Hawks Add JC Sharp Shooter

The Iowa men's basketball team gained its sixth member of the 2008 recruiting class Friday by picking up former West Virginia shooting guard Devan Bawinkel.

The 6-foot-5 guard played at Winnebago (Ill.) High School, spent a year at West Virginia, and is currently at Highland Community College in Freeport, Ill.

Bawinkel was a casualty of the coaching change in West Virginia when John Beilein left and Bob Huggins took over following the 2006-07 season.

"When Beilein left, I was really upset, and I've realized how much college basketball is really a business," Bawinkel told the Rockford Register Star a year ago. "The coaching staff basically told me I wasn't going to play and I would be miserable out there."

Bawinkel played in 20 games his freshman year for West Virginia, where he averaged 1.9 points per game.

He was named the Arrowhead Conference MVP for his play for Highland this winter. Bawinkel averaged about 14 points per game and shot 48 percent from 3-point range.

That makes Bawinkel a prototypical Iowa player, now that Todd Lickliter has taken over the Hawkeye program. Coach "Lick" builds teams with long, lean, athletic jump shooters. Take a look at his former Butler program as an example.

Bawinkel chose Iowa over Eastern Michigan, Michigan and Utah State.

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