ISU Big man Needs

[ISURocks]

Anyone know if there are any "Bigs" on the recruiting horizon for the 08 or 09?

[JCloned]

Chris Williams from the Ames Trib usually has some good insights and recently posted a look at big man recruiting...here is an excerpt and link to his article....

Iowa State's men's basketball class of 2008 recently took another hit when Indiana prep Tyler Zeller narrowed down his top four. As I've been predicting for months now, the Cyclones were not among his desired schools.


That's a tough break because Zeller has a legit chance to be a great player, but we all knew this was going to happen. In reality, Zeller's decision does not affect this class at all.

What it does is narrow down the list of potential post players in this class even more. With names dropping off the board each week, it's now time for the coaches to broaden their horizons a little bit.

Where are they looking?
Well, surprisingly enough, on the junior college front. The name Mario Little is quickly gaining notice around college basketball, and ISU is right in the thick of things, as they've now made an offer to the 6-foot-5, 225-pound forward.

Little, out of Chipola (Fla.) Community College, now claims offers from Iowa State, Kansas State, Illinois and Florida State.

The Cyclones just might have an edge.

"I'm really close to the assistant coach, T.J (Otzelberger)," Little said. "He's always seemed like a really genuine guy, and I like him."

Otzelberger was an assistant coach at Chipola during the 2004-05 season, and it's also where former Cyclone Mike Taylor played.

"Iowa State is a program on the rise," Little said. "That's all I know really about them."

While Little isn't Iowa State's ideal large post player to add to this class, he's a big shooting guard or small forward who can score in a lot of different ways. On top of that, he's a great rebounder and simply too talented to pass up at this point and time.

Notebook: More on the 2008 class
There's a new '08 big man who is recently getting some love from ISU. He is Tom Prichard, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound post out of Lakewood, Ohio. Even though Prichard and his family declined to comment for this column, he's now on ISU's radar as well as numerous other Division I programs.

Prichard is your typical Mid-American or Missouri Valley conference prospect, but as I've stated the last few weeks, there simply isn't a whole lot of depth down low in the class of '08. That increases his value on a national scale.

ISU needs to land at least one pure post in this class. South Dakota's Colten Iverson would be ideal, but his popularity is on the rise every day. Luckily, coaches Greg McDermott and Jeff Rutter planted the seeds early with this one.