Iowa State men's basketball begins a new youthful chapter in 2023/24 season

AMES – T.J. Otzelberger sat at a table in a mostly empty room, addressing, through the camera, a desperate and disillusioned fanbase.

“We need to start building the foundation,” the newly-minted Iowa State men’s basketball coach said at his introductory press conference, “that’s going to create the success over the long haul.”

Sitting in that same spot more than two years later, Otzelberger unofficially opened his third season helming the Cyclones with that foundation of success firmly in place after unfathomably reaching back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.

Now the next phase of the work begins – sustaining that success for the long term.

“You want to be older in college basketball when you can,” Otzelberger told the Register at the program’s annual media day, “but we had to have more of a long-term mindset of how we build this program.”

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While Otzelberger is in his third season leading the Cyclones, this season could be best viewed as the unveiling of what the program could look like in the years ahead. In their first two seasons, Otzelberger and his staff had to assemble their rosters on the fly, whereas the 2023-24 Cyclones have come together more intentionally and meticulously.

That first offseason was a blur of recruiting activity for a staff that signed up to rejuvenate a program coming off a 2-22 campaign that featured a winless record against Big 12 opponents. It was a mad dash to find players capable of executing an immediate rebuild.

Year 2 saw the Cyclones have to reinvent themselves after star point guard Tyrese Hunter transferred to Texas and the expected transfer of A.J. Green, the Northern Iowa star and son of Iowa State assistant Kyle Green, failed to materialize with Green’s decision to go to the NBA. Having anticipated having one of the best backcourts in the country, Iowa State instead had to once again heavily hit the transfer portal and reimagine the roster.

Now, though, Otzelberger has had the time – and success – to put together a roster with a multi-year effort. It resulted in landing McDonald’s All-American Omaha Biliew and top-40 big man Milan Momcilovic as part of a top-10 recruiting class nationwide.

“This is the first group we had a good amount of time from a recruiting standpoint to get out in front of guys,” Otzelberger said. “Instead of every year (thinking) we’re going to be dependent on six or seven new players in the transfer portal. It felt like it was more important to get high school guys in that can develop opportunities and grow old in our program.”

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That leaves Otzelberger with perhaps as conventional a roster as a coach can put together in the transfer era portal. There are five freshmen, a pair of sophomores with time already in the program, three first-year transfers and three returning seniors, all of whom transferred into the program.

Iowa State, which had the benefit of a preseason exhibition tour in the Bahamas in August, began fall practice last week.

“Competitive,” senior Tre King said when asked to describe Cyclones' practices. “When you watch us practice, it’s very high-energy, high-intensity. Very physical and a very competitive practices.

“I think our guys have done a very good job embracing that and the habits we’ve created.”

Given the roster construction, some combination of freshmen will have to contribute this season for the Cyclones to make a third-straight NCAA Tournament.

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“I like how the (freshmen) have been very open and receptive to criticism and advice from not only the coaches,” King said, “but the older guys as well who have gone through a full season of college basketball.

“Their open-mindedness and willingness to work has been great for us.”

Still, the level of youth on the roster means a new level of patience for the rest of the program.

“A lot more teaching on the court,” Otzelberger said. “A lot of firsts, things that are new. As coaches, we need to be more patient, understanding there’s going to be more of a process when you take guys that are transfers or older transfers like we’ve had.”

Much of Iowa State’s success over the previous two years, however, has been predicated in no small part on the Cyclones’ ability to be good – especially defensively – immediately. Iowa State has gone 21-2 against non-conference opponents in November and December the last two years.

Can the Cyclones’ defense, ranked in the top 10 in efficiency in the last two years, again be immediately elite with so much inexperience?

“We’re certainly hopeful that it can,” Otzelberger said. “It’s important for us when we start on opening night that what we’ve worked on shows up for us. We’re going to continue to uphold that standard.

“We’re going to set the bar high, and demand we uphold it the best we can.”

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It’s easy to see this season as the next iteration of what the Cyclones will be under Otzelberger. Gone are many of the players who provided immediate, but short-term, help like Izaiah Brockington, Gabe Kalscheur, Jaren Holmes and others.

The spotlight – and responsibility – now shifts to Tamin Lipsey, Demarion Watson, Biliew and Momcilovic, who Iowa State hopes can be the cornerstones of the type of sustained success the program had from 2012-19. In that time the program went to seven NCAA Tournaments and two Sweet 16s in eight seasons powered by four-year stars and impactful transfers.

That next stage in the process starts in earnest now.

“Now having six of our 15 guys in their first year of college basketball, there’s been some new things for those guys,” Otzelberger said. “In terms of multiple efforts, understanding how hard you have to play every possession. The schedule on a daily basis can get grueling. That level of physical play.

“We’ve had to be open-minded and adaptive, but I feel like today as we sit here, fortunate for that time to go to the Bahamas and that time we had there, we’re further along that maybe I thought we could be with those guys.”

Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or  (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State MBB prepares for Year 3 under coach T.J. Otzelberger