Iowa Loses Another One
Back in May it was Jason Bohannon, who lives near Iowa City and whose dad played quarterback for the Hawkeyes, choosing Wisconsin over Iowa and a couple other schools. Then Trevon Hughes followed suit by committing to the Badgers program after narrowing his choices to Iowa and Wisconsin. Steve Alford's 2006-07 recruiting class took another major blow this morning when Isaiah Dahlman decided to play for Michigan State next fall, shortly after his official visit to East Lansing.

What could have been a promising backcourt for several years has suddenly turned into nothing, as junior college PF Cyrus Tate is the only player set to join Iowa in 2006. After Iowa lost out on Bohannon, which was generally attributed to Wisconsin "wanting him more," recruiting analyst Van Coleman had the following to say -

"[Iowa is] recruiting four kids that right now are rated among the top 60
in the country in the guard court. So they were not in a position to want
to push at this point. They might be in great shape in two weeks or they might
be scratching their head going 'Darn, they got away.' That's the risk you run
whenever you pass on somebody and don't stay right there and stay involved."

Sherron Collins is the fourth guard mentioned by Coleman, but since he's a higher profile player than the other three, and since his list of suitors includes Kansas and Illinois, I won't be holding my breath. My main concern is Iowa's 2006 class, especially when compared to the major talent that will be joining the Big Ten at other schools. Here's a look at the bigger names set to join some conference schools.

Recruiting Classes, 2006

School	Player	Position	Scout	Rivals
Ohio State	Greg Oden	C	*****	*****
	Mike Conley	PG	*****	*****
	Daequan Cook	SG	*****	*****
	David Lighty	SF	*****	*****
	Josh Chichester	PF	***	***
Wisconsin	Trevon Hughes	PG	****	****
	Jason Bohannon	PG	****	***
	J.P. Gavinski	C	***	****
Michigan	DeShawn Sims	SF	*****	****
	K'Len Morris	SG	***	***
Illinois	Brian Carlwell	C	****	****
	Richard Semrau	PF	***	***
Michigan State	Isaiah Dahlman	SF	****	***
Minnesota	Bryce Webster	PF	****	***
Iowa	Cyrus Tate	PF	***	***
Indiana	Deonta Vaugn	PG	***	***

Ouch. Indiana and Michigan State have much less need for a strong class because they still have several talented young players, and won't be as reliant on the 2006 class right away. Looking at Iowa's roster in a couple seasons, you see how much they need to bring in some upper level talent soon - the only players who appear to have All-Big Ten potential graduate this year or next.

At any rate, this is another pretty disappointing day in Hawkeye basketball fandom.
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