I don't see a lot of people blasting G-mac

[CyCloned]

and I don't think anyone should. If Will, or Curtis or even Taggart would have stayed and bought into the Gmac plan, at least then there would have been a few guys with experience in the Big 12. Right now the Cyclones have no post players at all. Marsten is not the answer, but he might have been able to help on the boards in the last 2 games. Yuri and Grey are just not physical enough to play the post. Cory Johnson looks the physical part but has struggled with defense. I don't blame any of these guys. They are all skinny forwards being asked to play where they are not strong enough to play. Im sure GMac would have loved to score a big, tough post player in his 12th hour recruiting efforts. I think he did amazingly well to recruit the guys we have for when he started.

It is going to be a long season, and I understand that. GMac is not willing to accept loosing, and he expects this team to improve a lot during the year. That might not be enough to get to post season play, but it will be fun to watch along the way. There is still enough talent on this team to give us a few wows every game, and that is what we as fans have to accept for now.

[Prone2Clone]

I agree...he lost Blalock, Stinson, Taggart, Carr, and Degand in the coaching transition...who else? I'm probably forgetting someone. I'm surprised we were able to put five scholarship players on the court this year. I like the potential of Wesley, Cory, and Dodie...I hope Brackins is an A-1 Stud and some of the other 2007 recruits are solid. If they all develop togther, we could be pretty good in two to three years. I'll be amazed if we go .500 this year.

[timc243]

If we go .500 this year, I would consider that to be an amazing job by our new coach. He had what, 4 guys returning? This is going to be a long season but I still love watching these guys play. Anyone want to take bets on whether or not Jiri is back next year?

[Angie]

I agree...he lost Blalock, Stinson, Taggart, Carr, and Degand in the coaching transition...who else?

They let Stinnett out of his letter of intent because of it, too, didn't they? Not officially a player, but I count it. Same with the guy at Minn whose name I can't think of, wasn't it?

[timc243]

They let Stinnett out of his letter of intent because of it, too, didn't they? Not officially a player, but I count it. Same with the guy at Minn whose name I can't think of, wasn't it?

Laurence Westbrook.

[Angie]

Laurence Westbrook.

Thanks, Tim!!

[BigBake]

We were thin last year and then it got even worse this year. Stinson/Blalock when "On" made up for our lack of bigs last year. I'm just giving Gmac time to get his players in place. He's not doing bad considering what he had to pick from.

[BigBake]

We were thin last year and then it got even worse this year. Stinson/Blalock when "On" made up for our lack of bigs last year. I'm just giving Gmac time to get his players in place. He's not doing bad considering what he had to pick from.

I should clarify that's not a dig on our players. It's just the harsh truth....he had to recruit from the leftover's so to speak. So far I think he was able to find some talent out of that too.

[Cloned4Life]

I should clarify that's not a dig on our players. It's just the harsh truth....he had to recruit from the leftover's so to speak. So far I think he was able to find some talent out of that too.

I agree. To find the talent he did so late in the process and not having coached a game at ISU is incredible IMO. Dodie will be a very good player in this system for 4 years, Mike is a firecracker that'll be awesome once he cuts the TO's, and Wesley... is awesome (amazing how he didn't get picked up sooner). Cmac has been disappointing to me but hopefully he'll pick it up.

Next year could be a big jump for us, I see us winning 20 games. Brackins will be an impact freshman, Garrett will show us why he's the PG for the future, and Thompson will be our start PF/C (assuming he continues to bulk up in his year off, I think he has the frame to put on 10-20 pounds before next season)

I think Gmac is doing a great job and absolutely love him as our head coach.

[PolkCityClone]

and we lost Mike Evanovich.

[rooster]

I'm gonna take up for Ross a little bit here. I think we have really missed him these last few games. He's the only real low post player we have. Jiri and Jessan are just more of the perimeter/slashing style post players. Ross isn't Homan. I would love it if he was, but he just is never going to be. But he does do a lot of stuff that doesn't always stand out or show up on the stat sheet. Things like setting screens and simply being a warm body taking position down low. If he takes position in the low block, even if we don't give him the ball, they can't just fan out to the perimeter. And if they do, we can pass inside for an easy bucket. He has bulked up this year, but I think his real problem is needing a tougher attitude. If he works on his hands and develops a more hard nosed attitude he will be an essential part of this team. Especially in the coming years, we will have enough scorers. We need him to be a "garbage man." If he gets us 8 pts and 10 rebounds a game I am happy.

[timc243]

I'm gonna take up for Ross a little bit here. I think we have really missed him these last few games. He's the only real low post player we have. Jiri and Jessan are just more of the perimeter/slashing style post players. Ross isn't Homan. I would love it if he was, but he just is never going to be. But he does do a lot of stuff that doesn't always stand out or show up on the stat sheet. Things like setting screens and simply being a warm body taking position down low. If he takes position in the low block, even if we don't give him the ball, they can't just fan out to the perimeter. And if they do, we can pass inside for an easy bucket. He has bulked up this year, but I think his real problem is needing a tougher attitude. If he works on his hands and develops a more hard nosed attitude he will be an essential part of this team. Especially in the coming years, we will have enough scorers. We need him to be a "garbage man." If he gets us 8 pts and 10 rebounds a game I am happy.

I am with you on Marsden. He plays smart for a big man. I hope Gmac can help him turn into a quality big12 post player. I wasn't sold on him last year until halfway through the season, but I think with a tough attitude he could be alright.

[9seven]

The more i see Westbrook at Minny, the more i'm glad he got out of that letter of intent!! But i'm still hurting on P'allen!

[Wesley]

Some of the 3 bigs should stand by the bucket and actually try to block a shot. That would be nice.

[Cyclonepride]

I'm gonna take up for Ross a little bit here. I think we have really missed him these last few games. He's the only real low post player we have. Jiri and Jessan are just more of the perimeter/slashing style post players. Ross isn't Homan. I would love it if he was, but he just is never going to be. But he does do a lot of stuff that doesn't always stand out or show up on the stat sheet. Things like setting screens and simply being a warm body taking position down low. If he takes position in the low block, even if we don't give him the ball, they can't just fan out to the perimeter. And if they do, we can pass inside for an easy bucket. He has bulked up this year, but I think his real problem is needing a tougher attitude. If he works on his hands and develops a more hard nosed attitude he will be an essential part of this team. Especially in the coming years, we will have enough scorers. We need him to be a "garbage man." If he gets us 8 pts and 10 rebounds a game I am happy.

I like Ross too. He is a sophomore. I can't remember what Homan did as a sophomore, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't lighting it up by any means. He may have been a bit ahead though. I think Ross has the talent to become similar to the UNI big kids from the past couple years, under GMAC.