Thoughts on Tamin Lipsey and Tre King, two of Iowa State's most important players this season
The 20-year-old Lipsey shined as a true freshman point guard last season, while the 23-year-old King showed glimpses of how good he can be over the second half of the season
ANKENY, Iowa — I promised analysis and commentary in this space on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and I don’t plan to disappoint. I aim to inform and entertain — whether writing about sports (as I am now) or my many other interests.
To wit, after a fulfilling week-long vacation at our family cabin on Lower Cullen Lake in Nisswa, Minn., I’m back to turn that aim into reality before the weekend hits.
How?
Well, recently I wrote feature articles for The Cedar Rapids Gazette on two of Iowa State’s most important men’s basketball players: Tamin Lipsey and Tre King. Their origin stories couldn’t be more different.
Lipsey, born and raised in Ames, seemed destined to be a Cyclone from birth. He guided Ames High School to a state title as a senior, then took on perhaps a larger-than-expected role for ISU as its freshman point guard last season. But more on him later. Let’s talk about King.
He was born and raised in Lexington, Ky., but his skills apparently did not impress his hometown, blue-blood Kentucky Wildcats, so he went to Eastern Kentucky and contributed nicely for the Colonels. He averaged 14.9 points and 6.2 rebounds as a junior, then decided to transfer to Georgetown. He never played for the Hoyas and eventually chose to become a Cyclone. Two years later, King finally saw the court for ISU a week before Christmas last season. He scored 11 points in 5-for-6 shooting and signaled that sooner or later, he’d become one of the most important Cyclones.
So here we are now. The summer grind. Both Lipsey (who just turned 20) and King (who will be 24 in October) smile and nod while they toil behind the scenes, because despite being years apart in terms of age and experience, maturity is a shared strength.
Want evidence? Here you go (below):
1. King was asked about what’s changed for him over his nearly six-year odyssey in college hoops. His answer?
“I think the only thing that’s changed is my approach mentally,” he said. “Being one of the older guys on the team, (it’s about) bringing everybody along and being more vocal, and being the example, and setting the tone every day for practices and workouts, everything like that.”
2. Lipsey stepped into a leadership role out of necessity as a true freshman. Tyrese Hunter announced he’d transfer after one season as a Cyclone — and decided to go to Texas to boot. Jeremiah Williams, who has since left he program, faced long rehabilitation of an injured Achilles tendon, so the sometimes-harsh spotlight shone immediately on Lipsey, the youngest point guard in the Big 12 in terms of experience. He handled the pressure well, though, becoming one of just two players nationally to average at least 7.3 points, 4.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 2.45 or fewer turnovers. And sure, those are cherry-picked stats, but they’re also meaningful ones. So consider all of a this to be a long but (I hope) informative preamble to Lipsey’s quote (below).
“Last year at this time, I was just working as hard as I could every day just to get noticed,” Lipsey said. “Doing whatever I could (for) the coaches, coming in as a freshman, you don’t really know what to expect, so I just played as hard as I could, but now I’ve got a year under my belt. The coaches know what I can do. I know what they want from me, so that makes it easier and then just helping the new guys out with how we run things over here and what’s our culture (like) and stuff like that.”
So consider both Lipsey and King (along with big man Rob Jones) to be de facto brand ambassadors for T.J. Otzelberger’s burgeoning program. They’d wear that made-up tag proudly — and, as noted above, will be two of the key engines for the Cyclones this winter. Any success achieved then is built in the summer and fall, where Lipsey and King shine the brightest and grow the most.
“We’re not just dipping our toe in the water,” Otzelberger said of ISU’s approach to summer workouts. “We’re diving off (into) the deep end. Our guys know that when we start, you better come in in great shape or you’re gonna be behind. You’d better do an awesome job in the training room because if you miss days because you’re hurt or banged up a little bit, that you could be behind. So we really pride ourselves on those habits. The summer has helped us immensely. It’s going to be a weapon for us again this summer.”
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