Iowa State Cyclones guard Izaiah Brockington (1) dunks the ball over West Virginia Mountaineers forward Isaiah Cottrell (13) during the second half at Hilton Coliseum Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, in Ames, Iowa.
Izaiah Brockington’s college career is over after he told ESPN on Monday he’ll declare for the 2022 NBA Draft.
This follows a senior season that saw Brockington average 16.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while earning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-Big 12 honors as Iowa State returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
This stings a little bit for Iowa State when you consider Brockington did have one more year of eligibility left, but it isn’t something that can’t be recovered from at this point in the process.
The reality is Brockington turns 23 later this year and isn’t getting any younger. While that sounds young to the average person, that’s an old man by NBA Draft standards.
While this standout season certainly did quite a bit to raise Brockington’s professional profile, his NBA draft prospects still seem somewhat bleak. Few — if any — of the big-name mock drafts include him on their boards and he’ll have to spend the next several months of draft preparations playing his way onto that radar.
The biggest keys for Brockington during this stretch will be proving he’s a more capable 3-point shooter than he did during his college career while also displaying an improved ability to dribble and attack with his right hand.
The mid-range game and his defensive prowess will be enough to get him looks from NBA scouts, but a Summer League invite followed up by a G-League deal will probably be the most likely path for the Philadelphia native if he elects to stay stateside.
Obviously, as we’ve seen with several other former Cyclones, that’s a great path to work your way up to the big leagues, but it takes time and a commitment to staying in the country while making less money than you could overseas.
Regardless, Brockington will hold a special place in Cyclone fans’ hearts after everything he did for the program this season. Scouts won’t have any questions about his intangibles or what he brings to a locker room.
Brockington could have returned for one more season as a Cyclone, but it would have been difficult to imagine him raising his stock so significantly in another year that it made a major difference.
One season was more than enough to make Brockington a Cyclone hero forever.
