He's in the middle of his teams season and not expected to announce until it is over in a couple of months.
****Official Class Of 2025 Recruiting Thread****
- Thread starter LLCoolCY
- Start date
Respectfully disagree with a couple of your points.
1) You said "He's not playing at all. He's likely not going to play much next year." If that were true, you could say the same thing about Nojus, which I don't believe is true. Jefferson and Jackson can come back next year, but there is no guarantee. Thus we might be replacing more than Chatfield on the front line.
2) You mentioned starting the clock early on a 7 footer. Going to juco and delaying the clock wasn't known as an option when the choice was made to bring him in. He had other D1 offers if we hadn't taken him, although I don't know that was strictly tied to starting early. For a big like him, I don't believe we expected him to play right away. If he doesn't play much next year, he will still have two years here if he sticks it out. I realized a two-year transfer likely had playing time elsewhere, but he is practicing everyday against high-end talent in Jackson, Jefferson and Chatfield which is why I mentioned them. Starting his clock early got him into school on scholarship.
I hadn't read that anywhere. Is that info you have or speculation? I realize it isn't speculation it is the middle of his season.
Are we forgetting Nojus? He has played some three this year, but it feels like his natural position is likely more at the two.
Nojus, from the little I've seen is a very smart player. He shields his dribble well, finds space well, and has a very smooth shot. And, if I recall, he touted his defense when we were recruiting him. I think we may see more of him in the future.
He has also looked completely comfortable since the first day he hit the floor for us.
He kind of has a Caleb Grill his first year thing going. Just needs to get up to the speed of the game and he will be fine. Wish we could have redshirted him this year
notice there is no “therefore” or “thus” between those statements. My statement that Rock is unlikely to play much next year is not simply because he’s not playing this year. It’s because he’s unlikely to be ready, and we’ll likely be able to add some that will force him out of the rotation.
Nojus on the other hand is more likely to be ready, although if we have 3 or 4 upperclassmen guards, I’d say there is a material chance he too will struggle to be top 8 in the rotation, even if a quality Big 12 guard
You’ve yet to explain why you disagree that the odds are that Rock would see more minutes in his career if a true freshman now, rather than a redshirt freshman. It gives him more time to develop, which is needed. Or why you disagree with the notion that bigs take longer to develop, hence why starting the clock early reducing college career impact, even though he’s better as a 18 year old by starting the clock early. We gave up having a 23 year old Rock for having a 17 year old Rock
Instead you listed a benefit of enrolling early being that he could go against Jefferson, Jackson, and Chatfield, which suggests you’re not thinking about this
Last edited:
Watching the West Virginia defense extend our guards, I just wonder what it would've looked like if we put three bigs in.
Hindsight is 20-20.
The rationale was that Rock wasn't going to develop as well playing against South Dakota high school competition. Getting him to campus, getting acclimated to college while playing against grown men, while also working with ISU strength and conditioning staff, was the decision made. I'm certainly not giving up on him.
I can honestly say he's bulked up, is rigid in the system (meaning he knows what to do, but he's still thinking step to step instead of it being natural), and needs to improve his foot speed. I think it's 50/50 on whether he can elevate to the next level required to get minutes.
It’s not just hindsight. It’s well established that bigs take longer to develop.
Of course that was the reasoning. That wasn’t in question.
We picked Rock being further along at his age over being further along for his class year
Just got to watch the game. Shout out to the fans as well. Essentially made that a road game for ASU
I love what Watson has been doing and kudos to him, he deserves it. I’m really surprised Nojus hasn’t got more time. He seems like a huge offensive threat. His defense must need some development to get time?
Only that if staying in high school he would have played against “midgets” as Julo described his summer league experience. Besides the competition in practice everyday, he has benefited from high level nutrition and training. 247 had him listed at 225 lbs in HS, but now he is listed at 260 on the roster. That work last year better prepped him for the work against even better bigs on the roster this year.
I have no idea if he will play much next year, depending on who’s on the team. I do, however, feel he is likely further along as a basketball player today then he would’ve been if we had not brought him in early. If not having done that,might he can have considered going elsewhere that would have? Was this part of the draw to commit to Iowa State when he had other good offers? I have no inside information so I don’t know.
I do get the point that his four years would’ve included a year older if he hadn’t of started early. I just felt the benefits outlined above outweighed the basic age benefit. I trust TJ‘s roster management. I could be completely wrong, just shared my opinion as it was different from what you posted. It’s just a discussion, not an argument.
Exactly, not as if anyone knows exactly what the future holds. I’m betting at the beginning of the 23-24 season, not a single person would have predicted Jones would be a conference POTY candidate in the Big XII. To paraphrase the quote about opinions, ….everyone has one.
We’re talking about a 7’0” that needed development. It’s very predictable that he’d be much better as a 23 year old than a 17 year old
