Iowa State Basketball Player Helped Sell Leon Bond on Program

An Iowa State Cyclones player helped convince Leon Bond III that this was the right place for him.

Mar 19, 2026; San Diego, CA, USA; Northern Iowa guardLeon Bond III (35) answers a question at a press conference ahead of the first round of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena. | Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones men’s basketball team was incredibly active early on when the transfer portal opened.

A few of their own players departed, with Cade Kelderman being the first, followed by Dominick Nelson, Mason Williams and Milan Momcilovic. That is a lot of experience and production gone, when taking into account that Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson and Eric Mulder are also no longer part of the program.

But head coach T.J. Otzelberger wasted no time filling the gaps on his roster. He knows he has a strong Class of 2026 set to come to campus and used the transfer portal to address any needs that remained.

One of the players whom Iowa State received a commitment from was Leon Bond III. A transfer from the Northern Iowa Panthers, it was his connections from earlier in his career with current Cyclones starting center Blake Buchanan that helped seal the deal.

Blake Buchanan helped sell Leon Bond III on Iowa State

Mar 22, 2026; St. Louis, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Blake Buchanan (23) shoots as Kentucky Wildcats center Malachi Moreno (24) defends during the first half during a second round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center. | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

"He constantly told me that 'If you want to be the best basketball player and person you can be, this is the spot for you. He's (Otzelberger) going to push you every day,'" Bond said of Buchanan's communication about Iowa State's program, via Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert, part of the 247Sports Network (subscription required). "He just told me sort of the standard and what every day looks like."

Before spending the last two seasons with Northern Iowa, Bond began his career with the Virginia Cavaliers. There, he overlapped with Buchanan, who played at Virginia for the first two seasons of his career before hitting the transfer portal and landing in Ames ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

After redshirting as a freshman, Bond played in 24 games during the 2023-24 season alongside Buchanan.

Their former head coach, Tony Bennett, has a great relationship with Otzelberger and helped push Buchanan in that direction. It wouldn’t be too surprising if he did the same for Bond, along with the positive words that the starting center gave as well.

Leon Bond is going to be VERY fun to watch in an Iowa State uniform 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/E7LHEhh1PW

— Top Tier Iowa State (@TopTierIowaSt) April 11, 2026

This is a full-circle moment for Bond, who was hosted by Buchanan for his visit to Iowa State. After beginning their careers together in Charlottesville, they will look to contend together once again in Ames.

What role will Bond have with the team? He looks ticketed for something similar to what Heise provided the team as a versatile defender who can fill several roles on the offensive end of the floor as well.

He provides a little more size than Heise did, which looked to be a point of emphasis for Otzelberger this offseason after the Cyclones were bludgeoned on the interior by the Tennessee Volunteers in their Sweet 16 loss.