Bennett Stirtz

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa senior Bennett Stirtz has been named to the 2026 National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I Player of the Year Preseason Watch List, it was announced Thursday by the NABC.

Stirtz was also selected as a preseason second-team All-American by the Field of 68.

It is Stirtz’s third preseason All-America nod, as he was also named a preseason All-American by both CBS Sports (second team) and the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook (fourth team).

Stirtz, who is in his first season as a Hawkeye, was an All-American by three outlets during the 2024-25 season at Drake. He was also tabbed as the Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year and Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year.

He led the MVC in scoring (19.2), steals (2.21) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.86), while ranking second in assists (5.7). He also led the NCAA in minutes played, averaging 39:22 per game.

Stirtz is one of five players from the Big Ten Conference on the list, along with UCLA’s Donovan Dent, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith and Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg.