Bossi's Best: Potential three-star surprises
https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/bossi-s-best-potential-three-star-surprises
MARCEDUS LEECH
Where he's headed: Iowa State
Why he could star: There was a time when Leech was a consensus top 50 prospect in the land. However, injuries and inactivity over the last year and change have caused him to fall off the national radar. If he can find his athleticism again and get back to his high scoring, slashing self, then he will be a steal for Steve Prohm and the Cyclones.
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If we end up with...
-- one man who can contribute immediately and eventually star
-- one man who starts slow but develops into a solid contributors
-- one man who busts... sucks but it happens
...then this class did what it needed to do.
We are almost certainly not done yet. Heck, according to some people, we are going to lose Wigginton (likely), Lard (maybe), Horton-Tucker (not likely this year), and one more (tends to happen) to give us another 3-4 come this springtime.
That would be interesting - pretty much guts the sophomore class. For class balance, My bet would be no more than one additional 2019 guy (if any) then it would be Juco's and sit-outs - maybe one grad transfer.
Imo we need at least one of Jackson and Leech to be a top Big 12 freshmen to have the backcourt that can make the tournament. And hopefully this spring we find an impact (instant quality starter level) guy for next year.![]()
If we end up with...
-- one man who can contribute immediately and eventually star
-- one man who starts slow but develops into a solid contributors
-- one man who busts... sucks but it happens
...then this class did what it needed to do.
We are almost certainly not done yet. Heck, according to some people, we are going to lose Wigginton (likely), Lard (maybe), Horton-Tucker (not likely this year), and one more (tends to happen) to give us another 3-4 come this springtime.
Imo we need at least one of Jackson and Leech to be a top Big 12 freshmen to have the backcourt that can make the tournament.
That is what I had in mind with my "one needs to contribute immediately."
We have one current starter coming back in Haliburton, a fifth-year senior in Nixon, and the likely star next year in Horton-Tucker, which is not a bad start.
I am not giving up on Lewis or Griffin, but neither has shown a ton so far.
I think we would need at least one, hopefully two, of either those two or Jackson or Leech to really come in and make an impact if we are going to be any good.
Plus whatever we can come up with in the spring.
Yeah, we basically need one or two guys outside the top-150 to basically be All-Big 12 freshmen. (And for Haliburton to make a decent jump forward).That is what I had in mind with my "one needs to contribute immediately."
We have one current starter coming back in Haliburton, a fifth-year senior in Nixon, and the likely star next year in Horton-Tucker, which is not a bad start.
I am not giving up on Lewis or Griffin, but neither has shown a ton so far.
I think we would need at least one, hopefully two, of either those two or Jackson or Leech to really come in and make an impact if we are going to be any good.
Plus whatever we can come up with in the spring.
Jacobson will be back and if we assume continued growth and development that's really not a bad start to a roster
He was playing with lots of confidence today. Played loose and very goodTerence doesn't have any confidence, but unfortunately I don't think he has it between the ears either.
I see that Texas signed their hometown five star seven-footer. Huh. I guess they now have another future Longhorn All-American center...for another future Cyclone All-American to one day posterize.![]()
Jacobson will be back and if we assume continued growth and development that's really not a bad start to a roster
And Conditt. Look for him to make a leap. Maybe not as much as Jacobson, but he’ll be a lot better after a year of S&C and going against Lard, Jacobson, and Young.And Young
IMO - If Lard leaves its not for the NBA. He is nowhere ready for that. Also, I think we will continue to play s lot of small ball, with situational two “bigs.” A lot of BB to be played, but I don’t see how you displace Jacobson as a starter. He is a freakin warrior. I would argue he is our best player through 5 games. Very solid, very consistent. Smart D, and seems to get 15 & 7 whoever we play. When (hopefully) Jacobson, Lard and Young are all ready to go, it will be interesting to see where the minutes go.A starting 5 of Haliburton, THT, Nixon, Jacobsen and Young wouldn't be bad at all, if Lard were back (probably a big if) all they would need is another ball handler off the bench and that's an NCAA team. The bench would be solid but wouldn't have a true guard. The transfer market might be tough this year, there isn't likely a starting spot in the back court and it may be late in the game before we know who is leaving early. It could be hard to get the kind of player we'd need that can't be guaranteed a starting role. A juco guard would be a really good fit.
Jacobson has been amazing, our best player in terms of advanced stats. But Lard was that a year ago. If Young and Lard can play together, Jacobson and Lard definitely can.IMO - If Lard leaves its not for the NBA. He is nowhere ready for that. Also, I think we will continue to play s lot of small ball, with situational two “bigs.” A lot of BB to be played, but I don’t see how you displace Jacobson as a starter. He is a freakin warrior. I would argue he is our best player through 5 games. Very solid, very consistent. Smart D, and seems to get 15 & 7 whoever we play. When (hopefully) Jacobson, Lard and Young are all ready to go, it will be interesting to see where the minutes go.