Isaiah Roby stood in the back of the room and watched Nebraska officially introduce Fred Hoiberg as its newest men’s basketball coach on Tuesday.
Everyone in the room immediately took notice when the 6-foot-8 senior-to-be walked onto the third floor of Memorial Stadium, as his upcoming decision on his basketball future looms as large as anything for the Huskers.
After Hoiberg’s press conference was over, Roby gave the latest on where he stood as he weighs one more year in Lincoln or an early jump to the NBA.
“I just met (Hoiberg) today for the first time, but I’ve talked to him over the phone over the past couple of days and he’s kind of giving his vision for me and just talked to me about what my plans are for next year,” Roby said.
“I think we’ve had pretty good talks about it. Right now, I’ll put my name in the draft, but I’m not declaring one way or another right now. We’re going to have more talks in the future.”
After averaging 11.8 points, a team-high 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game last season, Roby saw his NBA draft stock rise to the point where many consider him a potential mid-second round prospect.
The former four-star recruit out of Dixon, Ill., submitted his name as an early entrant for the 2019 NBA Draft last week, and he has until June 10 to decide if he wants to stay in the draft or return to Nebraska for his senior season.
Roby admitted that the hiring of Hoiberg changed his situation a bit given the new coaches’ impressive college and NBA credentials.
“Having a coach who has a proven track record in college is obviously huge and I know that’s a big thing for incoming recruits, as well,” Roby said. “So, that’s definitely a big impact. At this point, it’s kind of - obviously my dream was to play in the NBA, and he’s a guy who can help me out whether that’s coming back and playing under him or leaving this year. He said that anyway he can help, he’s willing to do for me, so that’s been really good.”
In addition to his phone calls with Hoiberg and Tuesday’s first face-to-face meeting, Roby said he’d already done some research on his own about what the new coach was bringing to Lincoln.
Roby particularly paid attention to the success that Georges Niang had under Hoiberg at Iowa State. Niang, who at 6-8, 230, shares numerous physical similarities with Roby, was a second-team All-American and two-time All-Big 12 Conference selection for the Cyclones from 2013-16 before being drafted in the second round by the Indiana Pacers.
“I’ve been watching Georges Niang’s film since I got to college really,” Roby said. “He’s a player I see myself taking stuff from his game. Him being a point-forward, I look to do that in my game as well. He’s definitely somebody that I’ve watched film on. Even their offense, just watching the best, highest-scoring offensive teams at Iowa State when he was there, they were one of those teams, so I’ve watched a lot of their film.”
Hoiberg has already brought up how Roby could see similar success in his NBA-style system, which thrives on athletic and versatile bigs.
“That’s something that he talked to me about because, obviously, with the way they play, fast-paced, and he said he likes to play the ball in his four-man’s hands a lot,” Roby said. “He talked to me a little bit and, we didn’t have in-depth talks about it but I’m somebody who can thrive under his system. That’s one thing he was trying to talk to me about.”
