I agree they should do some of the things you mentioned, but i dont think it should be at the expense of Doug. He can make time for those other things.
McDermott: 2-8 presser transcript
- Thread starter ChrisMWilliams
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I agree they should do some of the things you mentioned, but i dont think it should be at the expense of Doug. He can make time for those other things.
He is not as engaged as he could be. And the players know it. I think there is a possibility he is as interested in his boy playing as his team is playing. Just a guess. He just does not seem that passionate for making so much money. Compare him against other Big 12 coaches.
This is somewhat off-topic, but it's close enough that I had to post it.
I watched much of the UNI-SIU game Saturday. Had I not known what year it was, I could've sworn it was a game from the GMac era. I watched enough of those games to draw a comparison.
It was surreal, because it looked EXACTLY like a UNI game under GMac. The players could have been interchangeable; the offensive scheme was similar; the team appeared fundamentally sound; it looked like the opponent might pull it off, but UNI did just enough to seal it by playing smarter, making FTs, et al. Obviously, Jacobson carried on the blueprint – but I wondered, why is it working there, but never translated to BCS level?
The announcers mentioned something about the team's experience lifting them over the top. Is there something inherent in the mid-major realm, where you can count on a roster with marginal turnover and no fears of people bolting for greener pastures — so even though the talent isn't as good, there's more likelihood that players will be together for several years, and that experience will pay dividends?
Is there something about ground-up continuity that is GMac's forte, but it simply doesn't work as well in the Big 12? Is that why he hasn't made the leap?
It almost makes me think that, once the core unit of WM left, he might as well have written off Season 1, and started freshmen (except maybe for Clark) and gone from there. It might have failed anyway, but — maybe it would have failed miserably, and it would have been better for him and ISU in the long run. Or maybe it would have succeeded. Who knows.
I watched much of the UNI-SIU game Saturday. Had I not known what year it was, I could've sworn it was a game from the GMac era. I watched enough of those games to draw a comparison.
It was surreal, because it looked EXACTLY like a UNI game under GMac. The players could have been interchangeable; the offensive scheme was similar; the team appeared fundamentally sound; it looked like the opponent might pull it off, but UNI did just enough to seal it by playing smarter, making FTs, et al. Obviously, Jacobson carried on the blueprint – but I wondered, why is it working there, but never translated to BCS level?
The announcers mentioned something about the team's experience lifting them over the top. Is there something inherent in the mid-major realm, where you can count on a roster with marginal turnover and no fears of people bolting for greener pastures — so even though the talent isn't as good, there's more likelihood that players will be together for several years, and that experience will pay dividends?
Is there something about ground-up continuity that is GMac's forte, but it simply doesn't work as well in the Big 12? Is that why he hasn't made the leap?
It almost makes me think that, once the core unit of WM left, he might as well have written off Season 1, and started freshmen (except maybe for Clark) and gone from there. It might have failed anyway, but — maybe it would have failed miserably, and it would have been better for him and ISU in the long run. Or maybe it would have succeeded. Who knows.
Couple of things that you aren't taking into consideration.
First the big advantage that "mid major" programs get is the continuity. You look at UNI, and they are mostly juniors and seniors. There are some freshmen playing, but for the most part their core eats up most of the minutes.
Second, this isn't a mid major conference that we play in. Look at the schools that we have to compete with. Outside of Colorado, and Nebraska, the rest don't recruit for a "system." It is about finding the best athletes available to you, and plugging them in on the floor.
For two years, Mac has tried the mid major approach. That is why he played walk ons at the expense of getting young players experience.
Then this year he goes and gets juco players to try to win immediately.
There has been no consistent planning of how to build a program from this staff. There has been no establishing of what the foundation of Iowa State basketball is going to be under Greg McDermott. This team has NOTHING that it can fall back on when they are struggling.
At UNI, he built the foundation on defense and half court offense. What has it been here?
I agree with you. However I think that he needs to get to his family stuff too, especially as close as the examples were. I am sure he misses a few games so when they are close I think him making every effort to get there is good.
I think with these bonding things you are talking about the peer leadership should be involved in this. Brackins and DG could be getting that stuff together. I know when I played even high school sports we were always doing stuff like that and we did it in college too.
I think what your talking about is very key with this team. I just don't think they are a "family" in the sense that we would like them to be. We don't agree much but I do think what your talking about could be one of the fundamental problems with the team.
The best example that I can think of what people are touching on here happened 2 years ago in Kansas City. I was at the women's Big 12 tourny game at muni. the men's team walked in and everyone was cheering. They all found seats in the lower level at mid court. There was not really that many fans there. Where was coach mac you might ask? He was up in the rafters in the corner. The team cheered the whole game.. coach mac... He was pretty uninterested... He was on his blackberry the entire game isolated away from his team.
You want to know why players transfer? they have no connection to their coach.
You want to know why players transfer? they have no connection to their coach.
Point taken. I admit I have no idea of the internal dynamics of the team, and what they do/don't do as a team.
However, I also attended the K-State game and the Ames High game at Wells Fargo. I dropped off the guy I go the ISU games with, stopped home for a quick bite, then sped down to Des Moines.
When I got to my seat, Gmac was already there. I find that weird. Sorry.
I'll admit I've brought up the point "Are fans willing to accept the *risk* of losing some recruits or young players (Colvin)." before.
But I don't know if ANYONE on here has even hinted that it's a "virtual lock" that players leave during a transition. The thing that really gets annoying about these message board discussions as of late is if either side makes a comment or point... the other side hones in on that single point like it's the only argument being made and exaggerate it so far and then calls it out as rediculous.
If people would quit modifying what the other side says and then uses it against them. I think we'd have a lot more civil and enjoyable discussion/debates.
Who said anything about him "babysiiting" anyone. They were there as a team. a Coach should be with their team.
OK, I agree. Then he should forfeit any and all rights to hold a CYA press conference after another player defection catches him completely off guard.
Remember with Lucca it was the second time in 18 months that a player leaves, and he has "no idea they were leaving"
Stories like that one may offer just a bit of insight to a disconnect between the coach and his players. My question is, where are the assistant coaches in all of this to keep Mac informed? There I gave Mac an out for all of the people that think that he can apparently do no wrong, or that it is all bad luck.
I completely understand and agree. I don't know how you do that as a coach. I don't know how you find a balance between your son and your team. In the end I think you put family first. The only thing I would say to defend him directly is that that game was a game damn close to home and he was actually home not on the road, same with Marshalltown. I don't know for sure how many games he gets to but I would venture to guess it isn't many so when they're close, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he is taking advantage of his best opportunities.
About the team chemistry. One night, there was a thread about 4 guys being at the intramural games. It was I think Colvin, Gilstrap, Dendy, and I think Oliver. I thought that was interesting because they are all new to ISU this year. Are there cliques within this team? I don't know. Maybe the last three live together and Gilstrap was just tagging along. I just found it interesting. Probably reading way too much into it but it was just a thought.
In all the anti-Mac threads I've been reading, NO ONE has said anything about the GPA issue he inherited. The death penalty comments have a lot to do with the team GPA average issue. Wayne's players (and even some of Larry's) weren't all going to class at the end of their time here, and even though they left, Greg was the one who got punished. It changed how he could recruit because he had to pass on high quality players with borderline academic records. He simply didn't have the margin of error to take many chances. That issue is resolving itself, and we are now seeing some higher quality recruits.
He had to boot Taylor. Had WJ stayed, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Lucca leaving would not have mattered because he more than likely wouldn't be on the floor much this year with WJ around.
Just my $.02.
He had to boot Taylor. Had WJ stayed, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Lucca leaving would not have mattered because he more than likely wouldn't be on the floor much this year with WJ around.
Just my $.02.
Really?
You know that the team GPA improved under Morgan, right? And if they were so bad, other than Stinson and Blaylock who had declared for the draft, how did Carr, Taggert, Evanovich, Degand, and whoever else all transfer with no complications.
None of those players had to go to a community college, or had any problem going to their next school. If they stopped going to class, they would have failed classes, and not been able to transfer directly to their next school. That didn't happen.
Now we can look at all of the players that have left under McDermott, especially the ones that left mid semester like Vette, and Brister......That would have more of an impact.
Of course LE's revolving door policy following Floyd's revolving door policy set up all of the APR troubles. But it has been a long time since LE was the coach here at Iowa State. That doesn't lead that to be an excuse, though, so it doesn't fit your argument.
Because of players like Brock Jacobson. The only reason Wayne wanted him to walk on was because of his 4.0 GPA. If you'll re-read my post, you'll see that I stated that we've turned the corner APR wise. But it did affect recruiting early in Mac's tenure, especially when everyone transferred out and he had to sign a lot of players in a hurry. The players I'm talking about are the ones who decided the semester was over after their last tournament game in their final season and yes, Tim got that ball rolling and handed it to Larry, who handed it to Wayne.
