While the Iowa State men’s basketball team fights for wins in the Big 12, its 2018 recruiting class has been tallying wins left and right in the high school ranks.

Zion Griffin, one of Iowa State’s 2018 commits, caught up with the Daily recently and gave his thoughts on his senior season of high school and Iowa State’s season, among other things. The Daily also talked with 2018 signee Tyrese Haliburton recently, which you can read here.

At 6-foot-6 and just over 200 pounds, Griffin already has a Big 12-ready body.

When Griffin signed with Iowa State in November, Iowa State coach Steve Prohm had a lot of good things to say.

Here is what Coach Prohm had to say about Zion Griffin! #Cyclones pic.twitter.com/gpi2b3bm70

— Cyclone Basketball (@CycloneMBB) November 8, 2017

“He’s a lefty, real skilled three/four,” Prohm said. “He’s probably going to end up being a big wing as he matures in college. He can score at all different phases. Zion has got a college body right now and has a chance to do some good things.”

A Hinsdale South (Illinois) product, Griffin chose Iowa State over reported offers from Pittsburgh, home-state school Illinois and — most notably — Big 12 rival Kansas.

“From the beginning, when coaches are doing a lot of recruiting, the assistant coaches recruit you first and then the head coaches start to come in,” Griffin said. “It was kind of different. Prohm was [recruiting] me from the beginning … when I went and visited it had that home feeling, and I was sold.”

Griffin, of course, isn’t the only Illinois recruit in the 2018 class. Of Iowa State’s four signees, three — Griffin, Talen Horton-Tucker and George Conditt — are from Iowa’s neighbor to the east.

Griffin is currently rated No. 89 nationally in the class of 2018 by 247Sports’ composite rankings. Horton-Tucker sits at No. 111, but will likely move up soon since he rose to No. 31 in Rivals’ rankings. Conditt ranks No. 242 in the composite rankings.

“I knew Talen [before being recruited by Iowa State],” Griffin said. “I actually didn’t know George was from Illinois at first because I played him in AAU and we played them in Indiana, and I didn’t know where he was from.”

It’s pretty rare for a team like Iowa State to walk into another state and get three of the top players. Griffin, Horton-Tucker and Conditt are all among the top-five prospects in Illinois, per 247Sports.

The fourth signee in the class, guard Tyrese Haliburton is the No. 4 prospect in the state of Wisconsin.

That close proximity between the four signees may be a good sign for future team chemistry.

“We talk to each other every day,” Griffin said. “Even before we all committed there, we still all talked to each other outside of basketball. We all have that bond already. I just can’t wait to get on the court with them.”

Given his aforementioned size, Griffin has a chance to play right away when he gets to Ames. Iowa State will likely return four starters from this year’s team, including guards Lindell Wigginton and Nick Weiler-Babb.

Griffin said he’s playing a lot of center for his high school team, which he said will help him prepare for guarding bigger forwards at the next level. His Hinsdale South team is currently 12-4 on the year.

“I feel like I bring in a lot of versatility,” Griffin said. “We can mix up the match-ups and mix up the lineups a lot more. Coach [Prohm] told me I can play where I can guard … I feel like I can play a stretch-four or a three, and once I get there we can do a lot with the match-ups.”