Ok.
I think it is probably a pointless discussion because I doubt he is going to end up at ISU.
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I think it is probably a pointless discussion because I doubt he is going to end up at ISU.
That year was a weird (or intriguing) mixture of promising and disappointment.
The NWB-Jackson-Wigginton backcourt was good enough to win in the B12 and make the tournament. It might have even been in the top-half of starting 1-2-3s in the conference that year. As long as Wigginton was playing SG off the ball, then he was about as ready as any freshman in program history to shoulder that load.
Young was his steady self prior to the injuries that more-or-less robbed him of all his potential, and Lard was a revelation when "good Lard" showed up. He was posting double-doubles in 20 minutes against ranked teams. I don't think I've seen that level of talent wasted at Iowa State before. I thought he'd be CPOTY someday.
So that was the good -- five starters who are at least decent. Good start, right?
It was just the rest of the roster was such a disaster...
Brase was never healthy, though I do think he'd been a nice player if he was.
Talley was okay but couldn't shoot. Long and Lewis were total busts.
Jeff Beverly is a legend and emblematic of the Prohm era for a reason.
So they basically did not have a dependable bench. I think that team had good enough starters to win, but it needed 2-3 more guys who could efficiently chew up 15-20 minutes per night to be competitive.
Then the starters started getting hurt and the whole thing went to heck.
Small thought experiment, but what if Shayok and Jacobson were immediately eligible...
Weiler-Babb
Wigginton
Shayok
Jacobson
Young
---
Jackson (off the bench chuckin' threes in the Tyrus role)
Lard (assuming he's off the bench because he's, well, sometimes a headache)
I think that's a tournament team. Too bad Prohm didn't have immediate eligibility with teambuilding.
Damn we could have really used a guy like Young this season.
Pre-injury Young or Jacobson would have been the starting "5" this year without a doubt.
Yeah, post injury Young was just as inept as our current bigs at rebounding, and took plays off on defense. Had a nice offensive game though that neither of the current bigs possesses.
I think at a minimum he replaces Conditt's production. In reality, I think he would do that and then some. Get this guy and one other big with upside in the portal and we can cobble together a decent front court.
While I don't disagree, I think the difference is the style of offense we are currently running vs the Hoiball era. How often did McKay have the ball in his hands 10-15 ft away from the basket? If we are going to continue to run that offense you have to have a 5 that is a threat to create/score.
6 million people in Philly. I doubt they know each other. But if IB returns.. Maybe they could bond on his recruiting visit
He had a few nice post moves, but nothing outstanding. He wasn't Niang out there.
A Young post-up would still be an inefficient play even for the mediocre offense we have.
Still rather see one of the guards drive and hope for the best or a Kunc/Grill three attempt.
I think he would've been great out of the high post. He had decent touch on his mid range jumper.
We already have the Greek God of the Midrange on the team.
I don't remember SoYo being much of a passer out of either the low or the high post, though.
Again, he wasn't Niang out there. I always thought the "best" version of SoYo was freshman and sophomore year when he was essentially a bulky trashman. Made a good living on being tough on the boards and waiting for the talented guards around him to set him up with easy looks. Not a guy you would ever want to "run your offense through," but, like Ejim and Hogue before him, one who generates his own possessions and plays efficiently.
Aryvadas Sabonis he was not going to be.
All accurate. I don't remember him passing a ton either. When the ball went down to him on the block it generally wasn't coming back out. Would've loved to see him reach his full potential without the injuries hampering him. You could tell even his last couple years when he was statistically better than in his FR and SO years that he just didn't have the same bounce in his step so to speak.We already have the Greek God of the Midrange on the team.
I don't remember SoYo being much of a passer out of either the low or the high post, though.
Again, he wasn't Niang out there. I always thought the "best" version of SoYo was freshman and sophomore year when he was essentially a bulky trashman. Made a good living on being tough on the boards and waiting for the talented guards around him to set him up with easy looks. Not a guy you would ever want to "run your offense through," but, like Ejim and Hogue before him, one who generates his own possessions and plays efficiently.
Aryvadas Sabonis he was not going to be.
Yeah, the skills he developed plus the athleticism and endurance he demonstrated pre-injury is a good player.
We never got to see him put that all together.
While the city is big Basketball circles in the area aren't. The AAU and prep basketball circles in Philly are much smaller and it would be common that players in similar age ranges would know each other from playing with/against in tourneys or coach relationships. It is a potential advantage even if small.
#mplueg You laughed at my "We could have used a guy like Solomon Young this season". You saying we could not use a 10 points and 5 boards a game big man down low? Is that what you are laughing at? Just curious. Since that is one guy basically doing the work of the two guys we have playing that position right now.
There’s no way to know, but I suspect that if there were better shooting threats on the team to open up space in the lane, the offense would have been a lot more pick-and-roll oriented, and George could have thrived. I feel like he, in no small part, has been a victim of circumstances in his time here.
