That team playing this D = Natty.
That team only had seven going into that season and six going into the Big 12.
Burton
McKay
Mitrou-Long
Morris
Nader
Niang
Thomas
They lost Naz after eight games to his hip injury.
That team would have needed 2-3 more guys to have the depth to play at this level of intensity on defense. Those guys needed to buy into the program immediately *and* bring enough on offense not to slow that down (or at least be wise enough to get out of the way of the stunning quantity of offensive firepower the squadron above could boast). If anybody could do that in Ames, it was TJ, though.
But yes, as an academic exercise, pair these two together...
#5 offensive efficiency (Iowa State, 2016 on Torvik)
#10 offensive efficiency (Iowa State, 2021 on Torvik using only data from this season)
...and you've easily got the best team in the country.
For comparison, the best two teams in the country last year were...
Baylor (#2 offense, #25 defense)
Gonzaga (#1 offense, #11 defense)
So that team would have been a #1 seed/Big 12 champion/national title favorite.
Hawkins changes this offense, and thus really increases upside. We had room for both imo. I’m going to cope by thinking we just lost Hawkins to Creighton.
Hunter
Kalscheur
Brockington
Hawkins
Conditt
---
Jackson
Grill
Enaruna
Kunc
No more Jones -- just play a small-ball with Hawkins or Kunc at the "5" when Conditt is out.
Assuming Hawkins can keep up on defense, imagine what that does to the offense.
Hunter running a high pick-and-roll with Hawkins... who is a genuine threat to both roll and pop, unlike Conditt... with Conditt lurking in the dunker's spot and the guards in the corners looking for a kick and/or looking to slash to the basket for the offensive rebound... yeah, that would have been nice.
I know Prohm ran that play into the ground, but it's a
good play. It's like the standard play. With Hawkins, they'd have the personnel to run it, so a shame he has to languish in Omaha.