My Analysis(As worthless as it seems)

[bawbie]

This is a great post. Seriously. You should change your User Name to Knows All or at least Knows Something.

I think it's more like the blind squirrel finding the nut. :wink:

seriously though, I agree completely with that post.

 

[bawbie]

I'm not ripping on Craig. Just putting our problems in perspective.

And your perspective is that Craig having 1 bad game is one of our bigger problems?

 

[Clones85']

I agree...Brackins needs more than 2 rebounds. Brackins is also the least of our worries. I think they had 19(give or take) offensive rebounds; most of which were long rebounds(guards) or blocked shots. Does no good to block a shot if we're not going to get the ball.

According to ESPN they had 16 rebounds....14 of them coming from their bigs. Once again our problem is that our big guys don't get position and are not physical down low when rebounding. Pretty much all of their offensive boards where right under the hoop (then we blocked their shots from behind!)

 

[Cydkar]

And your perspective is that Craig having 1 bad game is one of our bigger problems?

I said it was the least of our problems. I even put it in bold. ????

 

[clone52]

I am going to start this off by saying I am in no way an expert. I have played basketball my whole life, but I do not claim any superior knowledge to anyone on this board, however, this is what I believe has happened under McDermott.

During McDermott's first year or two, I think he believed that he could win with one or two good players (Brackins, Wesley) surrounded by mid major type players (Eikmeier, etc.). However, I believe that McDermott figured out that this simply will not work in the Big XII. There are too many athletes to make winning like this possible.

Because of this, McDermott went out to try and find athletes to fill these complemetary roles with Brackins. However, because of Brackins immense talent (ie leaving early) and his seat getting a little warm, McDermott went out and got athletes that were talented albeit with some other issues. (the whole duke debacle that is being hashed out in another thread.)

I am going to go ahead and put this out here. I think McDermott has it figured out. McDermott, I believe, has altered the recruiting strategy he had when he first got here significantly. Instead of recruiting mid major role players (Eikmeier, Vette, etc.), he has started to recruit athletes that he can develop into great basketball players by the time they are juniors and seniors to pair with one or two big time players. I believe there is evidence of that by his recruitment of Antwon Oliver (tremendous athlete with huge upside and nice shot, but needs more weight) and his recruitment of Elgin Cook.

Now here is the problem. McDermott has figured this out in year 4. His political capital, so to say, is running out. Brackins will be gone and he will be left with impatient fans and possibly an impatient administration. And even worse, he may not have the sway he once had with some of the big time players. I love Coach Mac as a person and I think he is a great coach. However, I believe his recruiting strategy has significantly hurt him. He has become quite reactionary in his recruiting, due to his seat being a little warm. This is clearly evident by the influx of jucos.

I think Coach Mac has it figured out, and I would really like to see what he does in the next couple recruiting classes before anything is done with Coach Mac. Many great coaches struggled early in their careers and made mistakes (Bill Bellichek, Steve alford) I believe Coach Mac is worth the wait to allow him time to work things out.

Sorry for the length and let the hating begin!

Except that you can be a good Big 12 team who is consistantly in the tourney talk with a couple of stars and role players. You can't do that if everyone is a freshman. Eikmeier is a Big 12 caliber player. Not a star, not going to carry a team but a solid option. Overmatched as a freshman, but would have been fine as a junior/senior. He wanted to be The Man, but he wouldn't have in the Big 12.

Similar to Boozer. Never going to be a star or or a starter on a good Big 12 team, but an immensly important contributer.

 

[clone52]

Not the case, although it does seem that way. Our problem is rebounding from the guard position. Defense is definitely struggling too.

Everyone is to blame for the rebounding. Brackins rarely boxes out. If he's outnumbered, he gives up on it. Dendy doesn't box out. Hamilton boxes out, but is slower off the ground and weaker hands.

We could improve a lot by just being smarter and give out a consistant effort.

 

[clone52]

I am a betting man. As a betting man you have to play the odds.

Based on the recent past history of ISU basketball that last statement is simply incorrect. The better bet would be the new coach.

I assume all of you who believe we should give Gmac 7 years to figure this out were all for giving Morgan 4 more years as well? Or maybe 6 more years, considering he had much more sucess early on in his tenure as head coach?

Nothing against Gmac, I am just trying to understand where this double standard comes from. A moderately successful coach deserved to be canned after one poor season, but an unsuccessful coach deserves 7 years? I would love an explanation.

Morgan didn't have to start from scratch. He had a good foundation from which to build. Not a hard explanation.

I think we should give GMac a few more years because I think he will succeed. I can understand people wanting to go a different route though.

 

[singsing]

Coach macs recruiting is fine. In order to be in the big 12 you need athletes and he went out and got a few. Its the coaching of these athletes that hurts him. I also think his offense blows and that frustrates players as well. Also, im so sick of his man to man defense that i wish we could just go to a 2-3 zone or a 3-2 zone or a fricken 1-3-1 zone and say screw it.

+10000 Couldn't agree with you more. I'd like to see the 2-3 run with Colvin,SC,MG,Ham, and Craig. I'd also like to see Craig moved to the 3 and work the offense through him standing out around the free throw line with MG playing the 4 spot.

 

[DaddyMac]

+10000 Couldn't agree with you more. I'd like to see the 2-3 run with Colvin,SC,MG,Ham, and Craig. I'd also like to see Craig moved to the 3 and work the offense through him standing out around the free throw line with MG playing the 4 spot.

I don't know about moving Craig to the 3, but whatever.

I can't figure for the life of me, how Brackins doesn't see the ball initially every time down. Even if it's only to kick it back out, nary should a posession go by without his touching the ball at least once.

Early on, I was noticing how improved his recognition of the double, and his ability to cross pass or hit a cutter was.

 

[bawbie]

I agree...Brackins needs more than 2 rebounds. Brackins is also the least of our worries. I think they had 19(give or take) offensive rebounds; most of which were long rebounds(guards) or blocked shots. Does no good to block a shot if we're not going to get the ball.

An All American big man with only 2 rebounds is the least of our worries. That says it all.

I said it was the least of our problems. I even put it in bold. ????

My bad. I thought that was sarcasm (or mocking).

 

[kingcy]

I can't figure for the life of me, how Brackins doesn't see the ball initially every time down. Even if it's only to kick it back out, nary should a posession go by without his touching the ball at least once.

He cannot get open and out PGs cannot make tight passes.

 

[isuno1fan]

I am a betting man. As a betting man you have to play the odds.

Based on the recent past history of ISU basketball that last statement is simply incorrect. The better bet would be the new coach.

I assume all of you who believe we should give Gmac 7 years to figure this out were all for giving Morgan 4 more years as well? Or maybe 6 more years, considering he had much more sucess early on in his tenure as head coach?

Nothing against Gmac, I am just trying to understand where this double standard comes from. A moderately successful coach deserved to be canned after one poor season, but an unsuccessful coach deserves 7 years? I would love an explanation.

All about running a clean program.

Enough said.

 

[singsing]

I don't know about moving Craig to the 3, but whatever.

I can't figure for the life of me, how Brackins doesn't see the ball initially every time down. Even if it's only to kick it back out, nary should a posession go by without his touching the ball at least once.

Early on, I was noticing how improved his recognition of the double, and his ability to cross pass or hit a cutter was.

Seems to be the position he prefers since most of his shots seem to be 10-15 ft fade aways. Thought the team was getting it a bit the other night when Craig would float out a bit and then pass to Ham for easy lay ups. About that time Ham decided to play like the rest of the team and throw up that horrible 10 ft hook shot with a guy all over him. Our guards can't get the ball to him at the post so why not work the offense through him away from the bucket. If the other team decides to double him up with a post player he'd have the option to get the pass into the block. If they decide to single cover him let him go to town with his midrange game, and then you always have give and go's with the guards. It just seems like we could get him more touches moved to the 3 spot.

 

[mtowncyclone]

long drawn out post, good effort

 

[woodie]

should not take him 3 years on the how to do coaching?
mac should have done that b4 he came to ames. i wonder how how he extended his contract to 2015?so he could learn how to coach?????/