Wiggington, Lard, and Babb will all be nice returning pieces, but Young is just an ok player, that I wouldn't take over any of our starting bigs now or next year. Mariok was a role player at VA, could be a nice piece as well. But if the top 7 at Iowa are all average, I'm not sure how you think all of ISU's guys are that much more talented. Jackson, their #2 scorer will be gone, as will Beverly and Brase.
Wiggington is a very good player, and will be even better next year. Moss doesn't compare. Peterson already wrote an article with some quotes, hinting he's thinking about leaving after next year at the latest. Would be nice if he left this year.
Lard - 22.8 mpg: 12.1 ppg - 7.0 RPG
Garza - 19.1 mpg: 10.9 ppg - 6.3 RPG
Pretty similar if you ask me, and both freshman. If Garza played Lard's minutes, he'd average more PPG and RPG. Not a knock on Lard, I think he's a good player, just like I think Garza will be.
Babb - 37.8 mpg: 12.1 ppg - 7.4 RPG - 7.4 APG
Bohannon - 30.5 mpg: 13.3 ppg - 2.2 RPG - 4.8 APG. Better 3p% and FT%, while a bit lower in FG%.
Going to your statement in bold above, what are you using to justify this? Out of ISU's top 8 players, they play 3 Seniors and 2 Juniors. While we play 1 Junior and no Seniors.
Recruiting class:
247 - has Weiskamp 50th, Griffin 89, Horton-Tucker 111(much higher in Rivals lately to 31), Haliburton 142, Frederick 230, and Conditt 242.
Rivals - Tucker 31, Weiskamp 42, Griffin 85, Haliburton 149, and the other two are not ranked.
ESPN - Weiskamp 71, Horton-Tucker 76.
I guess in summary, it seems like we are trying way harder to nullify any promise our team shows in the future, and I'm not sure why. Many are willing to say positive things about other teams players, while many of our players show the same promise. Maybe it's because we've watched our players more, thus have noticed more of the bad things they do. I'm really not sure.