Iowa State basketball: Grad Transfer Zoran Talley joining the Cyclones
By Doug Winkey
Iowa State basketball picked up a puzzle piece for the 2017-2018 season last night. Zoran Talley is transferring from Old Dominion to the Cyclones.
It has been a while since Iowa State basketball had any big news to report. Much of this summer has been spent pondering what the new recruits will bring to the table. That changed last night when news broke that Old Dominion’s Zoran Talley would join the Cyclones. The former Monarch is immediately eligible for 2017-2018 and has two seasons left to play.
Talley stands 6’7″ and weighs in at 200 pounds. His size alone will make him an option in the front court rotation. He averaged 11.3 points for ODU last year to make him the second-leading scorer until he was dismissed for rules violations. Talley also chipped in 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists. The biggest void in his game is three-point shooting, where Talley has gone just 4-14 over two seasons. He has the frame of a stretch forward, but not the skill set.
Looking at ISU’s scholarship chart, the Cyclones will likely use Talley as a front court sub. I project Solomon Young and Jeff Beverly to start for the bigs, but Talley will be a factor thanks to ISU’s relative lack of proven faces down low. He will have to adjust to ISU’s tempo, which was 170th compared to Old Dominions’ 348th, but that is a minor thing too much of a problem.
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Talley does have some question marks with his shooting and past behavior, but Iowa State’s offense will evolve to include him and Steve Prohm has been good with troublemakers in the past. This is a low-risk and high-reward move for a team trying to stay in the Big 12 race. Having Talley for two years is also a huge bonus looking towards 2018-2019.