recruiting big men
- Thread starter demoncore1031
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Keep an eye on a kid named Jonathan Barnes who plays for Ponderosa high in Denver. He is under the radar right now. Eustachy knows about him and his asked him to his camp, as wella as Air Force. He is 6 foot 10 inches in his stocking feet, 235 lbs with a 30 inch plus vertical leap, playing his second year of organized basketball as a junior. He isn't done growing. He was a Colorado State rock climbing champion from the time he was 10 years old until he was 16. If you try rock climbing you know what kind of strength this kid has. He is ripped, is incredibly competitive and very athletic, not lanky. Like Jake Sullivan he began carrying a basket ball around with him when he was 16.
He wants to play for Oklahoma, because he grew up in Oklahoma City, but would be interested in Iowa State if Hoiberg were interested in him because he wants to play in the big 12.
He wants to play for Oklahoma, because he grew up in Oklahoma City, but would be interested in Iowa State if Hoiberg were interested in him because he wants to play in the big 12.
Someone already posted this, but can you imagine if we could snag Josh Davis and have a starting front three of Niang, Davis, and Ejim? That would be a match up nightmare. Davis is very athletic and has decent handles. He can post up and can also drive really hard to the hoop. We could have Amardi playing a lot of minutes as well. We would just have to find a few good outside shooters and someone to handle the ball. I hope Davis will listen to Fred.
Personally I think if we sign Vaughn in 14 we get a quality big as well. When you look at the possibility of Morris, Thomas, Vaughn and Niang. I think you can sell the idea that he'd be the missing piece of team that could really make some noise.
I don't think he's good enough to be a starter on a really good team. Improvement is up to him because I think the talent is there to at least be a decent player.
God I hope so. I know there isn't a schollarship available that we know of, but he is better then any other big man on our roster. I have little faith is Edozie, Armadi is raw, and Percy didn't show the improvement this year that I was hoping to see. I don't think we have the experience at guard to play Ejim and Niang as our bigs. Our points/game will be down next year imo and a bigger lineup would help with that.
If we got Davis, we could play:
PG: Monte/Bubu/Naz
SG: SDW/Thomas/Bluford
SF: Ejim/Hogue/Niang/Okoro
PF: Niang/Ejim/Davis
PF: Davis/Niang/Percy/Armadi/Edozie
So many options, I would be very confident that ISU would return to the NCAA.
Probably the "transfer we must be in the mix" But I'm sure our coaches at least looked, they'd be stupid not to.
Percy can be a really good player, and I agree it is up to him. He has to play much harder for longer periods of time, sometimes it just takes guys awhile to figure out how hard you need to play. Light switch needs to come on to put it another way. Only a Soph though and if he gets it together he can have a really good career here, tools are all there.
People often make the mistake of thinking a kid can't get better and what we have now is all the better he can be. He is only 20 and only a Sophmore, he has two years left to improve, but he needs to take a step next year.
That (playing professionally) was listed as an option in the press release by Tulane. There was also the rumor that he was considering transferring back to NC St (from Raleigh and played freshman season at NC St).
There are lots of mentions in this thread about Fred's system. I thought this quote by TJ was very interesting.
"We've got some guys from different backgrounds," Otzelberger says. "We've had to blend a completely different team from one year to another. We've had to adapt and adjust our style of play based on personnel. Fred's strength is his ability to really connect with the players and then play to the strengths of that team. In the three years he's been a head coach, we've played three distinctly different styles of play."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/03/23/ncaa-tournament-march-madness-iowa-state-fred-hoiberg-mayor/2013759/
"We've got some guys from different backgrounds," Otzelberger says. "We've had to blend a completely different team from one year to another. We've had to adapt and adjust our style of play based on personnel. Fred's strength is his ability to really connect with the players and then play to the strengths of that team. In the three years he's been a head coach, we've played three distinctly different styles of play."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/03/23/ncaa-tournament-march-madness-iowa-state-fred-hoiberg-mayor/2013759/
I agree with that, butdo you think Fred would rather have a 6'10" big body that could bang down low and clog up the lane, OR a 6'10" big guy that can draw his defender out because of a good outside shot to open up driving lanes. Three distinctly different styles in 3 years, but spacing has always been a key. And a big guy that can hit the outside shot helps with that more than a banging big man.
The fact that we are in the B12 leads me to believe that the latter is his preference. If we were in the B10 he'd be almost forced to get a little more muscle. Our contrasting style works pretty well (see OSU) but over an entire conference season it might not.
Fran, at Iowa, said he wanted to run but the Big 10 as a whole has turned them into a defensive team that can't score. Good conference but low on style points.
I'm glad we are in the Big 12. Regardless of how conferences rank every year the Big 10 is consistently hard to watch. There are some exceptions, of course. Once the bottom teams in the Big 12 get more talent there should be very few ugly games because the coaches don't play ugly styles.
This will be an unpopular post here on CF, but adding Uthoff (and Jok although I think he'll need a year to adjust) could take them to the next level. Iowa was a shooter or two away from the NCAA this year. Too many games they shot 32% from the floor, and lost by single digits.
Does anybody know if there is any interest from Hoiberg's side, has he even seen the kid play?
I think they will still be a bubble team. Uthoff hasn't played a game in over 2 years and Jok will play behind Uthoff and White.
