Iowa State Basketball: Freshman Xavier Foster key piece for 2020-21 season
By Erik Mauro
Xavier Foster looks to have a major impact in his freshman season for Iowa State Basketball.
Xavier Foster’s Mother’s side of the family is all Iowa alumni, and his grandfather even played football for the Hawkeyes. Foster grew up a Hawkeye fan himself. When Foster committed, he cited the fact that Iowa State Basketball is a better fit for his game, and like most players, the NBA is his goal, and Iowa State has a better track record than the Hawkeyes.
Foster can do a little bit of everything on the court. He averaged 23.4 PPG, 9.7 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks during his senior year at Oskaloosa High School. He finished his career with 1,242 points, 795 rebounds, and 390 blocked shots, just dominating the competition.
He also drained 93 shots from three, so he’s not just a big man. Foster was ranked as the 70th best recruit in the nation in the 247Sports Composite rankings.
The Cyclones have a lot coming back from last year’s team, plus graduate transfer Jalen Coleman-Lands. The only big man on the roster before Foster was George Conditt, who can’t spread the floor as well as Foster can.
Conditt only attempted three 3-pointers last season and didn’t make any of them. Foster will be the player who comes in when the Cyclones want to go fast and spread it around and let it fly, while Conditt will be in for rebounding and easy buckets underneath.
Foster will likely be among Iowa State’s starting five, along with Rasir Bolton, Coleman-Lands, Tre Jackson, and Solomon Young. Foster completes Iowa State’s roster and fills it out so there is scoring from everywhere. The inside scoring for the ‘Clones had been lacking for the past couple years and hopefully for Iowa State fans, Foster makes an immediate impact.
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This is the first step for the Cyclones to get back to the NCAA Tournament. With COVID-19 still wreaking havoc on the world, the Big 12 schedule is up in the air, but with Iowa State’s history, the schedule will be tough and Foster will have his chance to prove it right away.