The Iowa basketball team will be a mix of veterans and newcomers this season. Aaron White is gone from last year’s team that finished third in the Big Ten and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament but several familiar faces are back on a roster that includes six seniors. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery,said “We’ve got the experience with four starters back. I almost consider Clemmons a starter because he started half the time, so maybe we have five. But after that, there’s very little experience, and that would be a concern to anybody, but I do like the group, I do like the chemistry, I think the guys, having gotten here in June, have locked in to trying to learn what we’re doing.”

McCaffery considers this a different team and a new challenge. “And can we get to the point where we have a team that’s capable of playing in the NCAA Tournament…it’s great that we got there, it’s great that we won a game, but you just want to consistently try to get better and improve from there…as we all know, that’s very difficult.”

McCaffery says while happy with the progress of the program they are not satisfied with back to back trips to the NCAA Tournament. “You have to remain humble and hungry, especially in this league. Because whoever finished behind you last year, does not expect to finish behind you this year. They’re going to put time and money into improving their lot and try

The Hawkeyes open at home on November 13th against Gardner-Webb.

(Learfield Sports)