Williams & Blum: Is Iowa State’s 2026-27 basketball roster final?

I feel like we missed on an early portal target at guard, then Williams was the backup for that, then Nelson the backup for that after "Williams actually can't play at all" emerged.

I might be mixing two years here though. Was "J'Vonne Hadley is a Cyclone" just last year or that was two years ago already?
Hadley was two years ago. Last year it was Rohde (spelling?) from Virginia I believe
 
Cluff is clearly the better scorer and stronger rebounder. Blake is a good bit more mobile and athletic. I don't know if we are necessarily a better team this year with Cluff.

We're probably a poorer team. I assume we'd have had to pay Cluff more than Buchanan. Do we then still have enough to return Jefferson?

With Cluff we'd also be back in the portal right now looking for a center when everyone is overpaying for centers, and wondering if Pleta can play 25 minutes per game, rather than returning a 6'10" starter with three years of major conference experience.
 
Cluff is clearly the better scorer and stronger rebounder. Blake is a good bit more mobile and athletic. I don't know if we are necessarily a better team this year with Cluff.

We're probably a poorer team. I assume we'd have had to pay Cluff more than Buchanan. Do we then still have enough to return Jefferson?

With Cluff we'd also be back in the portal right now looking for a center when everyone is overpaying for centers, and wondering if Pleta can play 25 minutes per game, rather than returning a 6'10" starter with three years of major conference experience.
Yeah, I don't think our defense would have been anywhere near as effective with Cluff, and I doubt the extra points and rebounds make up for that deficit.
 
Cluff is clearly the better scorer and stronger rebounder. Blake is a good bit more mobile and athletic. I don't know if we are necessarily a better team this year with Cluff.

We're probably a poorer team. I assume we'd have had to pay Cluff more than Buchanan. Do we then still have enough to return Jefferson?

With Cluff we'd also be back in the portal right now looking for a center when everyone is overpaying for centers, and wondering if Pleta can play 25 minutes per game, rather than returning a 6'10" starter with three years of major conference experience.
Blake is quicker/faster which is necessary in order to rotate defensively. But, Cluff would have given us a low post scoring option in addition to JJeff.
 
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Cluff is clearly the better scorer and stronger rebounder. Blake is a good bit more mobile and athletic. I don't know if we are necessarily a better team this year with Cluff.

We're probably a poorer team. I assume we'd have had to pay Cluff more than Buchanan. Do we then still have enough to return Jefferson?

With Cluff we'd also be back in the portal right now looking for a center when everyone is overpaying for centers, and wondering if Pleta can play 25 minutes per game, rather than returning a 6'10" starter with three years of major conference experience.
I was bummed about missing Cluff until I saw Buchanan flip his hips and move his feet to force a trap near halfcourt against Mississippi State in the fall. Granted MSU was doodoo but what a fit he was in this defense. Love having that guy and no regrets now.
 
Blake is quicker/faster which is necessary in order to rotate defensively. But, Cluff would have given us a low post scoring option in addition to JJeff.
We had to scramble for $ at the last minute to retain JJ though. Not sure we manage that if we're committed to paying Cluff.
 
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Every year we are convinced that we have so much depth, and every year by the time we get to league play we always find out we only have 7-8 guys who can really contribute in a B12 game and find ourselves wishing we had more. There will be injuries, freshman who aren't ready, or transfers who don't do well with the step up in competition. It will all sort itself out. It always does.
Exactly. Iron sharpens iron. We can see a path for any of these guys to play, but not all will. But the ones who don't will make the ones that do better.
 
Sounds great, but not strictly speaking a correct stat unless I'm missing something:

Singleton: 73.8% last year, 73.8% career (only season)
Manning: 69.7% last year, 65.0% career
Prather: 84.7% last year, 82.1% career
Bradley: 78.4% last year, 74.9% career
Bond: 75.0% last year, 74.8% career

On average as a group they're probably around 75% though.
Still, this is light-years ahead of what we did this year. As the FT% goes up, teams will be more reluctant to play the Hack-a-Shaq strategy on us.
 
Still, this is light-years ahead of what we did this year. As the FT% goes up, teams will be more reluctant to play the Hack-a-Shaq strategy on us.
I feel like almost every transfer has a significant drop in FT%, perhaps because of the strength training or the physicality of the play. But I'm not sure the numbers back that up - I started looking at it a couple years ago but didn't finish it.
 
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“Right?” Has to be near top of list as most frequent.

Others that are fairly common are “having said that” and “it’s gonna be really hard.”
CW needs to file for copyright on "Right?," although it's probably the most common vocal tic in the podcasting/broadcasting universe.
 
So their podcast is in the English language, how annoying.
You guys act like every other word out of their mouth is "YOLO", "bruh", and "cap". Or whatever the kids are saying these days.
It's a compliment. I listen to evey Williams and Blum and Two Guys pod. Eventually you start picking up on these things. I wouldn't take it too seriously. I find these things interesting.
 
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It's a compliment. I listen to evey Williams and Blum and Two Guys pod. Eventually you start picking up on these things. I wouldn't take it too seriously. I find these things interesting.
I’m a Leach guy so I could make the argument that you either evolve or you die, right?

:chris: