I kind of disagree with the first sentence, I think there are lots of players that go from doing basically nothing their freshman season to becoming a great player. Guys off of the top of my head are Clayton Custer, NWB, Frank Kaminsky, and maybe even Frank Mason... Although I will say I cannot think of a lot of players that did it at Iowa State except for Naz.
One thing about Tre is I thought he improved a lot as the season went on. I think that potentially points towards more of a positive trend in the future.
My survey of non-factor freshman who develop only includes...
(1.) Cyclone freshmen
(2.) of the "modern era" (and please do not start that again) of Hoiberg and Prohm as our head coaches... that is probably the relevant era here
For that most relevant population, Naz is the only guy I can think of who was a bench scrub as a freshman who worked out to more than that.
It is just a different world now. Good players make you play them earlier, and guys usually leave early (with the assent and help of the program) if they do not have an immediate path to playing time. They want to be the star
somewhere. It is what it is.
I am sure you can find examples if you look across the entire P6 in basketball, and Nick definitely developed over his five years. But none in Ames after Naz.
I am not sure Clayton Custer counts. Doing it at the MVC level is much easier than doing it at the Big 12 level. His legend is inflated because of a pretty unlikely run in the NCAA tournament. Loyola-Chicago beat #22 Miami by two, #13 Tennessee by one, and #24 Nevada-Reno by one to make the Elite Eight. Play that tournament out another hundred times, and they would never make the Final Four again, and they would be lucky to make it out of the first weekend a handful of times in the same match-ups.
So at best we have Naz for sure, Nick (qualified because he transferred in and was a scrub as a freshman at Arkansas), and maybe Custer (suspect because he never consistently proved it at the high-major level). Considering how long the list is of scrub freshman who amounted to nothing in comparison, I have my doubts many ever do.
There have been many examples of Cyclones who had "rough" Frosh years and then blossomed into all-conference types of players. Sometimes it takes more than one year. I do understand that it becomes a little harder to do that in today's transfer-happy culture. Here are a few examples: A player averages 4 ppg, 4 ppg, 3 ppg and then over 22ppg his senior year. That player? Lafester Rhodes! Another? 2.5 ppg to almost 9ppg from Frosh to Senior & 3pt shooting from 28% to 40% in that same time frame. That person? Hurl Beechum. Mark Baugh went from 3.3 to 13.3 ppg (Frosh to Soph years). Victor Alexander from 1.7 to 19.9 ppg (Frosh to Soph). Jacy Holloway - Floyd looked to replace him each year - but that guy was nails by his junior and senior years! Not trying to argue with you because I realize that patience is much harder to have in the current CBB culture. I was just pointing out that there have been MANY Cyclones who have improved immensely as they developed within our program.
These are nice stories, but they are all so long ago I do not know how much relevance they have compared to the past decade we have to work with.
I have heard all these names and how they are even now said with reverence, even if they were before my time. There is just not very much footage left of their careers and even very little in terms of statistics (never mind advanced and efficiency stats that I prefer to use when considering players). Guys used to sit behind and learn from experienced upperclassmen before taking over themselves their junior and senior years with the process renewing itself. It worked, but it is not the 1980s and early 1990s anymore.
It is just not how it works anymore. A guy is out there contributing early, or he is likely shopping himself to a level of basketball where he can be the man.
