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Jarrod Uthoff finally set to begin college basketball career at Iowa

jarrod uthoff

(Brian Ray/The Gazette-KCRG)

The transfer saga of Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff was long and drawn-out. If you may recall, the former Wisconsin forward was prevented from transferring to a long list of schools by Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, which led to media backlash and finally Ryan easing things up on Uthoff.

Although Uthoff was a class of 2011 recruit with high hopes, he’s never actually played a game of college basketball after redshirting his freshman season at Wisconsin before transferring and sitting out last season -- while paying his own way -- at Iowa.

Now Uthoff is on scholarship at Iowa and ready to compete for minutes among Iowa’s potentially deep front court and his teammates at Iowa are already raving about him to The Gazette.

“Jarrod’s an outside guy, also can drive it,” Iowa senior forward Zach McCabe said. “We just have a bunch of depth and that’s kind of what you need in a team.

“Jarrod’s been playing really well this summer and obviously he can hit outside shots. He creates match-up problems for those guys inside.”

Iowa sophomore guard Mike Gesell also likes what Uthoff can bring to the court.

“He’s a match-up nightmare for opposing teams,” Mike Gesell said. “He’s 6-9, 6-10, long, tremendous shooter. He’ll be able to create some match-up problems for us. He can defend, too, so he’s really going to help us out this year.”

Uthoff hasn’t played in a game that mattered since winning Mr. Basketball in Iowa in 2011, so this season will be an interesting test to see how he’ll fare in the rugged Big Ten after a two-year layoff. With an ability to shoot and stretch the floor, Uthoff should see minutes as a matchup-problem stretch “4" and if he can adequately defend and rebound Big Ten forwards, he could be a key part of Iowa’s expected resurgence.