Mr. Basketball is officially in Iowa City, and the pair that led Moline to the Illinois state basketball championship — Brock Harding and Owen Freeman — are officially Hawkeyes. So far the duo has made glowing first impressions — starting at the top.
“They’ve picked everything up very quickly and that’s impressive to me,” head coach Fran McCaffery said. “Normally we wouldn’t put in now what we’re actually having to put in — a lot of times it takes a while.”
Harding and Freeman both graduated Moline this spring, entering their freshman year as Hawkeyes in lockstep.
“Very competitive, phenomenally confident in himself and his ability to make plays,” McCaffery said of Harding.
Nobody knows Harding in Iowa City like partner-in-crime Owen Freeman. All Freeman and Harding did together was form the best duo in Illinois basketball — winning 35 games and a state title.
“He adjusted right away,” Freeman said of Harding. “I had no worries about Brock coming in, I knew the kind of player he was and he’s always played with that high motor.”
“Making the same reads, same passes, shooting the ball — I’ve seen no difference in Brock Harding.”
That same chemistry that brought a state title home to Moline is still intact.
“Me and Owen have that glue made,” Harding said. “We’re going through the same things as freshman being at a Big Ten school so we get to share that and it’s nice to have somebody to go to every time.”
Picking up right where they left off in Moline.
“This past week has been the best basketball I’ve played so far,” Freeman said. “I’m looking forward to my future and this team’s future.”
“Every level we’ve played at so far we’ve won games,” Harding said. “We’re coming into a program that’s one of the winningest programs in the Big Ten. To come here and already have a taste of what winning feels like, all the guys are giving that to us now, like this is what we do here — we win as well.”
For more Hawkeyes coverage, follow @HawkeyeHQ on Twitter and Facebook.
