Iowa offers JUCO guard

Trey Dickerson was disappointed after a tough loss last night in front of Fran McCaffery, but his mood certainly changed this morning when the Iowa head coach called to let him know he was offering a scholarship to play basketball for the Hawkeyes.

"Right now I feel really good," Dickerson said. "It made my day to get the news from Coach Fran that he was offering me a scholarship to play for the Hawkeyes. I'm very excited."

The 6-foo-1 point guard, who attends Williston Junior College in North Dakota, was originally scheduled to be making his way to Alabama this morning for an official visit to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, but travel issues postponed that trip and opened the door to a conversation with Fran McCaffery this morning.

"He told me that when he came up to see me last night he already knew he was going to offer me a scholarship because he had seen a lot of my games this year on film and knew what kind of a player I am. He just wanted to come up and see me in person and then he offered the scholarship."

Dickerson plans to graduate from Williston JUCO this spring and would actually have three years of eligibility remaining because he has only played one year at that level.

He said the relationship with the Iowa coaches is going to certainly play a role and that is what stands out to him right now.

'My relationship with (Iowa assistant) Coach Francis is playing a huge role in my recruitment. He and I are from New York City and we know a lot of the same people and they trust him and Coach McCaffery. My cousin knows Coach Fran from his time at Siena and he's telling me all the time that I need to go play for him and that he will bring out the best in me."

Where does the offer put the Hawkeyes in the pecking order for the talented point guard?

"It definitely puts them way up there now that they have offered," Dickerson said. "My top three right now are Iowa, Nebraska, and UAB."

Dickerson said he still plans to take an official visit to UAB and is also planning an official visit to Nebraska. Husker head coach Tim Miles is schedule to visit with him in person next week.

He will also take an official visit to Iowa, but the date of that visit is still to be decided mainly because of a potential "package deal" that could land Iowa not only Dickerson, but 2014 JUCO forward Willie Atwood from Connors State College in Oklahoma. Dickerson and Atwood have been friends since taking a visit at the same time to Murray State, where Dickerson once signed to play.

Dickerson and Atwood have been openly talking about playing together next year and it appears it is more than just talk.

"We are very serious about it," Dickerson said. "We talk every night about it and we are going to play together, that is for sure. There is no question about it."

The Iowa coaches are very aware of the plan that Dickerson and Atwood have and ironically offered both players within the past 24 hours. They are already working on getting the duo on campus together as soon as they can.

"Coach Francis told us that once he saw that on twitter that we were talking about playing together that he told Coach McCaffery that he needed to jump on it and he did," Dickerson said. "They are going to have us come into together for our official visit. We don't know when that will be, but Coach Fran said he was going to make it happen."