because we don't think that rolling with BRE and Ward for 20 minutes a piece gives us the best chance to win basketball games. We would have gotten a big in the transfer portal to play the "5" role if we weren't going to let King play there. Watson and Omaha will bring plenty of rim protection with them to get away will playing a smaller 5 man.
He gives us another offense threat on the floor. Definitely won't be a 30 minute guy but paired with Biliew they should be fine. Otherwise you have three of our best players splitting 40 minutes.
I agree about King not being a match up liability, especially early in the season. Not sure who we play in the ESPN Tournament- but Iowa doesn't have a post whose length or physicality is going to give King or Biliew trouble.
It seems that many on here forget how good Ward was at that before he came to ISU. He had a rocky transition to Big 12 ball last year. From what Williams has said, he has had a great spring. Also, go and look at his size and Tre compared to Osun. They are not much different. Tre doesn't have the height as those two but he has more bulk.
| Nov-23 | Mar-24 |
| Tamin Lipsey | Tamin Lipsey |
| Jackson Paveletzke | Keshon Gilbert |
| Keshon Gilbert | Omaha Biliew |
| Omaha Biliew | Milan Momcilovic |
| Tre King | Tre King |
I think the skillsets may be more important than the overall skill levels, if that makes sense. Our offense suffered greatly from having few options that could beat people off the dribble (the best one was Lipsey, but his complete lack of an outside shot made the defense sag). These three guys seem to have the ability to stress the defense from inside, outside and off the dribble.
It will be interesting to see how TJ handles minutes and combinations on the floor this year. I'm sure he will be creative. He has depth and a variety of skillsets to work with.
You threw respect (and sanity) out the window when you picked Gilbert over a Good Gabe.
I think good Gabe’s outside shooting is similar to Gilbert but Gilbert is much quicker and has shown he can create off the bounce, get in the lane and finish at the rim or create for others which was not something Gabe could do very often.
Don't count out Ward yet. If he can add strength, consistently be where he should be on D, and defend without fouling (or at least fouling less) he can be disruptive. He is very long and is an excellent offensive rebounder. Remember that he had visa issues and joined the team late last year. With a full off-season this year, and Osun having graduated, he should get plenty of opportunity to practice and get coached up to improve on last year.
This is a good take and pretty much how I feel. King as a 5 in a vacuum isn't ideal but he's not playing in a vacuum. He can man that interior spot on offense and combined with Omaha (who I'm expecting to play a lot) I'm just not worried against most teams defensively.
I completely forgot about him. I like Ward, he does a lot of things the right way out there
I like this. With a caveat of Williams being healthy. Starting 5 of-
Indeed. I am very high on Ward. He has the length and athleticism that other players do not have. This year he will have a full off season which should benefit him greatly. I bet we will see him for 20 plus a game.
