Emilija Dakic comes to Ames after spending last season with the Florida Gators, where she filled a bench role on a team that went 5-11 in conference play. The Melbourne native also brings international experience, having played for the 2024 Australian U-18 team that won Asia Cup gold. That’s also where she first played alongside Washington transfer Sienna Harvey, and with former teammate Gift Ezikiel now on the roster, the move to Ames should feel a little less like starting over.
Dakic’s college and international minutes have come in shorter bursts. At Florida and with Australia, she was typically out there for 7-15 minutes a game.
She’s listed at 5-10, and that matters on a roster packed with guards. What she does offer is familiarity with two players already in the program, which could help her settle in quickly once the season gets rolling.
There’s also some proof she can handle tougher competition. At Florida, Dakic logged a season-high 10 points against South Carolina. That kind of experience should matter as Iowa State moves through non-conference play, from the lower end of the schedule to the upper-mid level of the MVC - the Cyclones are set for FOUR games against the MVC - and eventually into matchups with teams like USC and Iowa.
How Bill Fennelly will deploy her is still a mystery. The minutes picture won’t really come into focus until the season is underway, and maybe not until conference play is well into its swing.
That makes sense for a roster loaded with newcomers. Dakic has a real chance to grab a role early, show she can produce at the power conference level, and become a useful depth option.
The larger plan seems straightforward: play fast, play hard, and keep the pressure on. With so many guards and so many unknowns, depth could end up being the difference between a team that fades and one that keeps its edge.
Dakic doesn’t need to be the star for that to matter. If she can give Iowa State 10 strong minutes of energy and intensity, she could become a key piece for a Cyclone team that should be a lot of fun to watch.
In Other News...
Iowa State Enters Brent Metcalf Era With One Big Lineup Test
Iowa States annual wrestling media day on Oct. 21 offered the first real look at the Brent Metcalf era, and the early message from the program was clear: the Cyclones are entering the season with a fresh tone and a lot of lineup moving parts. With roster changes already in motion, several key wrestlers are settling into new weight classes as the staff begins to sort out what the best version of this team might look like.
Metcalf and his athletes kept the conversation centered on effort and competition rather than early projections, a sensible approach for a group still taking shape under a new coach. The optimism was evident, but so was the urgency, with Iowa State now less than two weeks from its first dual meet on Nov. 1 against Bucknell and a chance to see how those adjustments hold up once the matches begin. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Faces A Bigger Jaylen Raynor Question Than His Stats
Jaylen Raynors stat line has not exactly matched the kind of production you might expect from a quarterback with 42 straight starts, but Iowa States staff is looking at his job through a wider lens. Head coach Jimmy Rogers said Raynors role as more of a game manager naturally shapes the numbers, and the bigger takeaway so far has been his steadiness and the trust he has built by keeping the offense on schedule and out of trouble.
Even with that context, Raynor and Rogers both have made it clear there is room for improvement, which is where the real tension starts to show. The passing totals are on pace to land at career lows, but the more important question for Iowa State is whether Raynor can keep the same dependable backbone while nudging the offense toward more production as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]
Tre Singleton Gets A Huge Iowa State Chance At Northwestern
Tre Singleton is heading into a very familiar setting with a much bigger opportunity attached to it. The sophomore forward spent one season at Northwestern before moving on to Iowa State, and his path has already started to pick up steam after a strong freshman year and a solid showing in the Cyclones recent exhibition game. Now he gets a chance to show how far his game has come in front of the program he once called home.
For Iowa State, Singletons role against Northwestern is more than just a personal reunion. It is a chance for the Cyclones to lean on a player who knows the building, the people and the atmosphere, while also seeing how he fits into a larger rotation against a team that already knows some of his background. The matchup gives Singleton a meaningful stage early in the season, and it will be one of the more interesting individual angles to watch when the game tips. [Read more 🡒]