Jarrod Uthoff must really love Iowa.

How much, you ask?

Enough to where he was willing to give up a scholarship at Wisconsin and the opportunity to play this season so that he could pay his own way to be a Hawkeye while sitting out for the second straight year. On the surface, it makes little sense -- especially considering Uthoff could've received a scholarship immediately had he transferred anywhere other than a fellow Big Ten institution. But sense doesn't always factor into things when a man has his heart set. And this Cedar Rapids native had his heart set on Iowa. So Uthoff announced Wednesday night that he's passed on scholarship offers from at least four schools that played in last March's NCAA tournament -- Iowa State, Creighton, Marquette and Florida -- to be a walk-on for the Hawkeyes.

"I just didn’t want money to be a factor in where I wanted to play," Uthoff told the Associated Press late Wednesday, and this decision proves he meant those words. Furthermore, the development brings an end to a story that gained national headlines this offseason when Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan placed an abnormally large number of schools on a list of places Uthoff would be restricted from transferring to with a waiver.

Ryan eventually backed off and released Uthoff to everybody except Big Ten programs.

And Uthoff still picked a Big Ten program.

Which suggests the restrictions didn't matter much. And, for what it's worth, that's what multiple coaches involved in Uthoff's recruitment told CBSSports.com late Wednesday, that they felt Uthoff-to-Iowa was gonna happen no matter what, and that they never felt they had a legitimate chance to land him. One coach added he figures Uthoff has known he was going to Iowa since even before he publicly announced he was transferring from Wisconsin, which might be why Ryan was so bothered by the announcement in the first place.

Either way, it doesn't matter anymore.

Jarrod Uthoff is off the board.

He's now the most talented walk-on in all of college basketball.