How far behind is ISU basketball...

**Cloned4Life** · 03-03-2008, 12:51 PM

With Mike and Lucca, I thought for SURE we'd be an NCAA tourney team, probably finish around 20-22 wins, maybe more if we could surprise some people.

When we lost Mike, I still thought we had a remote shot at the NCAA's, maybe sneaking in with 18 or 19 wins. I did NOT originally think losing him would hurt this bad.

When Lucca was screwed over, I took off another 2-3 wins, so I was thinking 15-17 wins with a remote chance at the NIT.

In the back of my mind, I had hoped we'd still pull off a special season somehow, but with Jiri's early injury, Wes not being 100% all year as well as Rahshon, playing a few walkons...I'm not surprised where we're at.

Looking back, I'm really ticked with the NCAA in screwing Lucca over and REALLY ticked with Mike T being such an idiot. I can't wait till next year; this one has just been plain ol bad...

I do really like Gmac though and am really excited for the future - I think/hope the 08 class will surprise some people.

**Drive4cy** · 03-03-2008, 12:52 PM

I miss all the posts back in October saying how "we're better off without Taylor" or "Taylor hurt us more than he helped us on the court." Yeah......

Most people saw the season going similar to this but it's one thing to think you will struggle and quite another to sit back and experience it first hand. This season started miserable and for about 3 weeks there in late December and into January they teased us with some quality play. Outside of that 3-4 week stretch it's been very difficult to watch. I just hope we win another game to get this bad taste out of our mouths going into the summer.

**mwitt** · 03-03-2008, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by ajk4st8

Offensively we have one threat.. kind of... Wes J. Wes is a good shooter but this year really has no ability to create his shot. Until we can get some people who can create... we will not win.

That is not true. Jiri has been an offensive threat, and apparently other teams think so too since they've been double teaming him an awful lot lately. Kansas included.

**kingcy** · 03-03-2008, 12:56 PM

Few less wins than I thought this fall. Things are getting better and there is progress. If you would have told me this summer 2 walk ons would play key roles on this team and Wes and Clark wouldnt be 100%, I would have been worried. The players are playing their butts off and most are playing the best basketball of their lives. There is a point where your you can give it your all but your talent wont let you play better.

**mwitt** · 03-03-2008, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Drive4cy

I miss all the posts back in October saying how "we're better off without Taylor" or "Taylor hurt us more than he helped us on the court." Yeah.....

Do you want another one? Because I'm still glad that McDermott did what he did. Mike has talent, and he definitely would have helped us this year, but he made his own bed. Plus, we have enough players who don't shoot 40%.

**ajk4st8** · 03-03-2008, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by mwitt

That is not true. Jiri has been an offensive threat, and apparently other teams think so too since they've been double teaming him an awful lot lately. Kansas included.

An offensive player who can CREATE his own shot. I should have been more clear. Double teaming him is easy because nobody else can score off the double team.

**DaddyMac** · 03-03-2008, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by Drive4cy

I miss all the posts back in October saying how "we're better off without Taylor" or "Taylor hurt us more than he helped us on the court." Yeah......

Most people saw the season going similar to this but it's one thing to think you will struggle and quite another to sit back and experience it first hand. This season started miserable and for about 3 weeks there in late December and into January they teased us with some quality play. Outside of that 3-4 week stretch it's been very difficult to watch. I just hope we win another game to get this bad taste out of our mouths going into the summer.

I still think alot of that is true. Mike was about getting his. He had almost no team concept in his game.

Problem for GMac last year was if you take Mike T out, who do you put in? The prognosis for this year was you have a little more depth with Lucca, a more seasoned Wesley - even Halluska and Peterson. So if he gets out of control, you have options and can bench him. Hence the higher likelihood that he could be kept under control.

So when he got the boot - I thought it very reasonable that we might be better off, at least neutral. From what I saw of Lucca and even Sean in the summer league, they had the potential to be every bit the 3 point thread Mike T was. And let's not forget that Taylor was red hot or ice cold - he was far from Mr Automatic. In the end, Lucca's (*^#@(& at the hands of the NCAA hurt as much as anything regarding Taylor.

But we still have to accept that a Mike Taylor or any of the other lost guards would've been a potential asset to the team - especially with a year under their belts.

**BryceC** · 03-03-2008, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by mwitt

Do you want another one? Because I'm still glad that McDermott did what he did. Mike has talent, and he definitely would have helped us this year, but he made his own bed. Plus, we have enough players who don't shoot 40%.

McDermott did what he had to do, but we are in no way better off on the court by cutting Taylor loose. That was a ridiculous statement then, and it is now. And, Coach McDermott has said as such.

**isuno1fan** · 03-03-2008, 01:00 PM

I didn't think we would finish 1-10 no matter who we lost. That is becoming more likely with every game however. Still 3 chances to avoid it.

**Drive4cy** · 03-03-2008, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by mwitt

Do you want another one? Because I'm still glad that McDermott did what he did. Mike has talent, and he definitely would have helped us this year, but he made his own bed. Plus, we have enough players who don't shoot 40%.

My post wasn't meant to say Mike got the shaft and should still be here, it's implying that people were blind(hateful?) enough not to see losing MT would be a huge loss on the court. Like we were magically going to lose 16 pts, 4 rebs, and 4 ast per game and somehow we wouldn't lose a beat.

**kg-cyclone** · 03-03-2008, 01:04 PM

One thing about loosing Taylor when we did; is that we did not loose another scholly. I've been told that Taylor more than likely would not have finished attending class after this season.

**rd4isu** · 03-03-2008, 01:06 PM

If we end the season on a six game slide, I'll be pretty disappointed. I wasn't expecting to be world beaters this year but some of the games have been downright painful to watch. Here's to a better '08.

**isuno1fan** · 03-03-2008, 01:08 PM

A 1-10 ending would be brutal. We desperately need to steal one more win somewhere.

**Bobber** · 03-03-2008, 01:16 PM

I was hoping for 2 or 3 more wins then last year, but with our injuries and loss of players, it's gone about as expected. Sure I was hoping for a 2000 season repeat, but didn't think it was too likely.

The season went just as many professional sports analysis's said it would.

**clonefan98** · 03-03-2008, 01:20 PM

I was thinking around .500 for the year, so I wasn't expecting much. I was hoping for an NIT bid. I probably got my hopes up too high when we started out fairly well in conference.

My biggest beef is it doesn't seem like there has been much improvement from the beginning of the year. How did we ever beat Purdue???

I'm all for giving McD a couple more years, but if no progress is seen next year his 4th year better be incredible.