The Iowa State men’s basketball coaching staff has been on fire over the last month and a half while picking up commitments from three of their top priorities.
There was a vocal group of fans and media questioning the staff’s ability to recruit at a high-level leading into the month of August, but they have done nothing but impress since.
The ball got rolling when four-star Wisconsin Terrence Lewis committed after an unofficial visit to Ames.
Mississippi forward KeyShawn Feazell came next after, again, an unofficial visit to Ames.
Texas guard Darius McNeill was the next piece of the puzzle when he committed several days after taking his official visit during the first weekend of September.
This weekend, the staff has a chance to take this from a pretty good class to a really good class.
Here is everything you need to know from Iowa State’s recent work on the recruiting trail.
*** First of all, Lewis will be in Ames for his official visit this weekend after Steve Prohm and Daniyal Robinson visited him at home last week.
That would obviously be big news regardless considering he is the program’s highest rated commitment, but it gets even bigger when you remember who else will be in town.
Four-star point guard Lindell Wigginton and four-star forward Isaiah Stokes will both be in Ames for official visits.
Wigginton, a product of basketball factory Oak Hill Academy, has been a hot name for Cyclone fans for the last month or so. Cyclone Fanatic Publisher Chris Williams originally reported that Iowa State and Oregon were considered the favorites for the 6-foot-1-inch, 175-pound, floor general and that hasn’t changed.
The No. 53 prospect in the class, according to 247 Composite, officially visited Oregon two weeks ago and left Eugene without committing. That’s a win in itself for Iowa State.
Stokes is a slightly newer name on the trail for Iowa State as it came out only two weeks ago that he would be visiting this weekend. Rated as the No. 122 prospect in the country by 247 Composite, Stokes has picked up a great deal of steam on the recruiting trail of late.
He has offers from Florida, North Carolina, TCU, Memphis and a handful of others, but it is Rick Barnes and Tennessee that seems to be the Cyclones’ biggest competition for the 6-foot-8-inch, 285-pound, big man.
Stokes officially visited the Volunteers over the weekend, but now it is Iowa State’s turn to make an impression on the four-star prospect.
Needless to say, this will be a huge weekend for Iowa State basketball.
*** Prohm and Robinson also stopped in Chicago to visit 2017 combo guard Elijah Joiner on Sept. 11. The 6-foot-3-inch, 190-pounder is set to officially visit Iowa State the weekend of Sept. 30.
*** While Prohm and Robinson were in Chicago, they stopped to evaluate 2018 combo guard Ayo Dosunmu. The 6-foot-3-inch, 160-pound, Morgan Park High School product is rated as a four-star and the No. 34 prospect in the country by 247 Composite.
Dosunmu, who is the fifth-best combo guard in the class of 2018, has an Iowa State offer along with Illinois, Florida State, Creighton, Cincinnati, Marquette, Missouri, Northwestern, Texas A&M and a host of others.
*** There is no doubt Robinson has been keeping busy as he visited three 2018 prospects in St. Louis on Sept. 9.
Robinson’s first stop was to see four-star point guard Courtney Ramey, who is rated as the No. 76 player in the 2018 class by 247 Composite.
The 6-foot, 170-pound, Webster Groves floor general has an ISU offer plus Arkansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Missouri, Ole Miss, Texas and more. He has also been seeing some interest from Kansas including a visit from assistant coach Jerrance Howard last week.
Robinson’s next stop was to see four-star shooting guard Torrence Watson at Whitfield High School. Watson is the No. 98 player in the class and fifth-best player in Missouri, according to 247 Composite.
The 6-foot-3-inch, 175-pound, prospect also has offers from Marquette, Illinois, Kansas State, Creighton, Missouri and UNLV.
Robinson’s last stop was Chaminade College Prep where he saw forward Karrington Davis. The 6-foot-5-inch, 175-pound, small forward is rated as a three-star prospect by Scout.
*** Iowa State assistant Neil Berry was in contact with Boys Town (NE) combo guard Teddy Allen on Sept. 13. The 6-foot-5-inch, 215-pounder, started picking up a lot of interest during the July live periods — including landing an ISU offer at that time.
Allen is set to officially visit DePaul this weekend. He also holds offers from West Virginia, Virginia Tech, TCU, Cincinnati, George Mason and a few others.
*** Prohm and Berry were in Minneapolis to visit three-star power forward Race Thompson on Sept. 14. Thompson was in Ames for an unofficial visit on Sept. 3.
The 6-foot-8-inch, 200-pound, Robbinsdale Armstrong High School product also has offers from Minnesota, Marquette, Kansas State, Nebraska, Northern Iowa and a few others. He is the No. 100 prospect in the country, according to 247 Composite, and the second-best player in Minnesota.
