He is a junior, so unless he transfers we should be expecting him back.
So, where do we go from here?
- Thread starter CyCloned
- Start date
That is certainly one risk with the portal. Not specific to RJ here but if you “miss” on a kid that has multiple years of eligibility remaining, you’re stuck with them because it’s highly unlikely that they’ll transfer again since they will then have to sit out.
Things would need to be pretty bad for someone like RJ to transfer away after transferring in.
So do you see this statement applying to Enaruna, too? His adding to bench depth is good, he knows what he's in for, but obviously some things need to improve...really don't want to see 100 threads on here next year as to why he isn't playing more. lol
Not really sure what his issues are. He seems to have some good moments and then flounders. Certainly could put on a few pounds of muscle if they are going to use him inside. No matter who is playing inside next year, they need to be more productive than this year's post players.
Everyone remembers the shots Jones missed...... but I remember those flashes! I thought they were especially amazing since we did not run a big man offense....... but on a side note I saw his interview where he said it took him a while to get used to the physicality of Big 12 play. Next year he will be ready, I agree with all his issues are things that can be fixed. The reason I mentioned strengthening is those shots won't get blocked if he adds some bulk and puts them up like a boss! I think he will surprise a lot of people next year!
What's the word with Jaden and the portal? Is he coming back?
Edit: Asked about 20 minutes too early.
Edit: Asked about 20 minutes too early.
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Per evanmiya.com (one of my favorite sites for cbb analytics) Rob was far and away the least efficient player on offense in the B12 who played more than 300 total possessions this year. Roughly 10ish guys per team are included in that list, so it includes basically every player in the rotations of each team in the conference. His FG% this year was shockingly low for a center who only takes shots around the rim, and he shot 29% from the free throw line. He has to make big strides to be an average B12 center and I hope he does. But if you're expecting him to be a player that ISU wants to routinely get shots, you're asking for him to make unprecedented growth this offseason.
Rob plays hard and works his ass off and there's absolutely a role for him at Iowa State. But it's not as a starting center or one who is getting many shots if ISU is gonna challenge for the top half of the B12.
I'd love to see his role be the guy who goes in and flusters other bigs and gives energy.
Yeah I love Rob's effort and get why people like him but I think he's being overrated on this site. His FT shooting is terrible and struggles to finish around the rim. I hope he can make some strides this off-season in those areas but at this point he shouldn't be playing very many minutes if we want to improve in the conference standings.
Definitely. Every team can use a big off the bench who can come in almost as an enforcer and just play tough defense, box out hard, maybe get "tangled up" etc. And who knows? Maybe he does take a big leap. But that's mostly my point, he has a lot of work to do to be relied on as a key piece of an offense.
It's very difficult to for those of us on a message board to understand why someone as tall as he is doesn't dunk the ball nearly every time he is at the rim. I agree that strength will help however I still believe that what is missing is an alpha mentality at the rim. Strength or weak, there were too many times that the ball was put up towards the glass and a Big 12 athlete went up and swatted it away. From what I've seen(from my couch and in the stands) if you go up to dunk that it may still get swatted but you are more likely to get a foul than a clean block.
Now that I typed that maybe the FT woes are more of the issue as he may prefer the risk of the layup either going in or getting blocked over going to the FT line.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
I'd like to see Rob's field goal percentage, 1st half of the season vs 2nd half. I bet he improved quite a bit.
In his last 10 he shot 58%. Unfortunately right before that run (and in the first game of that run) he went 0-9 in four games.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
That was my impression. He was rushing his shots like crazy until he settled down. Much better late, as he was going quickly, but not rushed. Hopefully he can continue on that improvement and make a nice bench piece for next year again.
A lot better than he had been from the floor, but you'd still like to see that bumped up a bit.
For reference, on the year Conditt shot 66% from the floor and that's about the range you expect for a guy in the role they play.
He actually shot .297 which rounds to 30% if we are rounding...but your point remains. At the beginning of the season I never thought I would be looking longingly at his .571 FT% from last year.
I wonder how many FTs he never even got the chance to miss because for a guy who only took 37 FTs on the season I seem to remember quite a few missed front ends of 1 and 1s. Heck, as a team they missed out on a lot of free throws because of missed front ends. So frustrating when you already struggle to score.
People always forget how much touch and feel matter for the game of basketball, even for big guys. It can be improved but it's not as easy as just hitting the weights.
I didn't post it initially because of cherry picking number of games but in his last 9 games he was 19 of 30 for .633.
