Ummm.... Pleta WILL be a contributor.
Ryan Prather Jr. has committed to Iowa State!
- Thread starter LLCoolCY
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I feel like Batemon is going to step in and take that role of a scorer. He showed spurts of a very skilled scorer, but with the older guys there I don’t think that’s what they wanted from him this year.
I worry about Buchanen’s ability to find shots on his own without Jefferson drawing that defense. Hopefully the transfers can get some interior offense or this season is gonna look like the NCAA tournament where they were able to just hound our guards.
No, absolutely not. But there’s potentially more platooning (like Blake & Pleta last year).
Singleton and Manning are ‘4s’ and will replace Jefferson.
Johnson is a PG and will replace Lipsey
Prather and Bond are 6’5” wings and will replace Milan/Heise at the ‘3’.
In that sense it lines up a lot like last years lineup.
I can see Batemon and Johnson as the starting backcourt. Both are great on the ball defenders and can score in the half court. Toure will certainly play starters minutes off the bench in that case. We will be small at the 3, but to be fair, with Milan not being a big rebounder or interior defender, that won’t be so different from this year. It should be another fun season of Cyclone basketball!
Worked for the Hakeem Rockets. I hope our big man is simultaneously unguardable and great at finding the open shooter.
Just curious why you think Toure was a starter all last season and Bateman came off the bench and now it will be the other way around. I see Bateman in the Curtis Jones 6th man roll
Can never have enough jump shooters. Plus, it's not like Prather or Bond are small wings at 6'5". And Bond is a stud athlete.
But we didn't need more bigs than we signed on Saturday
PF- Singleton, Manning, Kiss
C- Buchanan, Pleta, Rinaldo Kolman
I would expect Manning to get backup minutes at PF. He played 20mpg at KSU. Not a proven scorer but can defend & rebound.
Playing Prather & Bond at the 3 is no different than Heise. People tend to overlook Jefferson averaged 31mpg, meaning Momcilovic played 9mpg (of his 30mpg) at the 4.
So in 2025/26 TJ played 3 guards over 50% of game minutes.
I love that TJ added 3 seniors, and a couple guys who look like they will be tough in rebounding the ball / grown men. I don't think a tourney run again is out of the question.
TJ is a machine.
TJ is a machine.
People shouldn’t be surprised or panic if Manning starts at PF early in the year and Singleton comes off the bench.
Manning is a grown man who is a proven defender in the BigXII and Singleton is only going to be a sophomore
I know transfer rankings are a complete crap shoot, but I was surprised how much 247 hates Prather. He’s by far the lowest ranked off the 5. Given that he scored almost 16 ppg and shot 37% from 3 on 7 attempts per game, I thought he’d be higher.
Here’s how 247 ranked the 5 :
Prather : #231
Manning : #201
Bond : #194
Singleton : #104
Johnson : #44
Again those are meaningless - it I thought it was interesting
ADDING: for reference - last year Nelson and Williams were both in the 230 and Blake was #134.
Here’s how 247 ranked the 5 :
Prather : #231
Manning : #201
Bond : #194
Singleton : #104
Johnson : #44
Again those are meaningless - it I thought it was interesting
ADDING: for reference - last year Nelson and Williams were both in the 230 and Blake was #134.
Toure and Blake will start. Everything else up for grabs.
This team will defend, I'd still like a rim protector, and someone that can get 20 points a night. I'm hoping we don't end up like a few years ago, if we gave of 65 points or less we had a 90% chance of winning. If we gave up 70 or more we had a 10% chance of winning. That was frustrating like watching ISU West Virgina in the Huggins days.
That's quite a roster, all very good players. How many seniors will we have next year? Buchanon, Manning and Bond, those 3 only?
I don't see too many bench warmers here. If there was ever a time for a 10-11 man rotation, this might be it. Definitely good bench depth.
Singleton, Bond (I believe) and Manning are forwards. I'm pretty sure that Singleton and Buchanan will be starters so that's two forwards.
If TJ wants the best defenders to start, you start Toure, Johnson, & Bond in the back court, the last two being on the MVC all defense team. So many new faces, it'll be fun to see how they mesh and develop over the season.
