Way too early starting lineup talk for the 23-24 season

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cyclones500

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"Momcilovic is an undeniable offensive talent and a scoring threat from multiple spots on the floor. Inside, he has good footwork and physicality, seals well in the post, understands how to flips his hips to change the angle of his seal depending on where the ball is, has good use of both hands around the rim, and a reliable jump hook over his left shoulder. In the mid-post, he has an assortment of fakes, pinpoint footwork, and high-arcing one-foot fade-aways over top of contesting defenders. He can utilize all those same weapons – the fakes, footwork, and high-released pull-ups – when facing up and operating off the dribble as well. He has three-point range, is a definite pick-and-pop threat, reliable ball-handler, and high IQ passer. His swing skills are on the defensive end of the floor, where he doesn’t have great natural footspeed, and will need to compensate with his attention to detail." - 247 Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein

Jared Uthoff and Doug McDermott are some pretty good comps imo. Milan is more of a skilled offensive focused forward like those guys - terrific footwork in the post and midrange and an elite shooter at all levels. He might struggle a bit defensively like Doug did due to below average athleticism and slower foot speed. On the offensive end he's as skilled as any recruit in the country though.

That description has a few Niang-esque elements (not all of it, and I'm not making direct comparison with Niang, especially not "upperclassman Georges."
 

moores2

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Kyonte George who is expected to go pro after this season for Baylor only averaged 15 points per game and less than 9 points per game in conference. Milan will be a good player but people need to temper expectations just a little bit for a freshman coming from less than the biggest conference in Wisconsin.
 

cyclonehomer

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Kyonte George who is expected to go pro after this season for Baylor only averaged 15 points per game and less than 9 points per game in conference. Milan will be a good player but people need to temper expectations just a little bit for a freshman coming from less than the biggest conference in Wisconsin.
This just doesn't faze me very much given that he played at a high level during the summers. I think somewhere around 10 ppg is reasonable, the biggest impact will be in that he's a capable bucket getter at multiple levels. Freshman year Georges wasn't Senior year Georges and he wasn't putting up 19 ppg, but it was like everything opened up on offense with him in and I could see a similar kind of impact I guess.
 

CyPunch

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Kyonte George who is expected to go pro after this season for Baylor only averaged 15 points per game and less than 9 points per game in conference. Milan will be a good player but people need to temper expectations just a little bit for a freshman coming from less than the biggest conference in Wisconsin.

It's even more difficult for freshmen to have as much of an impact in the Covid era. They are often playing against guys 4-5 years older than them.

This makes Tamin more than holding his own this year even more impressive btw.

Hopefully we can create a nice roster blend between our veterans (Rob, Tre K, Hason W), the talented freshmen (Omaha, Milan), and the 2-3 portal adds coming.

Tamin could probably considered a tweener and not quite in that "veteran" group as he will be 20 years old but have a full season as a starting PG in the Big 12 under his belt. I wouldn't put him that far behind Jeremiah Williams in experience honestly.

Tamin Lipsey: 33 college games, turns 20 years old in June

Jeremiah Williams: 38 college games (missed partial season with a shoulder injury, missed full season due to Achilles), turns 21 years old in June
 
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RustShack

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Thank you. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills with how much people are writing off the kind of impact Milan will have. The only guy in that range to not start immediately was Matt Thomas and he started half the games as a freshman!

I get that the basketball landscape has changed but that level of talent is just RARE at Iowa State. He's not going to be an elite defender as a freshman and he may not start but I'd venture a guess that he plays a really big role at the very least.
Thomas was a day one starter. He just ended up losing the starting job to Monte Morris(well Morris replaced Kane, and Kane replaced Thomas). Thomas obviously became a good starter after that though.
 
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isucy86

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IMO the Momcilovic v Niang comparison is good from an offensive skill set perspective.

The difference between the two is body type. Whereas Niang had to take off weight and get stronger while at ISU. Momcilovic is taller and is going to need to put on weight/strength during his ISU career.

I never like to rely on freshman, better to let them surprise like Lipsey did. I hope Momcilovic can be a 15mpg guy and score around 8ppg. Anything more is upside. I have higher expectations for Biliew because of his athleticism and college-ready body.
 

WastedTalent

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Big 10 6th man of the year award winner this previous season while shooting 34% from beyond the arc averaging 10 points and 4 boards off the bench. Sounds pretty spot on to me.
Sandford was just so inconsistent. And maybe that's what Milan will be, but I'm hoping for more consistent scoring. Sandford had 12 games with 6 pts or less, and 19 games with 3 or less fgs. He did have 6 games of 20+ pts.
 

MJ271

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Thank you. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills with how much people are writing off the kind of impact Milan will have. The only guy in that range to not start immediately was Matt Thomas and he started half the games as a freshman!

I get that the basketball landscape has changed but that level of talent is just RARE at Iowa State. He's not going to be an elite defender as a freshman and he may not start but I'd venture a guess that he plays a really big role at the very least.
In addition to what @RustShack said about Thomas, Niang didn't start immediately. Anthony Booker started most of non-conference, along with Percy Gibson getting a few starts. That was in search of pairing a 5 alongside Ejim, though, because the Ejim/Niang front court was pretty small.
 

RagingCloner

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Honestly, with the size and talent coming in, Id be curious to see how we would fair with a KU type lineup. I think you need a transfer big man, like Ike from Wyoming, but that wont happen. I know that isnt the normal Otzelball style, but KU seemed to make it work this year. They did struggle against teams that had a true big man, and it didnt take much to outmatch KJ Adams, so run a 4 guard/forward lineup, and one big. Then, BRE's minutes are limited and we have less liabilities on offense. The only way this works is if all 4 guys can shoot, and so far we have not had that luxury, but it would be interesting to see
 

cyfan92

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Honestly, with the size and talent coming in, Id be curious to see how we would fair with a KU type lineup. I think you need a transfer big man, like Ike from Wyoming, but that wont happen. I know that isnt the normal Otzelball style, but KU seemed to make it work this year. They did struggle against teams that had a true big man, and it didnt take much to outmatch KJ Adams, so run a 4 guard/forward lineup, and one big. Then, BRE's minutes are limited and we have less liabilities on offense. The only way this works is if all 4 guys can shoot, and so far we have not had that luxury, but it would be interesting to see

KU has 3 starting spots open for 2023/24.. But their 2022/23 lineup was

Harris - 6'1"
Di** - 6'8"
McCullar - 6'6"
Wilson - 6'8"
Adams - 6'7"

Lets PRAY and we land Dalton Knecht. That 2023/24 lineup would be

Lipsey - 6'1"
Knecht - 6'6"
Omaha - 6'8"
Milan - 6'8"
Tre King - 6'7"

Want to add height, you throw 6'4" Williams at point and 6'10" BRE. Ideally we either land a STUD combo guard and another guard or Jelani Hamilton is a MASSIVE surprise and can play right away. A+, homerun, HOF off-season is you land a stud combo guard and a Grant Basile clone..

This lineup is a Big 12 title contender..

Lipsey
Stud CG
Omaha
Milan
Grant Basile clone

Tre King
Williams
Watson
BRE
 

SoleCyclone

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Jon Rothstien has a thought on our starting lineup!

View attachment 111707
So for the instance we don't add any transfer starter, which I imagine in that case CF will explode, I would be ok but with 1 change. Switch out Hamilton with King and slide Biliew down to defend a guard/wing. I feel scoring and rebounding might be a problem with Rothsteins lineup.

G- Lipsey
G- Williams
F- Biliew
F- King
F- Momcilovic
 

CyPunch

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Rothstein had Hason Ward starting alongside Osun last year. He's pretty bad or doesn't put much time into those projections.

These preseason polls don't mean a thing until the rosters are set anyways.
 

cyclones500

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