Iowa State Transfer/Recruiting Class 2023
- Thread starter CoKane
- Start date
Definitely agree with this. Even looking at this season, when Watson was in, there were times when he very much was a secondary rim protector. They would pass off the offensive players to keep him on the weak side, and when he would come to help on drives, he was able to offer pretty good rim protection. He was close behind Osun and Ward in terms of blocks per 40 minutes (2.3, 2.1, 1.8 for Osun, Ward, and Watson, respectively). I assume Biliew will get used in the same way.
I really think the role of King this past year isn't super informative on what TJ will do next year. The rosters are very different.
With as much switching and doubling as ISU does it's a lot more important to look at the roster as a whole. This past year about the only time I think it might've made sense to play King as a 5 would've been when Lipsey is out and you've got Holmes, Gabe, Jaz, Watson and Tre AND you didn't want to play Osun because of fouls or fatigue. So I just don't think there was a good window of lineup where King made sense.
I really think a lot will depend on how the 2-4 shakeout. For example, if Williams is the best option at the 2, then that gives you both a really good switchable and long defender at the 2, plus frankly a guy that hasn't shown he can shoot. Not only do you have a little more flexibility to defensively at the 5, you also probably need to get some scoring out the position.
Keshon Gilbert - Iowa State Cyclones - Point Guard
Explore Keshon Gilbert's athlete profile at On3.com. Get news and insights into his playing career, statistics, and achievements in sports.
A prediction has come in for ISU according to On3
Keshon Gilbert:
Jeremiah Williams:
Watching YouTube highlights of Gilbert, he seems to be a similar body type to Jeremiah, with more offensive potential but not the defender Jeremiah is. Gilbert's Sophomore improvement in FT and 3 shooting are very encouraging. Bummer to see only 25% shooting from 3 in conference play but he did shoot > 77% from the FT line.
Jeremiah Williams:
Watching YouTube highlights of Gilbert, he seems to be a similar body type to Jeremiah, with more offensive potential but not the defender Jeremiah is. Gilbert's Sophomore improvement in FT and 3 shooting are very encouraging. Bummer to see only 25% shooting from 3 in conference play but he did shoot > 77% from the FT line.
Next year's roster could change significantly how TJ and staff approach defense. The first couple years double teams were a big part of our halfcourt defense. Was that because TJ prefers that approach or did he do so because of limitations by our guards to defend guys straight up in man defense?
On offense we haven't had multiple guys who are explosive off the dribble. Does that change with Lipsey, WIlliams, Biliew and possible transfers? Does the staff decide to push the ball in transition and increase the pace of our offense.
The good thing is TJ has established a culture and defensive mindset the first 2 years that should carry over.
Note #36 and #136.
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From Omaha. His dad played at Creighton.
In addition to last season's .383 from 3, another number that jumps, .857 FT% .... not a lot of att per game, but that's significantly higher percentage than most we've had recently.
Not that TJ won't necessarily change the defensive approach but I don't think our guards had a problem with defending in man defense.
I was thinking about this too. Upgrading overall athleticism/length will help, especially as we add more guys who can defend multiple positions (big and small). The last two years our defense has been much more 'schemed' (granted Gabe and some others were pretty damn good individually) rather than straight up man defense. Required a LOT of effort, but it worked. With the athleticism we're bringing in, I would think that we'll be more of a straight up man defense going forward and less of the double-team/entire unit defense we've seen. Don't get me wrong, I think we will still have the emphasis on D, just different execution.
Probably a bad comparison but Kansas comes to mind. Recently, I don't think they're Elite, or run any exotic defense (stats may say I'm wrong) but they match-up well enough across the board to be pretty solid on D year in and year out.
Defense is more than just athleticism. It's effort and mental. Gabe was an elite defensive player because he wanted to be one and had the smarts/experience to execute it. Matt Thomas at first was not good defensively but developed into a plus defender.
My concern is yes well be more athletic next year but with that we are younger and does defense fall off because of that?
I think our guards were good straight up defenders. I think it had more to do with our need to create turnovers as we were somewhat offensively challenged.
I mean I think it should just be mostly expected that defense will fall off a bit, but that could just come from strictly variance. It's really hard to be elite every year on that end.
Ideally, even with a dip there, you raise the floor enough on offense to make up for it.
The one knock on the Wofford kid is his defense. He is not that great at it. Hopefully with Coach Green and some effort he can become a quality defender
Nobody on here knows anything about what the players are making simply because it’s none of our business! I don’t see anyone on here that made public what they make a year!
I think he’ll play all over it going to be fun watching him
No matter how athletic someone is the rules are such that it’s very difficult to guard man to man without fouling. We’re so good at defense because our guys know how and where to help. The best analogy I heard was some announcer saying our guys looked like they were tied together with a string. It’s got nothing to do with our athletic ability or any lack thereof.
My guess is that it is TJ's preference. We force turnovers with our double teams. Also, somehow we seldom allow the unguarded man to get near the basket. When we double team, we get the ball or we force a throw out to someone far from the basket. I have to think that is something TJ sees as an advantage and will use with any roster.
Mentions wanting to Zoom with ISU but doesn’t mention ISU in a blurb? Curious
