It hasn’t been a normal offseason for Iowa State men’s basketball, to say the least.

With its season ending in a loss to Oklahoma State in the first round of the Big 12 tournament back in March (what seems like a century ago), the team headed into the offseason not knowing where things stood with the 2020-21 season.

Big transfers came into the program, all while some players moved on to new schools. The program recruited big names in hopes of starting another program resurgence. But the question was: would college basketball even return to make it all worthwhile?

Well now, seven months after the season-ending defeat, Iowa State has returned to some sort of normalcy — at least as close to normal as things can be in a world with COVID-19 — and have returned to practice in preparation for the fast-approaching college basketball season.

Prohm provides a roster update

A lot has changed for Iowa State’s roster.

Whether it be new faces joining the program in the form of recruits or transfers, or familiar faces needing to step up into bigger roles, Iowa State Head Coach Steve Prohm has liked what he has seen from his team in the early stages of practice.

The team is currently five days into practice, with Prohm saying the team’s pod structure during the summer and start of fall ended Oct. 12. Even though the team can practice together now after months sectioned off from each other, Prohm’s team still hasn’t been 100 percent all at the same time, with five-on-five action not being able to take place just yet. 

Xavier Foster, one of Iowa State’s most touted recruits over the last three seasons, has been sidelined periodically with shoulder issues, according to Prohm. Foster has returned to practice, and Prohm has seen him take strides to fight for minutes with Iowa State’s two main front-court pieces in Solomon Young and George Conditt. 

Freshman guard Jaden Walker has retuned to practice as well but has not been able to move laterally up and down the floor quite yet. Walker had a knee surgery last February, and Prohm said while he is in practice, most of his work has come in the half-court at a much slower pace.

“It’s going to be the time of year where guys are in and out because of physicality, because you’re going longer [in practice] than they’ve been, so you’re going to have some nicks and bruises,” Prohm said.

Jalen Coleman-Lands, a newly added transfer from DePaul University, has been dealing with the injury bug as well. A hamstring issue has sidelined Coleman-Lands, and Prohm said the team is working him back as well.

But how about a player that isn’t injured?

Junior forward Conditt is expected to step into a bigger role for the Cyclones this season with Michael Jacobson graduating after last season.

Prohm wants Conditt to up his game on both ends of the floor this season, particularly in his presence near the rim. On the offensive end, Conditt will have to be able to rim-run every time he is on the floor and work in sync with the guards in pick and roll and ball screen actions. He was effective in moments with Tyrese Haliburton last season but not enough for him to get stable minutes down the stretch.

Obviously, Conditt’s strength is at the defensive end, with his shot-blocking ability being one of the best in conference last season. Prohm expects that to continue this season and would like to see rebounding numbers increase for the 6-foot-10 inches forward to the tune of about seven to eight rebounds a night.

“He’s gotta challenge himself to change shots at the rim,” Prohm said. “He needs to take a step, and I’ve talked to him about that and he knows that.”

Tyrese Haliburton’s draft status

In an offseason unlike any other for Prohm and Iowa State men’s basketball, one narrative has seemed to stay the same all throughout the year: Tyrese Haliburton will end up being a top-10 pick in the NBA Draft on Nov. 18.

After a great season as a sophomore for the Cyclones, Haliburton’s draft destiny seems almost a lock for the top 10, and Prohm and Tre Jackson feel confident in their predictions that the predetermined destiny comes into reality.

“I couldn’t see him going lower than 10, that’s just my gut,” Prohm said.

A lot of teams have been viewed as THE fit for Haliburton in the top-10, with Prohm mentioning the Golden State Warriors as a team that had interest all season in the sophomore guard. Haliburton fits the Warriors’ culture and the type of player they like to play with, with Prohm saying anything is a possibility.

Having talked more with the media in cities with top-10 picks rather than meeting with team officials, Prohm said almost every team in the top-10 could have their eyes on Haliburton when their pick comes on the board.

Prohm said the “sexy” teams people are talking about in connection with Haliburton appear to be the Chicago Bulls, the New York Knicks, the Phoenix Suns or the Detroit Pistons.

Haliburton turned heads on Monday, not with his basketball skills but with a surprise message to the WWE ahead of its Monday Night Raw show.

“If you’re gonna be on WWE, he must be getting drafted really high,” Prohm said.

Sophomore guard Tre Jackson learned how to be a vocal leader from Haliburton and saw him lead on and off the floor for Iowa State all of last season. As an NBA fan himself, Jackson said he thinks the top-10 pick narrative might even be too low come draft night. He’s praying a top-five pick might be in the cards.

“Man, I pray and hope he goes at least top five, and that’s what it’s looking like right now,” Jackson said. 

Staying patient with challenges of COVID-19

Patience is the word for Iowa State when the topic of COVID-19 comes up. 

Prohm’s message to the team is cut and dry: games will be taken off the schedule for unforeseen circumstances, but they have to handle it the right way and stay locked in on themselves.

“We’re going to need a lot of patience,” Jackson said. “Anything that comes up, we just have to deal with it with the right mindset and just go in and be locked in.”

Prohm knocked on wood as he said Iowa State has not dealt with any COVID-19 issues so far but knows bumps could come at any given moment.

“There’s going to be ebbs and flows, cancellations, postponements, we all gotta handle it the right way and do what’s best for these kids,” Prohm said.

Before the season gets underway, Prohm would like to see changes to contract tracing protocols and clarification on the threshold needed to postpone practice or games.

Even though basketball assumes greater risks for spread of COVID-19 with the sport being indoors and smaller rosters being together more often, the idea of shutting a team down for two weeks after one positive test seemed counterproductive in Prohm’s opinion.

“If you have a COVID outbreak, you probably aren’t going to play for the next two weeks because of contract tracing right now,” Prohm said. “It’s going to probably shut everybody down from that standpoint.”