By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Fran McCaffery is recruiting as if he fully expects to return for his 16th season as the Iowa men’s basketball coach.

As speculation about his job status continues to be a hot topic, and despite his current team’s struggles on the court, which includes losing eight of the last 10 games, Fran McCaffery has been on a roll from a recruiting standpoint, with help, of course, from his assistant coaches.

Iowa has three players committed to its 2025 recruiting class, including two four-star prospects.

Former four-star recruit Isaiah Johnson-Arigu also transferred to Iowa in January after having spent his first semester in college playing for Miami (Fla.)

Iowa had finished as the recruiting runner-up for the 6-foot-7 Johnson-Arigu coming out of high school in Minnesota.

But when Jim Larranaga retired abruptly as the Miami head coach in late December, Johnson-Arigu was not only shocked by the decision, he started thinking that he wanted to play closer to home and that’s when Iowa re-emerged as a school of interest.

Johnson-Arigu had played on the same AAU team as Fran McCaffery’s youngest son, Jack McCaffery, and that helped to build an early relationship.

“Iowa was already recruiting me heavily out of high school. So I was like, I might as well go there,” Johnson-Arigu said Friday in his first meeting with the Iowa media. “That was my second option if anything.”

Johnson-Arigu said he heard from a lot of schools after he announced that he was leaving Miami, but he quickly zeroed in on the Hawkeyes, who host Washington Saturday at 3 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“There were a lot of schools that were in contact with me right away,” he said. “But I mainly focused on this one because they recruited me heavily out of high school.”

Johnson-Arigu played in 10 games for Miami this season, averaging one point, 0.8 rebounds and 4.9 minutes per game. He made 4-of-10 field-goal attempts.

He plans to appeal to the NCAA in hopes of maintaining his freshman eligibility.

The fact that Johnson-Arigu decided on Iowa so quickly would suggest that he certainly believes that Fran McCaffery will be his head coach next season.

Because why would Johnson-Arigu leave one program due to a head coaching change and transfer to another program if he thought there was any chance of a coaching change occurring at his new program?

Especially considering that Johnson-Arigu had other options than just Iowa.

In addition to being closer to Johnson-Arigu’s home in Minneapolis, what also stood out for Iowa is the fast-pace style on offense under Fran McCaffery.

Iowa is consistently one of the top scoring teams in the Big Ten and Fran McCaffery gives his players a lot of freedom as shooters.

“For sure, I think I’m a really big fast-break player,” Johnson-Arigu said. “I like driving and kicking it to the open shooter.

“So, I think it’s a perfect fit regarding that.”

Johnson-Arigu now spends most of his time in practice working with the scout team and helping Iowa prepare for its next opponent.

“My role right now is to be on the scout team and give them my best challenge at practice every day, so they can get better for the games,” Johnson-Arigu said. “And really just observing when they do their offense and everything. And just trying to kill them as much as much as possible on the scout team.”

Fran McCaffery has been impressed with Johnson-Arigu’s work ethic, and with his eagerness to learn what it means to be a Hawkeye.

“I think it’s difficult, but admirable to come mid-season,” Fran McCaffery said. “We’ve been putting stuff in since June. He gets here in the second semester and he’s trying to figure out what we’re doing in terms of plays that we’re running and defensive concepts and terminology, different from his high school, different from Miami.

“So, he’s working hard. He’s also working hard on his game and he’s working hard in the weight room. And I think that’s every bit as important, just to be around the guys; get to know them and watch how we do things. Watch how we prepare.”

If Johnson-Arigu were to maintain his freshman eligibility status, he would be among four freshmen on the Iowa roster next season.

Iowa already has commitments from Badara Diakite, a 6-10 forward from West Hartford, Connecticut; Dezmon Briscoe, a 6-8 forward from Indianapolis, and Joshua Lewis, a 6-7 small forward from Tampa, Fla.

Louis had previously been committed to South Florida, but he re-opened his recruitment following the death of South Florida head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim this past October.

Abdur-Rahim was undergoing a medical procedure when he passed away.

Louis is ranked as a four-star recruit by all four of the major recruiting networks, while Diakite is ranked as a four-star prospect by ESPN and Rivals.

Briscoe is ranked as a three-star recruit by On3sports, 247Sports and ESPN.

It could be argued that Fran McCaffery will retire after this season, but still is recruiting simply because that is part of his job.

Former Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder kept recruiting until she retired this past May.

However, the difference is that Bluder retired after having led Iowa to two straight NCAA runner-up finishes, whereas the Iowa men’s basketball team is all but certain to miss the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.

And yet, Fran McCaffery still has put together a solid recruiting class on paper, and has added a promising transfer.

Fran McCaffery probably wishes he could use Johnson-Arigu in Saturday’s game against Washington.

But, of course, he can’t due to NCAA transfer rules.

Iowa and Washington are both battling to stay out of the bottom three spots in the Big Ten standings because only the top 15 teams will qualify for the Big Ten Tournament.

Iowa is 5-10 in conference play, while Washington is 4-11.

The Huskies are led by one of conferences top frontline players in forward Great Osobor, who leads the team in scoring (15.0), rebounding (8.6), assists (88),  and steals (49.)

“He’s terrific, he is,” Fran McCaffery said of Osobor. “He’s got a complete skill set. But they’ve got a lot of other pieces. They’ve got speed. They’ve got a bunch of different guys that can score. They have size.”

Danny Sprinkle is in his first season as the Washington head coach.

Prior to taking over in Seattle, Sprinkle spent the 2023-24 season as the head coach for Utah State and four seasons as the head coach for Montana State.

“I think Danny has done a really good job in a short period of time,” Fran McCaffery said. “And it should be a good one.”

Iowa will once again be without sophomore forward Owen Freeman, its leading scorer and rebounder, due to a season-ending finger injury.

Freshman forward Cooper Koch will also miss Saturday’s game due to a health concern, while starting point guard Drew Thelwell has been hobbled by an ankle injury that limited his effectiveness in the loss to Oregon this past Wednesday.

 

Washington 13-14, 4-11) vs. Iowa (14-12, 5-10)

When: Saturday, 3 p.m.

Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: FS1

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

All-time series: Saturday’s game is the sixth all-time meeting between Iowa and Washington dating back to 1955. It is the first meeting since 1966. The Huskies lead the all-time series, 3-2.