Lucca Staiger Leaving Iowa State To Pursue Pro Career

On the eve of the a critical game for the Cyclones, ISU guard Lucca Staiger has announced that he will leave the Cyclones and return to his home country of Germany.

"I came to the United States with the hope of playing professional basketball in the NBA. After the past couple of seasons in college, I’ve realized that dream has become less likely," Staiger said in a statement released Tuesday night. "An opportunity to play professionally in my home country has come my way and I’ve decided to pursue it right away. I will miss my teammates and the great fans at Iowa State and I know this is a bad time to leave. I appreciate the opportunity that Coach McDermott gave me to play at Iowa State, but I felt like it was important to make this move now because the opportunity might not be there in the future for me."

Staiger leaves the Cyclones in a bit of a bind.  Iowa State is now down to seven scholarship players without him.  Not to mention that bailing in the middle of the season with ISU in a position to battle for the post-season is leaving a bad taste in fans' mouths.  Namely Cyclones' blog Clone Chronicles. 

Honestly, the guy is the opposite of everything a team stands for. ISU fans like to talk about Wesley Johnson, but at least Wes didn't bail midseason. What happened here is far worse.

We'll find out what kind of state this leaves the remaining players when they take on Texas Tech Wednesday night.