 assists per game last season, while playing an absurd 37.8 minutes a night.<\/p>\n Stirtz’s ability to be a playmaker and knock down shots has NBA scouts salivating about his potential. He seems to be near a lock to hear his name called in the first round. The only question is how early.<\/p>\n CBS Sports took a stab at guessing that in their latest mock draft<\/a>. Writer Gary Parrish has Stirtz landing north of the border, with the Toronto Raptors<\/a> snagging him at the 19th pick. Here’s what he had to say about it.<\/p>\n “It’s rare for somebody to end up as a first-round pick after starting a college career at the Division II level, but Stirtz has a real chance to do it. Concerns about how he’ll be able to guard his position in the NBA are valid. But Stirtz is a lead guard with a good assist-to-turnover ratio and a reliable jumper. If I were running a franchise, I wouldn’t overthink this one. He can play.” -Gary Parrish, CBS Sports<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n Stirtz would fit in seamlessly in Toronto. The Raptors lost in seven games to Cleveland in their first-round playoff series this year, but are a young team on the rise. Scottie Barnes has established himself as a superstar, with other pieces like Collin Murray-Boyles and Ja’Kobe Walter emerging as well. With the current starting point guard, Immanuel Quickley’s future up in the air, taking Stirtz would be a smart choice for the franchise.<\/p>\n Stirtz may not have the upside of other guards in this class. His consistency is what will get him drafted and have him hanging around the league for a while. Regardless of where he ends up, Stirtz will have a chance to make an impact right away.<\/p>\n Contact\/Follow us\u00a0@HawkeyesWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.\u00a0Follow Zach on X:\u00a0@zach_hiney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 10, 2026, 3:15 p.m. CT With just over a month until the 2026 NBA Draft, mock drafts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[72400,7,6,681,90715,83199,73480,72404,72457,72580,72859,72864,72452,74106,74104,72858,72444,72422,72570,72456,72405,73214,72526,72406,72496,680,476,3820,72403],"class_list":["post-731357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-raptors","tag-accessfree","tag-basketball","tag-nba","tag-raptors","tag-sourcehawkeyes-wire","tag-sstssportscollegehawkeyesmens-basketball","tag-sstsnmens-basketball","tag-tagbasketball","tag-tagbig-10-hub","tag-tagbig-ten-conference-mens-basketball","tag-tagcbs-corp","tag-tagcollege-basketball","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagiowa-hawkeyes","tag-tagiowa-hawkeyes-mens-basketball","tag-tagmens-college-basketball","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnba","tag-tagnba-draft","tag-tagncaa-big-ten-conference","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagscottie-barnes","tag-tagsmg-timely","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtoronto-raptors","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-torontoraptors","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731357","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=731357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}