Tamin Lipsey

Elite, elite perimeter defender at Iowa State.

What is there on offense? Uh, totally different context and system, um, and team that he's gonna be in this year with the loss of Tamin Lipsey and Milan Montrilovich and Joshua Jefferson.

So what does his role look like? What can he contribute? Um, how many warts were those guys covering up? Um, or, you know, were they holding him back? So really excited to see what his second year looks like.

And then JT Toppin, um-

Like, getting Lipsey back and, and, you know, if he's eligible, he instantly becomes one of the be- best players in the country, which, you know.

I think that there are some guys that, like, have gotten eligible here that, like, you know, are important, like, can contribute, but I don't think there's a player in the country that's gotten eligible as good as Ta- Tamin Lipsey, and how important he is to Iowa State.

Like, the fact that he comes back, he's a four-year player, he understands, like, w- their system, what they want, wanna do, how to, how to do it.

I, I think getting a guy like that back when you have other transfers in Ja'Quan Johnson, Ryan Prather, Singleton, Leon Bond.

Uh, I look at Iowa State as a team that I think there's a chance they could be the number one defense in the, all of college basketball this year.

I think that every single piece that they added in the portal can help them on defense.

Uh, if Tamin Lipsey's eligible, that's one of the best point of attack defenders.

When Turay returns from health, or from his injury, that's one of the best point of attack defenders.

Uh, you know, the NIL is not something, uh, he embraced.

Uh, I doubt he was gung-ho about Tamin Lipsey coming back just because it doesn't fit the model of, you know, where, what he thought college athletics should be.

Um, I'm sure he adjusted some, as, as some people have, but-

I haven't heard one person say they like the direction of college sports.

I think ...

I don't think he would ever close a door on Tamin Leipzig, one of the greatest Cyclones of all time.

But I don't think many people anticipated this being an option either until you realize what type of court case people could have when they go back and say, "Why are we the only class excluded from the five and five simply because the rule was different when we start?" You know, there were guys older than them who, uh, the rule was different when they started, but it applied to them because they had the C- go e- the COVID, all the other things.

You know, I wrote about Max Balloon today and- and that, that guy is in his seventh year in part because he got the traditional and now defunct red shirt freshman deal.

They're bringing back Donovan Atwell.

And when, well, when other teams in your conference are doing it, and there's nothing that seems to be stopping this, and you can have a player that ...

TJ said it himself, nobody's impacted winning more to a single college basketball program than what Tamin Leipzig has done for Iowa State the last four years.

It's kind of a no-brainer, and I- I think Iowa State's ...

They don't have Williams and Stillwell and, and, um, Atwell.

And if they don't have those guys, if Kansas doesn't get Melvin Counselor or Trey White, uh, then if Iowa doesn't have Tamin Lipsey, then, like, Arizona's still the number one team even without RJ Godfrey.

So I think they're in a good spot regardless.

And, uh, sh- it's gonna be a really fun year in the Big 12, but I think that until they get knocked off, they should be considered that top team.

Mm-hmm

... and Killian Tillie.

But I, I think Tamin Leipzig would make them the number four.

But operating under the assumption that Tamin Leipzig's not coming back because he's played a million games-

A little more than a month.

Tamin Lipsey is back for Iowa State.

Malik Reneau is back for Miami.

That's a big one.

He was their leading scorer last year.

Tamin Lipsey was, I would say, Iowa State's best player.

Mark Mitchell [laughs] originally tried to transfer to Kentucky.

Uh, SEC rules said you can't do...

RJ Godrey, Godfrey for Arizona is going to be another big one.

Tamin Lipsey for Iowa State.

Like, the, the, the depth of the transfers in that conference.

Javon Buchanan at, at West Virginia.