Amarion Nimmers announces Iowa basketball return

After entering the transfer portal and weighing his options, guard Amarion Nimmers announced he is returning to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

After announcing he would be entering the transfer portal on Aug. 3, Amarion Nimmers has decided a return to Iowa City is the right decision for his future.

The 6-foot-2, 173 pound guard from Rock Island, Ill., announced the return to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday night.

“After weighing my options and talking to family and friends, I think it is in my best interest to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Iowa,” Nimmers wrote on social media.

Nimmers rejoins an Iowa backcourt that features senior Tony Perkins, juniors Payton Sandfort and Luc Laketa, sophomores Dasonte Bowen and Josh Dix, redshirt sophomore Carter Kingsbury, and freshman Brock Harding.

Per 247Sports, Nimmers chose a walk-on opportunity with the Hawkeyes out of Rock Island High School over a scholarship offer from Eastern Illinois. Nimmers was also receiving interest from Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, North Dakota, Northeastern, Pennsylvania, Purdue University Fort Wayne and South Dakota.

Nimmers broke single-season records for points in a season (744) and in a game (45) at Rock Island. He averaged 23.9 points per game during his senior season with Rock Island.

Though he didn’t make the trek with the Hawkeyes for their foreign tour, Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery said beforehand that he wanted to give Nimmers a chance at serious minutes overseas.

“Young guys, old guys. We’ll try to get guys like Amarion some playing time. I want everybody to go over there and feel like they have ample opportunity to play. And the other thing is, so if you don’t play today, that means tomorrow you’re going to play 38 minutes or 35 minutes,” McCaffery said.

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Walk-on Iowa guard Amarion Nimmers announces transfer portal entry

Redshirt freshman guard Amarion Nimmers announced his decision to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

Redshirt freshman walk-on guard Amarion Nimmers announced that he is entering the NCAA transfer portal. Nimmers will have four years of collegiate eligibility remaining.

The 6-foot-2, 173 pound guard from Rock Island, Ill., exits Iowa City after just one year on campus without any career appearances.

“Thank you, University of Iowa for giving me the opportunity to play here and believing in me. With that being said, I will be putting my name in the portal to weigh my options with immediate eligibility at any level. I will always be a Hawkeye,” Nimmers wrote in his social media graphic.

Per 247Sports, Nimmers chose a walk-on opportunity with the Hawkeyes out of Rock Island High School over a scholarship offer from Eastern Illinois. Nimmers was also receiving interest from Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, North Dakota, Northeastern, Pennsylvania, Purdue University Fort Wayne and South Dakota.

In addition to entrenched playmakers Tony Perkins and Payton Sandfort, Nimmers was also battling the likes of sophomores Dasonte Bowen and Josh Dix and freshman Brock Harding for serious playing time.

Iowa just finished a series of practices ahead of its 2023 overseas trip to France and Spain.

When Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery met with the media ahead of its foreign tour, he made a point to mention Nimmers as one of the players that he wanted to get ample playing time to during its international trip.

“As a matter of fact, what I’m going to do is each one of my assistants is going to coach a game. So, we have three games. So, Matt (Gatens) will coach a game, Sherman (Dillard) will coach a game, Courtney (Eldridge) will coach a game and we’ll have different combinations.

“Young guys, old guys. We’ll try to get guys like Amarion some playing time. I want everybody to go over there and feel like they have ample opportunity to play. And the other thing is, so if you don’t play today, that means tomorrow you’re going to play 38 minutes or 35 minutes,” McCaffery said.

In the end, Nimmers likely feels there’s a better path to playing time somewhere else.

He will make some program very happy. Nimmers broke single-season records for points in a season (744) and in a game (45) at Rock Island. He averaged 23.9 points per game during his senior season with Rock Island.

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Amarion Nimmers commits to Iowa basketball as preferred walk-on

Amarion Nimmers, a 6-foot-3 combo guard out of Rock Island High School in Illinois, committed to the Iowa Hawkeyes as a preferred walk-on.

Amarion Nimmers, a 6-foot-3 combo guard out of Rock Island High School in Illinois, announced his commitment to the Iowa Hawkeyes as a preferred walk-on.

Nimmers had an offer from Eastern Illinois. Drake, Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, North Dakota, Northeastern, Pennsylvania and South Dakota were also all showing interest in Nimmers.

The Chicago Sun Times’ Joe Henricksen listed Nimmers as his biggest Illinois senior stock riser.

The Rock Island guard was an afterthought after playing very little off the bench for the Illinois Wolves in the spring and summer on the AAU circuit. But he was a star all winter long, earning Division I offers and interest.

The 6-2 guard was a record-setting player at a school with a long and established basketball history. He broke the single season record for points in a season with 744 and single-game record with 45. He also finished as the second all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,369. – Henricksen, Chicago Sun Times.

According to The Gazette’s Mike Hlas, Nimmers averaged 23.9 points per game last season with Rock Island. Nimmers joins a pair of incoming freshmen for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa signed point guard Dasonte Bowen out of the Brewster Academy in Massachusetts and shooting guard Josh Dix out of Council Bluffs. ESPN ranked Bowen as a four-star point guard, the No. 23 point guard nationally and the top player from the state of Illinois.

247Sports, On3 and Rivals all rank Bowen as a three-star point guard. Rivals rated Bowen as the No. 145 player nationally and the No. 37 point guard, while 247Sports ranked Bowen as the No. 148 player nationally, the No. 23 point guard and the second-ranked player from Massachusetts.

Dix is a consensus three-star recruit. 247Sports listed Dix as the No. 145 player nationally, the No. 20 shooting guard and the top player from Iowa. Rivals ranked Dix as the No. 148 player overall and the No. 38 shooting guard. ESPN rated Dix as the No. 56 shooting guard and the No. 3 player from Iowa.

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