It's official: ISU lands monster recruit!

Jeremy · 06-07-2006, 05:43 PM

It's official: ISU lands monster recruit!

ISU has received a verbal commitment from the 37th ranked player in the nation for the 2007-2008 Men's Basketball season.

Despite the local concerns about GMac's recruiting ability, 6-9 215lbs PF Craig Brackins had no concerns when he accepted the offer from ISU over the many other schools that have shown interest for a longer period of time. Thought to be tops on Brackins list before this announcement was Indiana, Pitt, Washington, Illinois, and Clemson.

Craig Brackins leads a list of big-name 07-08 and 08-09 recruits that have shown mutual interest in Iowa State since Greg McDermott took over the head coaching job. While there were a few big-name players showing interest while Morgan was at the wheel, more consistently ranked and quality players have shown interest in the type of program GMac is trying to bring to Ames since the changes this past spring.

Look for more exciting news as the summer gets hotter. There are plenty of offers being extended and Iowa State is being looked at more as a top-tier program nationally than ever before. We might just be reaching a place where we can say the "switch has been flicked" for ISU's Men's Basketball program.

Link to earlier topic

clone33 · 06-07-2006, 05:48 PM

This is great!!! Even if he isnt as good as some believe him to be, then we can still get some exposure for other recruits in the future. I really hop hat he can be the face of ISU basketball. I dont know much about him, just that he is highly ranked, but i will know alot more in the coming days

clone33 · 06-07-2006, 06:04 PM

Now that i've got some good info from both scout and rivals, i like a lot of things about this kid. I really like the sounds of his defense, of course, i liked the sound of Taggert's defense too. but still, it says he can score jump hooks with his left and right hand. And he uses good footwork in the low post. He can also pass with creativity and score well outside of the paint. If he can put on 10-15 lbs. of muscle over the next yer and a half then he could be an ideal prospect. It says he can even handle the rock. I like the sound of him a lot and hope he can live up to the expectations unlike other past highly touted 6'9" top150 PF with length and upside...coughcoughshawntaggertcoughcough

kuney1 · 06-07-2006, 06:07 PM

Let's drink to our new recruit! Good job GMac!

TheHelgo · 06-07-2006, 06:10 PM

this must have been a very under the radar move by our coaches. I was over on the Indiana board earlier, and the literally posted a new front page story on the recruitment of Brakens this morning. Awesome news - I hope this means we can begin to feel confident about the direction of the program again.

Jeremy · 06-07-2006, 06:19 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheHelgo @ Jun 7 2006, 05:10 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'> this must have been a very under the radar move by our coaches. I was over on the Indiana board earlier, and the literally posted a new front page story on the recruitment of Brakens this morning. Awesome news - I hope this means we can begin to feel confident about the direction of the program again. [/b][/quote]

Craig was the first recruit GMac called after he made the coaching move. GMac had talked to him while at UNI but Greg knew he didn't have a chance to land him Brackins while at UNI. Once he made the move, he reached out and Craig made a visit earlier this spring on his way elsewhere.

Regarding the timing of the announcement, even those really close to Craig were some-what surprised that he made the move so quickly since he had been getting more and more high-profile schools calling every day. I think he found what he wanted and didn't want to waste time looking elsewhere when he knew his heart was with GMac and his coaching staff.

Craig is a quality player but a quality person as well. In my personal opinion, he will go down as the biggest recruit in ISU history just because of the timing of his committment and the momentum it gives ISU when some people where questioning it's direction.

BryceC · 06-07-2006, 06:52 PM

While I never really was worried about McDermott's recruiting ability, this move really blows me away. Flat out blown away. I was almost totally on the McDermott bandwagon prior to this, but I'm too busy strapping myself to it right now to properly express how excited I am.

I never thought he would be able to catch up with other schools for recruits this quickly. I expected another recruiting class with no top 150 players and guys I hoped his superior developing ability would prepare to be quality players.

Go Clones!

Seth · 06-07-2006, 07:11 PM

Sweeeeeeeeeeeet. I have no doubt that McD's been tracking Brackins for a while and I love the fact that he sealed the deal so early. This prompted me to check the prospects we have on scout.com and I noticed another big man who I hadn't seen on there before named Jon Leuer. This is excellent news...

professor · 06-07-2006, 07:22 PM

Wow..such an early commitment..I love it. Keep them coming Mickey Dees.

Craig Brackins = Marcus Fizer????? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

TheHelgo · 06-07-2006, 07:30 PM

Now that this has sunk in a little, I have a question to ask. I noticed that this story first broke from the Rag [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img] . So Jeremy: did you, Paul Clark, and Chris Williams all get one-upped by the Rag on this one? Or, did you know about it and were forced to keep it on the hush? If the Rag did get the scoop, I am somewhat suprised that their mediocre reporting/investigative abilities were able to out-gun 3 recruiting specialists.

Obviously there is no offense meant by this post - just curiosity. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

BryceC · 06-07-2006, 07:55 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Seth @ Jun 7 2006, 06:11 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'> Sweeeeeeeeeeeet. I have no doubt that McD's been tracking Brackins for a while and I love the fact that he sealed the deal so early. This prompted me to check the prospects we have on scout.com and I noticed another big man who I hadn't seen on there before named Jon Leuer. This is excellent news... [/b][/quote]

McDermott was in on Leuer early, and then he had an absolutly monster workout and now he has offers from all over. It would be huge to land him.

CYTIME · 06-07-2006, 09:27 PM

Congrats to Coach and his staff...great day to be a clone!

burn587 · 06-07-2006, 10:13 PM

Craig really reminds me of Eric Coleman up at UNI, arguably the best post player in the state. Only worry about Craig is his academics, there's a reason why he's jumped around to so many prep schools.

dbronco7sc · 06-08-2006, 02:21 AM

And he'll have a year to get worked in and helped out by Rahshon!

kcbob79clone · 06-08-2006, 07:41 AM

This is great news!! However, a few cautionary notes are in order from an observer of this for quite a few years.
1) It ain't over until it's over - until he signs, really until he enrolls, nothing is certain 2) Ranking - arbitrary at best but expect his ranking to diminish slightly the longer he remains committed to the Clones. Rankings for the most part are based on what schools are interested. If it becomes known that say Duke begins recruiting his ranking will rise, if the big name schools back off after awhile his ranking will go down.