Im curious if you were an advocate of Tyler Harris to Iowa State? Be honest. I only ask because you seem very hung up on the fact that Nixon is only 6'1" and a volume shooter. Last I checked Tyler Harris is 5'9" and if he is going to score at a high clip in college it will be from the perimeter.
Point being - I'll take a 5th year senior in Nixon in 2019/2020 over a sophomore Tyler Harris.
Nixon is a one-year guy, though. Harris would have been a four-year player. Even if senior Nixon was better than sophomore Harris, you have more coming.
Harris would have been nice to train as a PG of the future, but the staff liked Haliburton more from the sounds of it. Haliburton is 6'5" and long, things you cannot teach, and everything we have seen about him looks like he will be a great culture guy.
I like Nixon, though, and do not mourn for Harris going to Memphis. I think Nixon will get better in his off year, like Shayok and Jacobson reportedly have done, will push the team in practice, and will slot into a new role on the team the year-after-next as a secondary ball-handler, tertiary scorer, and bulldog on defense that we have been missing.