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AMES — Blake Buchanan stood amid the myriad mountain peaks and breathed deep.
As a kid, Iowa State’s 6-10 transfer forward hunted and fished all summer long, trading baby hooks for metal hooks; camping not only in the paint, but in the wild landscapes of the Bitterroot Range.
“I just love that,” said Buchanan, who grew up in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, and played two seasons at Virginia before deciding to become a Cyclone this offseason. “I love that type of life.”
Of course, Buchanan also loves basketball — a lot. So when longtime Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett announced within weeks of the start of last season that he’d be retiring effective immediately, Buchanan felt adrift. He nonetheless remained at Virginia, starting 22 of his 32 games and averaging 5.4 points and 5.3 rebounds. Consistency eluded him, however, and he yearned for a fresh start, which ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger and his staff eagerly offered him.
“I had talked to (Bennett) and he was just like, ‘Look, I love him,’” said Otzelberger, who had previously been impressed by Buchanan while helping coach at the USA Basketball under-19 men’s national team training camp in 2023. “He’s an elite defensive player. He’s continuing to develop offensively, but he can pass, he’s smart, good finisher, lob threat, all those things. We know that was exactly what we were looking for in that position (this season), and he’s been everything that we thought he would be when we recruited him.”
Buchanan will serve as a critical component for a revamped Cyclones frontcourt anchored by returning star Joshua Jefferson and augmented by fellow transfer Eric Mulder along with talented freshman Dominykas Pleta and Xzavion Mitchell.
“(I told him) we don’t see you as a piece of the puzzle, we see you as a prominent player in our program,” Otzelberger said of Buchanan, who grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in a narrow loss to SMU last season. “We feel like from a developmental standpoint, he has so much room for growth.”
Buchanan agrees — and that’s a big reason he chose to come to Ames.
“Their player development program is great and that interested me a lot when I was getting recruited, just because I knew I needed that,” said Buchanan, who blocked at least one shot in 14 of his last 17 games as a sophomore for the Cavaliers. “I knew that by coming here they were gonna get me right where I need it, and when they showed me my plan, I was super-excited about that.”
So what’s this “plan?” Let Otzelberger explain.
“He’ll be more involved with facilitating the offense, playing away from the basket at times,” ISU’s fifth-year head coach said. “He’s a tremendous passer, a guy (who), again, when you have a guard like Tamin (Lipsey) and Joshua — guys who are great downhill playmakers, they’re gonna find ways to get him easy baskets as well. So he’s very integrated in everything that we’re doing offensively and I fully expect him to play well on that side of the ball just like I know he will defensively.”
Buchanan feels ready to live up to that lofty expectation alongside his new teammates. His ability to protect the rim is well-established. His knack for dishing out assists and stretching out opposing defenses has come in fits and starts until now — and he’s committed to making that a consistent feature of his expanded game.
“Being a five that can pass, that opens up a lot of the offense,” Buchanan said. “So that’s kind of been where I’m at right now. Just a lot of short rolls, finding people, finishing when I can, and just making plays on defense.”
So Buchanan’s loving his current role as much or even more than he did when he constantly camped and fished back home in the mountains. Now he’s merely living amid the so-called trees in the lane, ready to branch out and ignite the crowd at Hilton Coliseum.
“I’ve heard a lot, so I’m excited to play there,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot of good things.”
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