Isaiah Moss began to see more aggressive interest in his services the fall of his senior season. Auburn and Iowa State made offers, but he felt most comfortable at Iowa and committed after his first official visit. Moss is a 6'5", 175 pound small forward, and a product of the famous Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, Illinois. Not as highly touted as some of it's more recent products (a 4-star recruit according to ESPN), Moss will still make an impact at Iowa.
Scouting Breakdown
Moss has great size and length to play in the Big Ten. His frame will allow him to add physical strength as he matures. He's a very fluid athlete who has a bounce to his step. His handle is remarkable in the open court, and his above average ballhandling means he doesn't need direct line drives. He commands his dribble when taking it to the basket.
Moss is a good finisher too, and gets above the rim regularly. He'll finish with authority, but generally feels more comfortable attacking with his right hand. Moss can also adeptly find open teammates should his scoring lane close. His vision to get teammates involved adds another dimension to his driving ability. On catch and shoots, he looks to be a capable shooter from beyond the arc. When his feet are set, he's dangerous. As a threat, defenses will have to close out on him and that'll set up the drive, which is his true strength. Moss does show some ability to hit pull up mid-range jumpers, which makes him pretty well-rounded offensively.
Defensively, he will be able to guard multiple positions and that versatility will be huge. Once he adds some size, he'll guard ones, twos and threes without much issue. Switching on the perimeter won't be a problem should he get involved in pick-and-rolls. His length is also a great asset defensively because he can disrupt passing lanes with his long arms and athleticism. Like always, it'll just be a matter of effort on defense. If he gives effort, his athleticism will take him the rest of the way.
Areas for Improvement
Offensively, he'll need to continue to grow. He looks pretty far along in his development and doesn't show many holes that defenses would be able to exploit. The more he can refine his game though, the more effective he'll be. Moss's shooting will need to be a continued area of improvement. Should he become a good perimeter shooter, his game will most certainly take off.
Like most young players, he'll need to get physically stronger and quicker. He's a good athlete with some explosiveness, but he'll need to finish through contact against bigger defenders. Moss is young and still developing in that regard. Get him into a Big Ten lifting and conditioning program and he'll overcome any challenges in that area.
I honestly don't see a ton of weaknesses in his game. He's a young player so there's growth and maturing that'll need to take place, but he's a good prospect and he comes from a great program (Simeon Career Academy). In fact, about 60 percent of Simeon's roster is going to Big Ten schools this season. Taking that into consideration, we know Moss played with and against high level competition in high school, making the leap to the Big Ten less jarring for him. Playing at Simeon he's most likely accustomed to playing with a spotlight shining as there are certain expectations associated with programs of the sort. Moss not only handled them, he improved throughout his tenure there.
Moss has been a late bloomer, so to speak. You may consider that a weakness, I suppose, but we're reaching. Early on it did inevitability lead to Moss not having a ton of interest from bigger programs, though. The question now is can Moss sustain his growth and development at a higher level?
Player Outlook
Even though others didn't, Iowa has been interested in Moss for quite a while. The Hawkeyes are hoping that their stake in Moss will pay off, which is certainly a possibility. Moss offers Iowa versatility on offense and defense, athleticism and a fairly developed game. If not a star, he has a realistic possibility of becoming a key contributor for the
Iowa Hawkeyes in the future. Fran McCaffery is putting together the framework for future success and Isaiah Moss could be a key player.
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46924390/usa-today-8485306.0.jpg)