Feb 28, 2017; Ames, IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Steve Prohm talks to the official during their game with the Oklahoma State Cowboys at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
HARLAN, Iowa. — There’s no secret that Iowa State’s 2017-18 men’s basketball roster is going to be full of new faces. Steve Prohm and his staff have already officially added six new players to the program and two more could be brought into the fold before school starts in the fall.
Iowa State officially announced the addition of Princeton graduate transfer Hans Brase on Monday. He joins Texas-San Antonio graduate transfer Jeff Beverly as frontcourt players immediately to make an impact for the Cyclones next season.
“I think they just bring two guys that can score a little bit differently,” Prohm said on Monday during the first Cyclone Tailgate Tour stop in Harlan. “They can score in different ways. Hans is bigger. You can play them together. You can play them one at a time. You can play them a lot of different ways. I think the thing they both bring to the table is some experience, an ability to score. I think both those guys will be a good fit once we get them in. Jeff is eager to work. Hans has to get healthy. The thing about Hans coming from Princeton, obviously, he’s coming from a winning culture to a winning culture.”
Brase is in month four of rehab after having surgery to repair a torn ACL he suffered after playing five games for the Tigers last season. He missed all of the 2015-16 season when he tore the same ACL, but that isn’t a cause for concern for Prohm at this point.
After Brase’s first surgery and recovery “didn’t go well,” according to Prohm, he’s on a path to make an impact for Iowa State when the Cyclones visit Missouri to open the season on November 10.
“He’s got great treatment right now. When he came, his knee got a great, great bill of health,” Prohm said. “His first surgery didn’t go well. The rehab wasn’t right and now he’s got what I would say is state of the art, top of the line surgery, top of the line rehab to where I think he feels really good. The doctors feel really good and we feel really good.”
The additions of Brase, Beverly and Virginia sit-out transfer Marial Shayok, plus true freshmen Lindell Wigginton, Terrence Lewis, Darius McNeill and redshirt freshman Cameron Lard, will cause Iowa State’s roster to be low in experience of playing at Hilton Coliseum, but it doesn’t keep Prohm from being excited about the roster.
Add in the fact of Ray Kasongo’s transfer opening another scholarship to go with the one the Cyclones still had unfilled and there’s the potential for the roster to look even better in the coming weeks.
“We’re excited about those guys,” Prohm said. “I think those three freshmen and then Cameron Lard, really excited about those four guys and excited about the experience we’re bringing in now. We’re still bringing in a couple more. There’s still some things out there that we’ve got going and we’ll know in the next could weeks. If things all could hit, then we could be in a pretty good position.”
