Omaha enters the transfer portal (confirmed)

[CascadeClone]

BRE had exceptional quickness along with his good length. One of the big reasons our defense worked so well was the tipped passes And deflections. Defense was the reason BRE was in the game. Iowa State Offense when Homan was in school was Stinson and Blalock. Homan was to pick up rebounds and garbage points. On defense stay back and play position defense. I just don’t see Homan being quick enough or with the ability to disrupt opposing teams passing lanes like BRE did. And this years offense would not work with out our defense and points off turnovers.

It just shows you the skillset "fit" with teammates and system matters as much or more than a player's actual skill or athleticism level.

e.g. Pop Isaacs - more teams would chase him than Curt Jones in the portal, as he is a great scorer. But Jones is 10x the better player for TJ on last years team than Isaacs would be, just based on fit.

 

[CyorDy]

Clearly it was in the range of outcomes, because that's what happened. There doesn't have to be some grand conspiracy. Maybe he didn't pick things up the way they thought he'd be able to. Part of recruiting rankings is projection. Maybe Iowa State's older, more seasons bigs were just better in our system. Maybe he just wasn't as good as the evaluators thought. Regardless, he's not the only player to underperform compared to their recruiting ranking. He didn't make waves in the locker room and didn't cause trouble outside of it. He seemed to be enthusiastic and wanting to be there. I'm sure he envisioned this year playing out a lot differently than it did, but that's just the way it worked out.
It doesn't have to be anything but that. There's no scam. There's no conspiracy. No foul play or negligence. It just didn't work out the way people thought it would. There doesn't have to be someone to blame.

What court ordered that?

 

[cyclonespiker33]

I think the whole Omaha saga is as much an indictment of the quality of Iowa HS basketball as much as anything else. Yeah, Omaha looked like a 5-star in HS because he's in Waukee, IA playing 2A Iowa boys BB teams. Put him in the Chicago Public League and you'd never even have heard from him. He'd probably still get 3 stars because of his raw athleticism, but no way Omaha dominates Proviso East like he dominates Decorah HS.

He was one of 12 players on the USA U19 team.

He would have been fine in Chicago.

 

[HFCS]

He was one of 12 players on the USA U19 team.

He would have been fine in Chicago.

I don't know...there might be some truth or half truth here.

Look at how all of Fran's kids have been labeled as some massive game changer at some point, Connor should have been D2 at best and PMac is a role player or mid major player. I lived in Chicago and saw the local highlights for 15 years, players like Candice Parker and Derek Rose. I'm 100% sure nobody would have labeled any of Fran's kids as top D1 prospects playing against that competition.

 

[cyclonespiker33]

I don't know...there might be some truth or half truth here.

Look at how all of Fran's kids have been labeled as some massive game changer at some point, Connor should have been D2 at best and PMac is a role player or mid major player. I lived in Chicago and saw the local highlights for 15 years, players like Candice Parker and Derek Rose. I'm 100% sure nobody would have labeled any of Fran's kids as top D1 prospects playing against that competition.

Just because the children of Fran are headcases doesn't mean everyone from Iowa is overrated. Ever heard of Tamin Lipsey?

 

[Cyrealist]

I think the whole Omaha saga is as much an indictment of the quality of Iowa HS basketball as much as anything else. Yeah, Omaha looked like a 5-star in HS because he's in Waukee, IA playing 2A Iowa boys BB teams. Put him in the Chicago Public League and you'd never even have heard from him. He'd probably still get 3 stars because of his raw athleticism, but no way Omaha dominates Proviso East like he dominates Decorah HS.

There's obviously something to that, but in today's world there are so many camps, AAU ball, etc that such surprises are rare. On the other end of the spectrum, Audi Crooks played for a much smaller school and has adapted to Big XII basketball just fine.

 

[Marcelason78]

Have there been any X posts on what schools have contacted Omaha?

 

[AuH2O]

I don't know...there might be some truth or half truth here.

Look at how all of Fran's kids have been labeled as some massive game changer at some point, Connor should have been D2 at best and PMac is a role player or mid major player. I lived in Chicago and saw the local highlights for 15 years, players like Candice Parker and Derek Rose. I'm 100% sure nobody would have labeled any of Fran's kids as top D1 prospects playing against that competition.

There is always some funny business in the recruiting rankings where you see kids with some connections drastically overrated. That stuff happens everywhere, but that's just a handful, and had they actually decided they weren't going to Iowa it would've become evident based on who would've seriously pursued them. Well, Patrick would've had good offers probably, because no team would've assumed he would be the single worst off the ball defender in the history of college basketball. These top players like Billiew, Barnes and even Lipsey play all the best of the best from Chicago and elsewhere. Billiew would've been a highly rated recruit had he never played a game of HS basketball and only played AAU. Then you have the sort of opposite effect when you guys like the Murrays. Or you have Adam Woodbury that was highly ranked nationally, and was getting worked by 6'3" kids in the state title game.

Recruiting rankings are tough, and they correlate pretty well, but there gets to be a lot of groupthink. And while AAU allows for a good evaluation against other good talent, it's still not great for evaluating players, particularly those that maybe aren't the go get your own shot types.

 

[CyorDy]

There's obviously something to that, but in today's world there are so many camps, AAU ball, etc that such surprises are rare. On the other end of the spectrum, Audi Crooks played for a much smaller school and has adapted to Big XII basketball just fine.

Explain you spectrum

 

[CYDJ]

I can't speak for anyone else but I feel like we got scammed. I don't donate to that NIL stuff either but I know people who do, so they didn't get much ROI if some of their money went to getting Omaha here.

He was a colossal bust, that may sound harsh but it's the truth. It kills absolutely any enthusiasm I'll ever have for a high school player committing to Iowa State moving forward.

I know I only invest in things that are going to pay off 100% of the time. Giving money to anything that eventually doesn't work out is just plain dumb.

All you have to do is ask for a 100% guarantee.

Silly people.

 

[AuH2O]

I know I only invest in things that are going to pay off 100% of the time. Giving money to anything that eventually doesn't work out is just plain dumb.

All you have to do is ask for a 100% guarantee.

Silly people.

I thought CW was talking about Pavs coming to ISU and getting some great experience and "made a little money," which I presume to be NIL. I always thought ISU NIL was all used in retention, not recruitment. Or maybe that comment was just in regard to football.

 

[HFCS]

There is always some funny business in the recruiting rankings where you see kids with some connections drastically overrated. That stuff happens everywhere, but that's just a handful, and had they actually decided they weren't going to Iowa it would've become evident based on who would've seriously pursued them. Well, Patrick would've had good offers probably, because no team would've assumed he would be the single worst off the ball defender in the history of college basketball. These top players like Billiew, Barnes and even Lipsey play all the best of the best from Chicago and elsewhere. Billiew would've been a highly rated recruit had he never played a game of HS basketball and only played AAU. Then you have the sort of opposite effect when you guys like the Murrays. Or you have Adam Woodbury that was highly ranked nationally, and was getting worked by 6'3" kids in the state title game.

Recruiting rankings are tough, and they correlate pretty well, but there gets to be a lot of groupthink. And while AAU allows for a good evaluation against other good talent, it's still not great for evaluating players, particularly those that maybe aren't the go get your own shot types.

Haliburton is the one that always puzzles me. Even if he was a horrible shooting that wingspan and passing ability...but he was player of the year in Wisc too so obviously had some publicity. Murrays surpised me because their dad was such a great athlete, you'd think if anything they'd have been overrated recruits, not under the radar. I remember telling ISU fans to pump the breaks here when they mocked that signing.

 

[clone37]

Omaha is rated 26th in the current 247 transfer ranking. I thought hmmmm that is interesting. Then I saw that Fish is the current 15th rated transfer, which made me instantly discount the transfer rankings on that site. I mean Fish may very well turn out to be a good player, and I think he will, but does anyone really think he is the 15th best in the huge portal right now?

 

[Halincandenza]

Omaha is rated 26th in the current 247 transfer ranking. I thought hmmmm that is interesting. Then I saw that Fish is the current 15th rated transfer, which made me instantly discount the transfer rankings on that site. I mean Fish may very well turn out to be a good player, and I think he will, but does anyone really think he is the 15th best in the huge portal right now?

Their rankings make no sense.

 

[brett108]

BRE had exceptional quickness along with his good length. One of the big reasons our defense worked so well was the tipped passes And deflections. Defense was the reason BRE was in the game. Iowa State Offense when Homan was in school was Stinson and Blalock. Homan was to pick up rebounds and garbage points. On defense stay back and play position defense. I just don’t see Homan being quick enough or with the ability to disrupt opposing teams passing lanes like BRE did. And this years offense would not work with out our defense and points off turnovers.

Homan is the all time blocks leader at ISU. Im not sure he was the defensive slouch you make him out to be. Also 13 PPG as a senior meant he was pretty involved in the offense. He also average 36 minutes a game so he went the whole time.

 

[Antihawk240]

Omaha reminds me of a teammate of mine at Iowa State in Track. I would not call either of them overrated. I think he just never made the transition. My teammate/friend was highly successful in high school and won multiple state championships. Like most Freshman and Sophomores he was beat often at Iowa State. He was a great student, fantastic friend and a tremendous teammate but he never ran any faster than he did in high school. Confidence is huge in sports. My friend never was able to win and it held him back developmentally the "I have to win in order to win" development is real. Some people get tired of losing and learn to win. Others have to win in order to win and if they never win they wont develop.

 

[Pharmacy99]

Its a weird thing to do. Rob does alot of the same things. The one thing Homan gave you though was FT shooting. While Rob improved there Homan would have been the best FT shooter on the team this past year.

Homan was a much better FT shooer than Jones but he was not a great FT shooter. He was 69% in his senior year, decent but not great.

 

[Pharmacy99]

Homan is the all time blocks leader at ISU. Im not sure he was the defensive slouch you make him out to be. Also 13 PPG as a senior meant he was pretty involved in the offense. He also average 36 minutes a game so he went the whole time.

He averaged 13 per game but shot 12 times a game and FG% was only 43%.

 

[SoleCyclone]

This thread still talking about Homan is something

 

[ClubCy]

This thread still talking about Homan is something