Iowa State is heading into the 2026-27 season in a strange but productive spot: enough familiar pieces to feel grounded, enough roster and staff turnover to make it look like a fresh start.
That tension is all over T.J. Otzelberger’s program right now.
The Cyclones are coming off their third Sweet 16 in five seasons under him, but they also had to absorb a major offseason shakeup. Tamin Lipsey is gone after signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Pacers.
Joshua Jefferson, a consensus All-American, went in the first round of the NBA Draft. Milan Momcilovic, the program’s most accomplished single-season shooter, transferred to Kentucky after a flirt with the draft.
On the staff side, J.R. Blount took the head coaching job at San Diego and Kyle Green is now the head coach at Northern Iowa.
Even with all that movement, Iowa State still brings back more than 37% of its scoring from last season. The Cyclones also added veteran assistant Tim Buckley, brought in Allan Hanson from Bradley, and Otzelberger plans to hire one more assistant as the program keeps expanding into a new phase.
“The transition's been as smooth as it can be,” Otzelberger said Tuesday in his first media setting of the summer. “We're fortunate that we had a plan in place prior to those situations happening.
We had an idea of what we wanted to do, and how we're going to attack it. And those guys have done a great job every day at continuing to move us forward.”
The returning group gives Iowa State a real starting point. Killyan Toure is back after averaging 8.6 points, Blake Buchanan returns at 8.5, Jamarion Batemon is back after putting up 6.6, and sophomore forward Dominykas Pleta is also in the mix after averaging 4.4. They’ll be joined by a transfer class that includes Leon Bond III from Northern Iowa, Ryan Prather Jr. from Robert Morris, Taj Manning from Kansas State, JaQuan Johnson from Bradley and Tre Singleton from Northwestern.
Otzelberger made it clear the identity still starts with buy-in.
“From a program standpoint, we want tremendous buy-in,” Otzelberger said. “We want to build culture, chemistry, cohesion, those guys' relationships every single year.
We want to be a team that really competes for that unity based on time spent together, whether that's meals, practices, workouts, time at the apartment, those sort of things. So we always want to make that investment, and this time of the year, we always want to grow closer as a team.
We always want to establish a standard in work habits, how we dress, how we walk, how we talk, how we conduct ourselves, how we treat people, what we're going to do in the classroom, so that will always remain consistent.”
The newcomers give Iowa State some very specific tools. Prather brings backcourt size, shooting and play-making, though questions remain about whether he can be the primary creative force offensively and handle the speed of Iowa State’s defense.
Bond adds athleticism, shot-making and Missouri Valley defensive team honors, and he could fill a wing-stopper role the Cyclones have been missing. That kind of presence would have mattered against sharpshooters like Donovan Atwell and against freshmen standouts such as Brayden Burries and Nate Ament, who combined to help hand Iowa State three losses this past season.
Manning arrives after four seasons at Kansas State, and his 2025-26 year was his most productive. Otzelberger has pointed to Manning’s physicality and strength, and believes he can unlock more than Jerome Tang did over four seasons with the Wildcats.
Johnson brings toughness and a strong defensive résumé, even if he has to answer size questions in the Big 12. He was the Missouri Valley defensive player of the year and has ranked among college basketball’s top steal men in each of the last two seasons. Offensively, he can work on or off the ball and does a lot of things well, but scoring at the rim remains an issue - and that’s an area Otzelberger pushes his guards to attack.
Singleton, meanwhile, is a true sophomore who was recruited with a Jefferson-like role in mind. He won’t be expected to replace Jefferson’s production, and his perimeter shooting has to improve before he gets anywhere near those All-American heights. Still, he brings play-making and should help Iowa State on the glass after his freshman season at Northwestern.
So yes, the locker room looks different. The coaching offices do too, with new computer logins around the building this spring and summer serving as a small sign of the changes. But the core idea remains the same, and Iowa State still has four important returners to anchor the next version of the team.
That, in Otzelberger’s world, is the sweet spot.
“I feel like we're at a place even ahead of where we've maybe been in some other years,” Otzelberger said. “Because I think you can just feel the buy-in. You can feel that they want to lock in, spend the time together.”
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