How Demarion Watson went from overlooked prospect to promising Iowa State freshman

AMES — As Demarion Watson plugged away relatively unnoticed in the crowded Minnesota basketball scene, Nick Carroll wondered about what he was seeing when he’d watch the 6-foot-6 wing play.

“When I saw him, it was like, 'What am I missing?'” Carroll recalled. “'I don’t know why he’s not regarded as the best kid in this class.'”

Then when Watson transferred from Minnehaha Academy to Totino-Grace, where Carroll is the head boys’ basketball coach, the picture clicked into place.

Carroll wasn’t missing anything.

“It didn’t make sense to me why he wasn’t talked about more,” Carroll said, “and as I got to know him more, there really wasn’t anything I was missing.”

The rest of the basketball-rich Minnesota hoops community — and high-major college coaches — would come to share Carroll sentiment as Watson blossomed into one of the best players in the state and a top-150 recruit nationally before he committed to Iowa State, where he began his college career earlier this summer.

“After (transferring in high school), I feel like my recruitment and confidence level just skyrocketed,” Watson said this week. “Just because I was more comfortable at the new place, and I worked a lot more at my game.”

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He’s now talked about as a potential Day 1 contributor for the Cyclones with enough upside that he’s generally regarded as the best pro prospect among Iowa State’s three-man freshmen class thanks to his combination of size, athleticism and shooting ability.

“Especially regionally, a kid from Minnesota or Iowa, people will say, ‘Oh, he’s so athletic,’ and they don’t really realize what’s out there in the world,” Carroll, who is also the co-founder of the recruiting service Prep Hoops, said. “But D is really freaking athletic. He’s a top one-percent athlete.

“At 6-6, he shoots the heck out of it, and he knows who he is. Sometimes, especially now, guys want to be good at everything, and D knows his path to play at Iowa State, then thrive at Iowa State and potentially play at the next level is to stick shots and guard people.

“He’s really subscribed to that. When you talk about the upside, you could see a very clear path to what role he would play at the next level in knocking down shots and guard.”

Watson has been an early standout in summer practice to a large degree because he knows and is able to execute in his role.

“I’ve really been doing good in keeping my motor high and being a really good defender,” he said. “Be a three-and-D guy. Make shots. A guy who can cut and make dunks. A guy who can defend the best player. A guy that can alter shots at the rim.”

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If Watson is able to make 3s consistently, he’ll find his way on to the floor for an Iowa State team that struggled in that department a year ago and projects to again this season. The ability to defend, though, will also be table stakes in a program that ranked in the top-five nationally in defensive efficiency in its Sweet 16 season a year ago and has made that brand of basketball its identity.

“You can put him on a guard and he’ll affect you with length,” fellow freshman Eli King observed, “and he’s got the size to guard forwards, too.”

Watson, too, is familiar with making his mark on the defensive end of the floor.

“He enjoys playing defense,” Carroll said. “He enjoys winning. In our state finals game, he did not score, but he was by far the reason we won the game because of the impact the had defensively and rebounding, impacting passing lanes, blocking shots.”

Now more than a month into his collegiate career, Watson is continuing his transformation from unnoticed prep to tapping into his deep well of potential.

“I really like the feel of Iowa State,” he said. “That’s why I came here. They’ve really pushed me hard and are working me. I’ve had a good six weeks. It’s been a good initiation to college.”

Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or  (515) 284-8000. Follow him at @TravisHines21.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Why Demarion Watson can make major impact on Iowa State basketball