Olaseni top pick in 2014 PTL Draft

By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — When Gabe Olaseni first arrived on Iowa’s campus in the summer of 2011, his first Prime Time League experience came playing alongside former Iowa guard Bryce Cartwright, who was picked first overall in that year’s draft. As the 6-10 center prepares for his senior season, it was he who was taken with the top selection in the 2014 Prime Time League draft on Sunday.

PTL coach Kevin Sanders drew the first pick and considered using it on UNI’s Seth Tuttle before he ultimately settled on Olaseni. As a junior last season, the London native averaged 6.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Hawkeyes.

Following Olaseni in the draft order were the two most recent No. 1 overall picks entering Sunday’s draft. Junior forward Jarrod Uthoff was taken second overall by Dan Ahrens and for the fourth straight summer, Ron Nove will coach senior forward Aaron White after taking last year’s top pick with the third overall selection.

After Ray Swetalla used the fourth overall pick on junior guard Mike Gesell, then Kevin Lehman took the first UNI player when he selected Tuttle fifth. PTL director Randy Larson held the sixth and final pick of the first round and used it on junior center Adam Woodbury.

A pair of Hawkeyes went at the top of the second round before four straight Panther players went off the board. Junior guard Anthony Clemmons went seventh and will play alongside Woodbury, while sophomore guard Peter Jok went eighth and will team up this summer with junior forward Okey Ukah. The first pick of the third round was senior guard Josh Oglesby, who will play with Olaseni this summer, while incoming sophomore guard Trey Dickerson ended up on White’s squad with the 15th overall selection.

Incoming freshman forward Dominique Uhl was selected in the fourth round by Gesell’s team and incoming freshman guard Brady Ellingson will play alongside Uthoff this summer after he was taken in the fifth round with the 26th overall pick. Also playing alongisde Gesell and Uhl this summer will be incoming Iowa freshman walk-on Nicholas Baer, who was taken 28th overall.

The PTL begins June 19. Games will be played every Thursday up through July 31, when the PTL’s championship game is scheduled to take place. Two games will take place at 6 p.m. Central and one at 7:30 p.m. Central. The first two games feature Olaseni’s squad versus Uthoff’s and White’s team against Woodbury’s. The nightcap features Gesell’s team against Jok’s squad. On the nights of July 3 and 10, PTL action will take place at the Cedar Valley SportsPlex in Waterloo.

HAWKEYES IN THE PTL (team in parentheses; team sponsors TBD):

1st (overall pick) — Gabe Olaseni (Team 1)

2nd — Jarrod Uthoff (Team 2)

3rd — Aaron White (Team 3)

4th — Mike Gesell (Team 4)

6th — Adam Woodbury (Team 6)

7th — Anthony Clemmons (Team 6)

8th — Peter Jok (Team 5)

13th — Josh Oglesby (Team 1)

15th — Trey Dickerson (Team 3)

21st — Dominique Uhl (Team 4)

25th — Jason Price* (Team 1)

26th — Brady Ellingson (Team 2)

28th — Nicholas Baer (Team 4)

29th — Okey Ukah (Team 5)

* indicates former Iowa player

UNI PANTHERS IN THE PTL (names in italics):

Olaseni/Oglesby/Price (Team 1) — Paul Jesperson, Ted Friedman

Uthoff/Ellingson (Team 2) — Jeremy Morgan, Bennett Koch

White/Dickerson (Team 3) — Deon Mitchell, Marvin Singleton

Gesell/Uhl/Baer (Team 4) — Wyatt Lohaus, Nathan Buss

Jok/Ukah (Team 5) — Seth Tuttle, Wes Washpun

Woodbury/Clemmons (Team 6) — Matt Bohannon, Klint Carlson