Ejim taking the wait and see approach

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher Iowa State’s most celebrated 2010 basketball signee was like many of you when he woke up this morning. Melvin Ejim, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound forward out of the Brewster Academy in New Hampshire was awfully surprised.

The news about Greg McDermott’s sudden departure to Creighton took him off guard.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Ejim told CycloneFanatic.com on Monday night. “I didn’t know anything about it. It kind of hit me. I had a good relationship with Coach McDermott.”

So what now? Ejim is going to wait and see whom Iowa State elects to go with as their next head basketball coach before deciding on his future. It appears that Ejim’s decision could ultimately hinge on his primary recruiter, T.J. Otzelberger’s future in Ames.

“I have a great relationship with Coach Otzelberger,” Ejim said. “If he is the new coach I would definitely stay. If somebody else gets it, I would need to sit back and talk to my mom and my coaches to see what is going on and decide what the best decision is for me.”

Ejim has already signed his LOI to Iowa State. He would have to be released from that letter to play elsewhere next season.

Ejim was named the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the year this past season.

Chris Williams

Chris was hired as Cyclone Fanatic’s publisher in the fall of 2009. He is Iowa State football's postgame show host on the Cyclone Radio Network and can be heard daily from 4-7 on Des Moines' top-rated sports station, 1460 KXnO. Williams, a 2007 graduate of Iowa State’s Greenlee School of Journalism, is the former publisher of the old CycloneNation.com (Scout.com). He has also written for the Des Moines Register, the Ames Tribune, CycloneReport.com and is the former sports director at KMA Radio. When Williams isn’t working, you can usually find him doing something outdoors with his wife Ashley, daughter Camryn, and Golden Retriever Dierks. He enjoys golfing, boating, country music, the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Braves and is passionate about any and all motor sports so finding Williams at a local dirt track is very common.

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