Eli King and Demarion Watson

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.

Hayes30

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2011
4,044
4,674
113
35
Looks like their teams are facing each other January 29. Heard a lot of good things about King, but not much about Watson. Excited to see them both in Cyclone uniforms next year. Anyone have the scoop on these 2 and who their game might compare to?



Watson reminds me a lot of Rudy Gay in his size, length, athleticism, and the way he plays.
 

bustamoveisu

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2012
670
721
93
I saw King play in person this year and is as advertised. He had 2 highlight reel dunks and was under control the entire game. Explosive and sneaky long on D. Made crucial 3's when needed. Demeanor was excellent...never too high or too low. He will be a great teammate and can't wait to see him in Cardinal & Gold.
 

TomTreebow

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Sep 20, 2012
590
991
93
If Kunc returns we have him and Grill as a starting point as two great shooters. My guess is King is the most game ready and while not a shooter he's a combo guard who can slash and create for others which will help grill and Kunc get more attempts. We lack more than those two as efficient shooters but we also lack creators who can drive and dish. King will help in that regard and take a lot of pressure off Hunter.
 

LLCoolCY

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Apr 28, 2010
9,616
15,117
113
Minneapolis
Don't worry, I asked the same thing in a different thread. From what the responses were, Watson is probably the best shooter of the bunch. I like that they're all touted to be good defenders, but I do worry that this team is clearly in desperate need of more consistent shooting from outside and feel it needs to be addressed over the off-season.
Grill is our best 3 pt. shooter but cant play 38 minutes of hounding D like Brockington etc. Kalschuer is our next best 3 pt. shooter ....well, on an occasional streaky day.
Kunc was out of the game w/fouls and mentally from the get go, but doesn't shoot them often.
He's our bonus shooter if he can knock down a few now and then you'll take it.

So.... yes, a consistent outside shooter would be good.
Transfer portal needs to produce this for next year.

We shouldn't expect any HS player to come in an be a good 3 pt shooter right away and solve those issues. That will need to be addressed by the Transfer market or improvement from Hunter, step up from Tre in addition to Kalcheur/Grill.

Seeing TJ's vision for his program playout this year with the pressure defense, long athletes to deflect passes and rebounding from the guards it is easy to see why each of Watson, King and Lipsey were prioritized to be his first true class. The coaches know these players being local products thus their habits on and off the court plus personalities I am confident each will contribute early and be good players for ISUMBB.
 

VeloClone

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2010
45,603
34,892
113
Brooklyn Park, MN
Blessed by the Pepperoni
This is probably more accurate than you know. The school was originally just Archbishop Grace named after Archbishop Thomas Grace. The Totino family sold their frozen pizza line to Pillsbury in 1975 and then stepped forward with a huge endowment to support the school so they renamed it Totino-Grace in 1980.

So yeah, the students there are blessed by pizza. It's a good school. We considered sending our daughter there but tuition is pretty steep. A lot of her elementary and middle school classmates ended up there.
 

cygrads

Well-Known Member
Jul 27, 2007
4,969
2,727
113
Altoona, IA
Grill is our best 3 pt. shooter but cant play 38 minutes of hounding D like Brockington etc. Kalschuer is our next best 3 pt. shooter ....well, on an occasional streaky day.
Kunc was out of the game w/fouls and mentally from the get go, but doesn't shoot them often.
He's our bonus shooter if he can knock down a few now and then you'll take it.

So.... yes, a consistent outside shooter would be good.
Transfer portal needs to produce this for next year.
Too bad JCL left for KU - bad defense and all his shooting is desperately needed.
 

isucy86

Well-Known Member
Apr 13, 2006
7,748
6,291
113
Dubuque
If Kunc returns we have him and Grill as a starting point as two great shooters. My guess is King is the most game ready and while not a shooter he's a combo guard who can slash and create for others which will help grill and Kunc get more attempts. We lack more than those two as efficient shooters but we also lack creators who can drive and dish. King will help in that regard and take a lot of pressure off Hunter.

Who knows these days about returning players, but definitely seems like we have bigger perimeter needs with next year's squad. So, there may be a chance that Eli King gets big early minutes. Especially if he can finish at the basket off the dribble.

I would think we will be very active in the portal this spring looking for a scoring guard if Kalschuer and Brockington don't come back.

At the 4/5 spots we will be pretty solid with Tre King, Enaruna, Kunc and Jones. Hunter should be elite at PG. Just a matter of finding a couple studs at the 2/3 spots. At this point, Grill seems too inconsistent to be a starter on a top-tier Big12 team.
 

t-noah

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2007
16,835
10,648
113
He's taller and a similar wingspan to Nadar. The Gilstrap comp is 25 pounds away from nailing it!! He struggled in AAU as his team stunk. Watson is best when playing alongside a great PG. We are HARD after his HS PG, along with almost every other school in the country.


Is that this guy?
1642653290551.png
Ryan James on Twitter: "2023 guard Taison Chatman of Totino-Grace has so far heard from Minnesota at midnight, Arkansas immediately after midnight, plus Kentucky, Ohio State, Butler, Dayton, UCLA, Oklahoma St, UCONN, Kansas St, and Iowa St https://t.co/MlDRm7AasP" / Twitter
I thought Taison was/is a SG shooting guard? But he does play PG for Totino-Grace. Is that right? How good of a shooter is he?
Taison Chatman, Totino-Grace, Shooting Guard (247sports.com)
Ryan James on Twitter: "That was a special performance from 2023 Taison Chatman. Chatman scored 29 points on 9 of 15 with 7 threes and 4 of 4 of foul shooting. Also had 8 assists and 7 rebounds. https://t.co/tdAJ2SNB2P" / Twitter
 

CyberJJJ

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Dec 19, 2006
3,437
2,585
113
Johnston, IA
Other people could probably be better suited to answer this than me but I’d say Watson could potentially guard 1-4. He needs to hit the weight room and fill out a little bit. King could guard 1-3. I think we’re bringing in 3 very athletic players that can guard multiple positions. And yes Watson is your prototypical small ball 4 I believe

so you are saying he is a 3? ;)