Today is July 26th 2022. A little over a year ago, the Iowa State Cyclones fired its men's basketball head coach after two consecutive 20 loss seasons. Today, it added the final piece to its best recruiting class of all time. In between now and then was the fastest turnaround a program has ever seen.
The offseason momentum started when 4-star Jelani Hamilton (Austell, GA) made his commitment on July 1st. Both of Jelani's parents attended Iowa State, which ultimately influenced his final decision to follow in their footsteps. To paraphrase Brent Blum from the CF podcast network, you never know what kind of connections are out there.
Fifteen days later, 4-star Milan Momcilovic (Pewaukee, WI) committed to Iowa State giving the Cyclones an early top 5 rated recruiting class (247). "An instant connection with Milwaukee native and Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger was one of the deciding factors in Momcilovic committing to the Cyclones." Zac Bellman said in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Today, 5-star Omaha Biliew (Waukee, IA) chose Iowa State over the likes of Kansas, Oregon, and the G-league ignite. What are the odds that a physical, defensive minded 5-star prospect is sitting in the backyard of a rebranded program that prides itself on its grit and grind playstyle? Omaha and the Otzelberger lead Cyclones are a match made in heaven, and his commitment locked Iowa State into a top 5 recruiting class.
Sometimes in sports, the stars align.
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