Most telling stat of the season....

[cyclonenum1]

Thats just stupid. I realize that he is the head coach but not everything is his fault. Is it his fault that Mike Taylor acted like a child? Is it his fault that pretty much everyone left after Morgan was fired? I'm guessing you thinks it will be his fault when Barnes committs to Duke.

Mike Taylor...McDermott recruited him. Maybe he should have done some better due diligence on the front end. Or better yet, maybe he should have done a better job of nipping the situation in the bud before it escalated after he was on campus.

Morgan's team...McDermott should have done more to re-recruit these guys. I'll bet if you gave him truth serum today he would admit this...because he has admitted that he underestimated the importance of talent in the Big 12. He let a lot of talent basically walk away with apparently very little effort exerted to try and retain it. I think he arrogantly thought he didn't need these kids and that they were maybe not good kids and that he could bring in his MVC type kid and style of play and win in the Big 12.

If McDermott is not held accountable to some degree should Barnes go elsewhere then how can you say he is accountable for the kids we do get? We have a bunch of built in advantages to get Barnes...if we don't get him it is a stain on McDermott. Now, should he be canned based upon this one thing if it should come to pass...no, certainly not.

All I'm saying is that you can't have it both ways...you can't in one hand say McDermott is a great recruiter and use WJ as an example and then slough off the WJ transfer on WJ being a selfish idiot (or any of the other names he has been called) while assessing no blame to McDermott and claiming he is "snake bitten" or been "dealt a bad hand".

 

[cybirdie]

Mike Taylor...McDermott recruited him. Maybe he should have done some better due diligence on the front end. Or better yet, maybe he should have done a better job of nipping the situation in the bud before it escalated after he was on campus.

Morgan's team...McDermott should have done more to re-recruit these guys. I'll bet if you gave him truth serum today he would admit this...because he has admitted that he underestimated the importance of talent in the Big 12. He let a lot of talent basically walk away with apparently very little effort exerted to try and retain it. I think he arrogantly thought he didn't need these kids and that they were maybe not good kids and that he could bring in his MVC type kid and style of play and win in the Big 12.

If McDermott is not held accountable to some degree should Barnes go elsewhere then how can you say he is accountable for the kids we do get? We have a bunch of built in advantages to get Barnes...if we don't get him it is a stain on McDermott. Now, should he be canned based upon this one thing if it should come to pass...no, certainly not.

All I'm saying is that you can't have it both ways...you can't in one hand say McDermott is a great recruiter and use WJ as an example and then slough off the WJ transfer on WJ being a selfish idiot (or any of the other names he has been called) while assessing no blame to McDermott and claiming he is "snake bitten" or been "dealt a bad hand".

The mods definitely want this sensical thread bearing accountability to the head coach buried...thanks for the HN censorship!

 

[Angie]

The mods definitely want this sensical thread bearing accountability to the head coach buried...thanks for the HN censorship!

Please tell me exactly where a mod has even posted in this thread? And then tell me when you've moderated this site to develop such a vast working knowledge of the process?

 

[photomuse]

I think everyone is right except for the "lack of conditioning" crowd. I don't think it had anything to do with conditioning, unless you count mental conditioning. We actually played quite a few guys and people didn't seem noticeably tired at the end of games. The reasons, as people have pointed out, were that:

a) Teams didn't take us seriously and then after they were yelled at during halftime, they took it to a higher gear that we couldn't match.

b) We had a mental problem in that when we hit a little dry spell (especially in the second half of games) it seemed like it spiraled out of control and everyone kept missing. Part of this was probably due to a)

c) Teams made adjustments at half time to shut down Brackins and whoever option B was that night. Our team never found an option C in this situation because we either aren't talented enough or don't have a winning attitude/swagger. They then wilted under pressure.

 

[fcmc]

The thing that stood out for me was how we panicked late in close games. Talk about deer in headlights! When CB was doubled, we just didn't have that one player this season that could make plays and will us to win the close ones.

It's not like Brackins was clutch either.
He cost us the Hawaii game with the last second foul.
And he never became the go to guy down the stretch to carry us to victory.

 

[gocubs2118]

It's not like Brackins was clutch either.
He cost us the Hawaii game with the last second foul.
And he never became the go to guy down the stretch to carry us to victory.

Ya your right, how dare Brackins not average 35 points a game in conference play. He sucks.

 

[Cycofan1]

We don't keep stats

 

[BurgundyClone]

The answer is: how much time do we spend shooting warmup shots before the 2nd Half? Answer -30 seconds, or 1 shot at most per guy.

I believe that is the wrong approach and has conistently proven to get us off to cold shooting to start 2nd Halves. The other teams always comes out with a few minutes left, while we come out with less than a minute. How in the hell do you warm up sitting in the locker room for 20 minutes sitting on a bench?

That HAS to have some lingering affect on our 2nd half shooting coming out of the gate.

 

[fcmc]

Ya your right, how dare Brackins not average 35 points a game in conference play. He sucks.

Not what I said at all.
But I want to see Iowa State win games.
And we haven't done much of that during Brackins time here.
When I remember the great players here, I remember the great games they played, and by and large, the great games they won.
What is my memory of Brackins going to be.
The night he scored six points against Iowa?
Oh, and remember that great win we had over Baylor?
We all know that this team let leads and games get away from them in the second half all year.
It's what defines this team.
Did Brackins ever score a couple of key baskets in the last minute and win us a game? I don't think so.

 

[CB21]

So are you saying he had to do it all by himself? Get a supporting cast around him and maybe some of those things could have happened. And I hope your memory of Brackins is a little more than 6 points vs Iowa and a win verse baylor.

 

[fcmc]

So are you saying he had to do it all by himself? Get a supporting cast around him and maybe some of those things could have happened. And I hope your memory of Brackins is a little more than 6 points vs Iowa and a win verse baylor.

I've seen great players do it all by themselves.
Pick up a team and carry it to victory.
Barry Stevens didn't have much of a supporting cast at first, and led us to some remarkable victories.
Justus Thigpen beat #2 Oklahoma State almost all by himself one Saturday afternoon in the Hilton, after we were down what, 18 at the half.
Marv Seiler was a one man show on the football field one day.
I know some people on here say Brackins was better than Fizer, which makes me shake my head. Fizer hit a last seconds shot to beat Kansas in Lawrence that's part of our history forever.
Brackins never did it. Not once while he was here, did he lead us to a remarkable victory.
And that was this teams problem. We were in games. We led games. But we never came through and won games. Second half let downs defined this team.

 

[CB21]

Yeah thats true but sad thing is if that were to happen he would have to score 40 plus points a night because no one else likes to pitch in. Look at the Kansas game this year..what else could he have done?? 42 and 14? You have to be realistic. Those were good basketball teams. This is not a good basketball team.

 

[cyclonenum1]

Again...guys are banging on Brackins. Why? The kid had a fantastic season. Get off his back.

It is the coach's job to figure out a way to win games when you have one go-to guy. Other coaches can do it...our coach seems unable to do it.

Also, all season long I saw the "did you really expect to win...we were not as talented" discussion point when excusing McDermott for loss after loss. However, over the last two weekends (conference tourneys and start of NCAA tourney), I have seen plenty of "less talented" teams win games. You just have to have the right coach to make this happen.

 

[Harry]

You haven't seen any teams with the less talent we have win any games.

 

[cyclonenum1]

You haven't seen any teams with the less talent we have win any games.

Excellent point...and precisely who is in charge of recruiting and retaining "talent" within the ISU program...hmmmm?

 

[Wesley]

I've seen great players do it all by themselves.
Pick up a team and carry it to victory.
Barry Stevens didn't have much of a supporting cast at first, and led us to some remarkable victories.
Justus Thigpen beat #2 Oklahoma State almost all by himself one Saturday afternoon in the Hilton, after we were down what, 18 at the half.
Marv Seiler was a one man show on the football field one day.
I know some people on here say Brackins was better than Fizer, which makes me shake my head. Fizer hit a last seconds shot to beat Kansas in Lawrence that's part of our history forever.
Brackins never did it. Not once while he was here, did he lead us to a remarkable victory.
And that was this teams problem. We were in games. We led games. But we never came through and won games. Second half let downs defined this team.

DG won a game for us early in the Big 12 season.