Does Roby know how good he is? Not yet, but everyone else does

CHICAGO – Dressed in a snappy blue suit he scored off the rack at Men’s Warehouse a few days earlier, Isaiah Roby got his first real taste of being at the center of the Big Ten’s main stage.

The junior forward, who was one of Nebraska's breakout players last season, was among four Huskers to join head coach Tim Miles at Big Ten Media Day at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare on Thursday.

There was no shortage of media attention for the 6-foot-8 native of Dixon, Ill., either.

While Roby’s statistical production last year was fairly modest (8.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game), the numerous flashes of jaw-dropping potential he showed throughout the year helped skyrocket his name up 2019 NBA mock draft boards.

Some draft analysts aren’t ready to name Roby a surefire NBA prospect just yet, but others have gone all in on projecting him at the next level. Just recently NBAanalysis.net called Roby “a borderline top-10 prospect,” while draft site TheStepien.com listed him as the top overall draft prospect in the Big Ten.

A humble person by nature, Roby tries his best not to pay too much attention to that type of outside hype. However, it might be exactly what he needs to hear to help him ultimately reach his full potential.

“That’s something I want to speak into fruition,” Roby said. “That’s a big accomplishment. I look at that as a challenge to accept. This is all surreal to me. This is something that as a kid you dream about, so for me, it’s all kind of surreal.”

Since the day he extended a scholarship offer back in the spring of 2014, Miles has been waiting for Roby to grow into that potential.

When he committed to Nebraska prior to his junior year of high school, Roby was a lanky three-star recruit with braces who didn’t hold another high-major offer. By the time he graduated in 2016, he was a four-star recruit ranked the No. 113 player in his class.

That steady evolution has continued in Lincoln, as Roby has grown from a timid freshman into one of the faces of NU’s program. Now Miles wants to see Roby make the next jump from good player to great.

“The sky’s the limit for Isaiah,” Miles said. “Isaiah Roby will do things that NBA players only do. Our guys see that. But with Isaiah, and I’ve said this, he needs an alter ego. If you’re going to be Clark Kent, you go to the court and you better get your cape on. As he plays outside of his personality he’ll start competing at a higher and higher level.”

Miles recently read an article on former NBA superstar Grant Hill, who said there came a point in his career when he realized he was actually being a selfish player to his teammates because he was trying so hard not to be selfish.

When Miles read that, Roby instantly came to his mind.

“You know how you just have those moments of clarity?” Miles said. “I’m like, ‘This is Roby. He needs to see this.’ So I sent it to him right away and I think it really resonated with him.”

Roby said he saw a direct comparison between Hill’s story and his own.

“(Miles) was basically saying that me not being aggressive was being selfish,” Roby said. “I don’t like to be selfish, and he was saying by not being aggressive, you’re being selfish to our team and to what we’re trying to do. He’s been trying to instill that in me, and I think I’ve taken a big step in that.”

Miles isn’t the only one at Nebraska who sees Roby’s limitless ability.

Senior forward Isaac Copeland has seen it every day for the past year and a half since he arrived on campus as a transfer from Georgetown.

Even having played with and against some of the top players in the country as a former five-star recruit himself, Copeland said Roby routinely does things in practice and games that make him do a double-take.

Like Miles, Copeland and the rest of the Husker players have been trying to get it through to Roby about just how good he could be. But Copeland also realizes Roby needs to truly believe it first before he can take that next step.

“I always tell him that, but I feel like that’s something he’s got to figure out within himself,” Copeland said. “He’s always been playing a certain way his entire life, so it’s hard to just change it when you’re 20 years old.

“But I feel like once that light bulb clicks, it’s a wrap. Nothing can stop him. You see flashes of it, but once he gets the mentality to do every day, he’s a pro. One hundred percent.”

That opinion goes beyond Nebraska’s program, too.

Big Ten Network analyst Stephen Bardo has been as vocal as anyone about how high Roby’s ceiling could be, even making mention of it during his broadcasts of Husker games.

Bardo’s father is also from Dixon, so he has known about Roby since he was an all-state star for the Dukes. Bardo said Roby had every physical tool you could ask for in an NBA player, but he too was just waiting for Roby to catch up to it above the shoulders.

“Everything that you look for in a basketball player to be able to do, he can do, and he kind of does it easy,” Bardo said. “It’s not really hard for him. So I’ve always been wondering, when will that confidence catch up with that potential? Because when it does, he could be a special player.”

Roby did his best to keep the focus of his Media Day interviews on his team and teammates, as the Huskers are heading into what could be a program-defining season.

But just like it will be on through this year and probably for the foreseeable future, the conversation continued to shift back to Roby’s own NBA profile.

Miles said he sat with Roby this past spring and talked about the NBA Draft for a good half hour as Roby debated testing the waters in the pre-draft evaluation process (which he didn’t end up doing).

Four days later, Roby overheard Miles talking about Nebraska’s foreign tour trip to Spain that is scheduled for next summer.

“He was like, ‘Oh, that’ll be great!’” Miles said. “He just doesn’t see himself that way. The guy he sees in the mirror is a guy that’s going to Italy with his squad next year, not a guy who’s going to be in the green room.”