Iowa basketball recruiting target seemingly trending in different direction
Ben McCollum has already had a huge impact on the way the Hawkeyes recruit top talent, whether through the transfer portal or traditional recruiting. From bringing in Bennett Stirtz and Brendan Hausen via the portal or getting four-star prospect Trey Thompson to commit and re-classify, McCollum has been able to bring top talent to Iowa City consistently.
But in recruiting, sometimes you don't win the battle. And after some recent comments from a top target in the 2026 class, it seems Iowa may be falling behind other schools to land the talents of Quinn Costello.
Costello is a four-star power forward prospect from Boston, Massachusetts, in the class of 2026. The 6-foot-10, 195-pound forward is currently the 72nd best prospect in the entire class according to 247Sports and has offers from Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, and Syracuse, among others.
After strong showings on the summer circuits, he's seen his ranking rise from an unranked prospect to a top 75 player in the class. Costello recently opened up to 247Sports about his recruitment and his failure to mention Iowa could be pretty telling on the Hawkeyes' standing in his recruitment.
"Everyone is recruiting me hard," Costello said. "But I've heard from new schools like Florida State and Villanova , and then there are the ones who've been showing up for me the most like Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Purdue, and other schools."
While Iowa is still in the mix for Costello, it's not a great sign that he didn't mention them as one of the teams recruiting him hard and he hasn't scheduled a visit to Iowa City yet.
While those signs aren't great for the Hawkeyes, you'd be a fool to count McCollum out of a recruiting battle. McCollum has shown that he can bring top-tier talent to Iowa, and he'll look to do it again with Costello. Until then, the focus is all on 2025 and seeing if Iowa can finally make a run in March.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Zach on X: @zach_hiney
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