Men's B-Ball Talent

**arganbright2** · 01-03-2008, 10:07 AM

I guess I never realized it, but Iowa State is loaded with talent. Cory Johnson, Craig Brackins, Diante Garrett, Rahshon Clark, and Alex Thompson were all top 150 recruits out of high school. Throw in Jiri and Wesley who are a couple diamonds in the rough and thats not a bad team.

**jferg** · 01-03-2008, 10:12 AM

I really like how Cory Johnson plays. He's always around the basket and gets his hands on a lot of offensive rebounds.

**snowcraig2.0** · 01-03-2008, 10:25 AM

The funny thing is when the team is losing, the first thing people say is, 'we don't have D1 talent!'. Same thing happened with the football team. There are many, many factors that go into having a successful team, talent is a big one, but is still only one factor.

**tim_redd** · 01-03-2008, 10:34 AM

The only position where I've thought there has been a lack of talent is PG, just because DG is young. However, PG is the one position where a lack of talent really becomes evident.

**BryceC** · 01-03-2008, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by arganbright2

I guess I never realized it, but Iowa State is loaded with talent. Cory Johnson, Craig Brackins, Diante Garrett, Rahshon Clark, and Alex Thompson were all top 150 recruits out of high school. Throw in Jiri and Wesley who are a couple diamonds in the rough and thats not a bad team.

Cory ended up outside the top 150.

I know recruiting rankings are fun, but you can really throw them out the window once guys have been playing for a few years. For example, Thompson has shown himself to be undeserving of his top 150 ranking. There are a lot of nice peices to this team, but until they start coming together it's still a lower half Big 12 team.

**ISUFan22** · 01-03-2008, 10:48 AM

"Loaded with talent" must be a relative term.

When I think of it, I vision Kansas, Duke, UNC, etc. Michigan from the Fab 5 years.

Our current crop is nowhere near that level of talent. We have some talented players, no doubt, I just don't see us loaded with it.

**CYdTracked** · 01-03-2008, 11:16 AM

We have some talent, just not as good as some others have. And the 1 position we really lack it in is PG. I like DG but he has a lot of work to do to get to where he needs to be. Peterson should be no more than a role player on the bench on a good team but we have no choice but to rely on him for now. Our talent also needs some more time in the weight room and this will become more apparent once the Big 12 season starts.

**jdoggivjc** · 01-03-2008, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by snowcraig2.0

The funny thing is when the team is losing, the first thing people say is, 'we don't have D1 talent!'. Same thing happened with the football team. There are many, many factors that go into having a successful team, talent is a big one, but is still only one factor.

We have D-I talent - it's just that D-I talent doesn't have much D-I experience.

**cyclonenum1** · 01-03-2008, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by arganbright2

I guess I never realized it, but Iowa State is loaded with talent. Cory Johnson, Craig Brackins, Diante Garrett, Rahshon Clark, and Alex Thompson were all top 150 recruits out of high school. Throw in Jiri and Wesley who are a couple diamonds in the rough and thats not a bad team.

??Loaded??

We have some talented players (Wesley and Brackins) but "loaded"...I don't think so.

As for the recruiting rankings...look at our two Johnsons...Cory was rated higher than Wes...that pretty much shoots any credibility right there.

**cyclonenum1** · 01-03-2008, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by jferg

I really like how Cory Johnson plays. He's always around the basket and gets his hands on a lot of offensive rebounds.

FYI...YTD Cory Johnson has 6 offensive rebounds.

**cyclonenum1** · 01-03-2008, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

We have D-I talent - it's just that D-I talent doesn't have much D-I experience.

I would hope we have DI talent...there are over 330 DI CBB teams. The question is do we have "major" talent, "mid-major" talent, or "low-major" talent? I hope we have "major" talent since we play in a "major" conference!

**cybsball20** · 01-03-2008, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by cyclone#1

FYI...YTD Cory Johnson has 6 offensive rebounds.

and in the offense we run he is generally at the top of the key. Kinda hard to get boards when your promamry responsibility is getting back on D from that position.

**cyclonenum1** · 01-03-2008, 11:43 AM

Originally Posted by cybsball20

and in the offense we run he is generally at the top of the key. Kinda hard to get boards when your promamry responsibility is getting back on D from that position.

I guess I don't consider a total of 6 offensive rebounds at this point in the season to be "getting his hands on a lot of offensive rebounds" as others do.

**isucyfan** · 01-03-2008, 11:45 AM

So much depends on the system run by the coach. That's why I think GMac will be successful...he seems to be able to do more with less because of the system he employs. I think you can be really good with one great player and a number of role players that do what is asked of them within the system.

**Ficklone02** · 01-03-2008, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by isucyfan

So much depends on the system run by the coach. That's why I think GMac will be successful...he seems to be able to do more with less because of the system he employs. I think you can be really good with one great player and a number of role players that do what is asked of them within the system.

I'd say if you want a good example of doing more with less you should look at Keno Davis and Drake. GMac has alot to prove at this point....we are no better than we were last year at this point.