Roughly halfway through the summer, redshirt junior Jameel McKay predicted that his Walnut Creek YMCA squad would win the Capital City League title and that he and sophomore teammate Hallice Cooke would share MVP honors.

McKay’s prediction came close.

The league wrapped up at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School in West Des Moines on July 13 with the semifinals and finals being played back-to-back. McKay’s Walnut Creek team defeated the Coca Cola Bottling Company of Atlantic, led by senior Dustin Hogue, in the semis. Then it turned right around in the finals and took down Adio Chriropractic, which was led by sophomores Monte Morris and Matt Thomas.

McKay scored 34 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in the 111-106 championship victory. McKay also won league MVP honors, largely because he averaged 19 rebounds per contest during his 10 games, a Capital City League record.

McKay was unable to display his skill set last season for the Cyclones as he was ineligible due to NCAA transfer rules, but he will add a post presence on both ends of the court for an ISU team that is expected to be nationally competitive in the 2014-15 season.

“I am really excited and I cannot wait to play,” McKay said. “I cannot wait to team up with Georges [Niang]. Me and him compete everyday.”

The tone throughout the ISU team as it has competed in the last month in West Des Moines has been one of effort and enthusiasm toward the upcoming season.

“Team-wise, we are going to be so good it will be amazing,” said junior Kourtlin Jackson. “This year, I think we are going to be a little better than we were last year.”

However, expectations have been tempered by some veterans on the team who know just how difficult it is to make a run like the Cyclones did last year when they captured the Big 12 Championship title and earned a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA tournament.

“I think we can challenge [in the NCAA tournament] next year. We are really excited about the team we have,” Niang said. “But, that being said, we have a lot of work to do. Nobody has met everyone on the team just yet. We have not met [Georgios Tsalmpouris] yet, and we are all mending together and building relationships now so when the season comes we can stick together and play through adversity.”

Tsalmpouris, the incoming 7-foot freshman from Greece, isn’t the only one the ISU players have not practiced with, played with or even met with yet.

Senior transfer Bryce Dejean-Jones from University of Nevada Las Vegas, who might possibly function in a replacement role for the graduated DeAndre Kane, will not arrive on campus until August.

Freshman Clayton Custer is also a new addition to the team and McKay will see his first minutes of NCAA action in an ISU uniform this upcoming season.

The aspect of blending new teammates under a particular style of basketball to establish roles and create the best chance for success is something every collegiate program deals with because of graduation and the NBA draft.

However, considering Iowa State’s history of transfers stepping into prominent roles during their first seasons in Ames — take DeAndre Kane and Royce White for instance — one could say the ISU program has as much experience as any school in the country at creating unity on the fly.

The attitude and maturity of the players is a key factor in the ability to achieve a cohesive unit, and it is exemplified even among the youthful ranks of the ISU players.

“I am going to work hard each day and I am not coming and expecting a lot of [personal attention],” said Cooke, who transferred in from Oregon State and will be ineligible in the upcoming ISU season. “I am very low maintenance and I want to get better everyday to help win games and be a leader for this team.”

The leadership and comradery that are built over the course of the Capital City League summer play have been cited by McKay, Cooke and Niang, among others, as the supreme value of summer basketball moving into the following season.

“[New guys] get a glimpse of what Hilton is going to be like and how dedicated these fans are,” Niang said. “Whenever you can come out and play in front of these great fans that always gives you a good feeling, so I think those guys cherish these moments.”

Beyond cohesiveness, health has been a mild concern for Iowa State, as Niang returns from a broken foot that ended his NCAA tournament run. Niang’s broken foot potentially ended the team’s run as well, as Iowa State lost in the Sweet 16 in a close fight with Connecticut, the eventual tournament champion.

“I am feeling great. I did a lot of work on my conditioning and getting my foot back,” Niang said. “I think [beyond that] the biggest thing has been eating healthier. I have been putting good things in my body and that is the biggest thing I have done.”

Junior Naz Long missed most of the summer league due to a groin injury, but he returned for the summer league playoffs and played well, indicating his health will be manageable moving forward.

The Cyclones have nearly four months before the regular season begins, but just because summer league is over, that does not mean the basketball will stop. Long indicated that chasing excellence is a year-round pursuit.

“We work out as a team. We get a bunch of workouts in,” Long said. “Everybody comes in the gym, we get some pick up going … we work every single day.”