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Brady Ellingson
Bio: Freshman, 6'4, 188 lbs. (Sussex, Wisconsin)
Last season: N/A
What we saw last season: N/A
What we need to see this season: Not much, honestly. Even before he sustained a foot/ankle injury in the preseason (an injury which is still lingering, apparently), Ellingson seemed like the odd man out in this roster. Iowa's again expecting to go with a 10-man rotation and in the backcourt, Iowa has several guys seemingly ahead of him in the hunt for playing time: Mike Gesell, Josh Oglesby, Peter Jok, Anthony Clemmons, and newcomer Trey Dickerson. I see only two ways Ellingson sees the court for Iowa this year (assuming his lingering injury issues actually clear up, of course), and neither one of them would be good. One, Iowa suffers a rash of serious injuries at the guard positions and has no choice but to give Ellingson some run. Two, Iowa suffers serious long-range shooting woes and Fran is forced to turn to Ellingson to find someone who can nail a few threes and loosen up opposing defenses. Realistically, though, Ellingson is probably staring at a redshirt season this year -- and that's completely fine.
Best case scenario: In practice, Ellingson's shooting exploits become legendary (can you say "Gray Team Chris Kingsbury"?) and the buzz surrounding his long-range gunning gets everyone excited for his debut next season. In games, Ellingson becomes a key member of the new Bench Mob and develops a wonderfully elaborate pre-game handshake routine with Okey Ukah.
Most likely scenario: Honestly? Pretty much the same as the best case scenario, minus the whole "Gray Team Chris Kingsbury" thing. Ellingson's almost certainly going to redshirt this year, meaning that his main contributions will come during practice and on the end of the bench during games.
One request: Ellingson grows a righteous mullet and takes to wearing a headband during games, just so everyone watching an Iowa game wonders who that '80s action movie-looking dude on the Iowa bench is.