Breakout Players for this year

KurtWarner

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2025
726
2,006
93
I'm anxious to see how everyone does. Really intrigued with Thompson after hearing reports he's pretty good. Sage was great as a freshman, he showed a lot of poise. Then you got coon, harris..exc exc. It's hard to pick one. Can’t wait for the season to start
 

Hawksfor3

All-American
Dec 5, 2016
6,122
7,169
113
Itll be a more balanced te that's for sure. Probably more talented overall too
Yessir. We may be looking at a 6'4-7'3 starting lineup this season. McKeever is a good passer. Not sure about his rim protection. I don't think he was labeled as a rim protector at St. Mary's. For the season last year, he averaged eight points per game, but had under one block per game. I hope Ben and staff can develop him more in the way of a rim protector, than just being a "Presence" around the rim.
 
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CRHAWK

Senior
Sep 7, 2025
291
832
93
Yessir. We may be looking at a 6'4-7'3 starting lineup this season. McKeever is a good passer. Not sure about his rim protection. I don't think he was labeled as a rim protector at St. Mary's. For the season last year, he averaged eight points per game, but had under one block per game. I hope Ben and staff can develop him more in the way of a rim protector, than just being a "Presence" around the rim.
I wouldn't be too worried about McKeever's block numbers. He more than likely had low block numbers due to a low amount of minutes and because no one wants to shoot a layup when there is a 7'3 guy around him, so instead they either pass, shoot a pull-up mid range or shoot a difficult layup. He can be a rim protector without high block numbers because of his height.
 

2432Hawk

Heisman
Jun 22, 2002
5,966
11,163
113
I'm going with Trey. I hope he's as good as has been advertised :)
I think he could very easily be our leading scorer this year.

Rewatching some video on his game... he's got a lot of Nick Martinelli to his game. Little taller and more athletic, but just has a scorers mentality and punishes mismatches. A 3-level scorer.
 
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hawkeyemark18

Senior
Aug 16, 2019
292
513
93
I think Jirak is going to surprise a lot of people in a very positive way. I was surprised and disappointed Ben didn't give him some run vs. Illinois.
Tate Sage singled out Jirak as a player to keep your eye on in a recent interview. His development coupled with the acquisition of McKeever represents a significant step forward in our ability to compete with these teams like Illinois that have some size.
 

eyesofhawk

All-Conference
Apr 17, 2011
2,719
2,870
113
Defensively it is. Offensively....yikes.
Yes, would be tough for spacing.

At least McKeever can pass.

But what's interesting if both McKeever and Cam start, is Cam would actually be the 3, as that's who he'd be guarding. That would allow Koch to guard the 4.

In that case, Cam could get size mismatches inside and be more than a handful on the O-glass.

Then again, teams can cross-match vs Iowa, as the Hawks won't punish them for it in transition.

Certainly a strong rebounding lineup
 
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