TNT color analyst Steve Lappas heaped praise on Iowa State forward Georges Niang throughout the Cyclones' 78-61 victory over UALR on Saturday in the teams' NCAA Tournament game in Denver.
Lappas went so far as to mention the 6-8 senior in the same sentence as Larry Bird, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who led the Boston Celtics to three NBA championships and Indiana State to the 1979 NCAA title game against Michigan State.
"I'm not going to say he's Larry Bird, but he is Bird-like in many ways," Lappas said of Niang during the first half.