Omaha Biliew Commits to Iowa State!

[t-noah]

I'd probably disagree on that in terms of recruiting hype. Harrison is still a top 5 rated recruit all time. If there was a "6-star recruit" he would be one.

What if. What if Harrison had played for ISU? The program just wasn't going in the right direction at the time. Hoiberg, the coach, was an unknown. But man, if at ISU, his soph year, paired with Royce White? We might have had as good a shot at #1 as he had with UNC.

Harrison's freshman year, UNC finished #7 in the final poll. His soph year, they finished #4. Guess who won that year, Harrison's soph year? Yep, KY. We put up a pretty good fight with them, first half anyway, that year. Lost to KY in the round of 32.

 

[Cyfan2021]

The comparison of Omaha to Harrison Barnes is interesting. Both near the top of their recruiting class (I think Harrison was #1 or 2). Both 6-8 dominant pwr forwards. Both won state championships, Omaha as a sophomore. Both McDonald's All-Americans.

I think Harrison (maybe) was a more polished player, better shooter? Omaha may yet have the higher ceiling, perhaps the better defender? Harrison played 2 years at UNC before going pro, and still is playing for the Kings. He's having a very good career. Omaha would do well to do as good. Can he do better?

I certainly don't want to put pressure on a player. Omaha will be himself, and will do very well. I'm excited to see him play next year. I just hope fans don't expect too much out of him. He will need a solid cast to play with, to maximize his potential.

Do most here feel that he will be a 'one and done' player? Is there any chance he might want to play 2 years at ISU?

Barnes was more of the classic small forward. Good midrange, can get to the hop and hits some 3. It’s seems Omaha more of a 4. He seems very similar to Jaren Jackson Jr. High motor, tough on defense and can get to the rim. I don’t think he’s good offensively as Barnes was, but he was great intangibles and athleticism that’ll translate to the next level.

It’s always tough to tell one and dones but I think he has good shot. I imagine he’ll have a better year than THT who went one and done

 

[Cyfan2021]

What if. What if Harrison had played for ISU? The program just wasn't going in the right direction at the time. Hoiberg, the coach, was an unknown. But man, if at ISU, his soph year, paired with Royce White? We might have had as good a shot at #1 as he had with UNC.

Harrison's freshman year, UNC finished #7 in the final poll. His soph year, they finished #4. Guess who won that year, Harrison's soph year? Yep, KY. We put up a pretty good fight with them, first half anyway, that year. Lost to KY in the round of 32.

I’m glad everything turned out the way it did with Fred, but it would have been something if McDermott had one more year. I think Barnes might have went to ISU with Doug walking on

 

[t-noah]

I’m glad everything turned out the way it did with Fred, but it would have been something if McDermott had one more year. I think Barnes might have went to ISU with Doug walking on

I hadn't thought of that. It's been a while. That would have been something.

It all worked out. We had the Hoiberg years. Creighton got its coach, and Doug McDermott. Who knew Doug was going to become the player he did.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I’m glad everything turned out the way it did with Fred, but it would have been something if McDermott had one more year. I think Barnes might have went to ISU with Doug walking on

Wasn’t McDermott still the ISU coach when Barnes committed to UNC?

 

[AuH2O]

His shooting isn't bad. I think he was around 40% from 3 this year. The college three is a pretty big adjustment, but I could see him in the 30-35% range next year.

While the college line is a big adjustment I think the bigger adjustment is shorter players or guys with slower releases. Omaha has the height and nice reasonably quick release to not have any problems.

 

[madguy30]

I saw a summer game of his once, was excited for him but never got crazy high on him because I always thought "at that size he should have KILLED everyone but he just... didn't."

From what limited action I saw him at ISU, he just kind of seemed to....hang out.

The ability was definitely there.

 

[Cyfan2021]

Wasn’t McDermott still the ISU coach when Barnes committed to UNC?

Ah yeah. An article said Barnes committed in May( which doesn’t make sense looking at it). He committed in November, Fred was hired 5 months later.

 

[VeloClone]

Ah yeah. An article said Barnes committed in May( which doesn’t make sense looking at it). He committed in November, Fred was hired 5 months later.

Yes, I remember thinking when we lost Barnes, "How can I blame him. This program is going nowhere under Greg." When sad about it I also thought Barnes might have bought another year for McDermott and that wouldn't have been good for anybody. So it probably worked out the best for everyone.

 

[WastedTalent]

Yes, I remember thinking when we lost Barnes, "How can I blame him. This program is going nowhere under Greg." When sad about it I also thought Barnes might have bought another year for McDermott and that wouldn't have been good for anybody. So it probably worked out the best for everyone.

Flip side is Barnes committs, Doug comes too, McDermott changes style then to more what he runs at Creighton now, and he becomes pretty successful at Iowa St.
Recruiting to Creighton is easier than to Iowa St, but there's a chance he could have had similar success here.

 

[t-noah]

Flip side is Barnes committs, Doug comes too, McDermott changes style then to more what he runs at Creighton now, and he becomes pretty successful at Iowa St.
Recruiting to Creighton is easier than to Iowa St, but there's a chance he could have had similar success here.

Well yeah maybe. Greg was 15-17 (4-12, 11th in the Big 12), his last (4th) year at ISU.

He would have had 2-4 more years? I just don't think it was in the cards for a McDermott at ISU.

 

[cyclonehomer]

Well yeah maybe. Greg was 15-17 (4-12, 11th in the Big 12), his last (4th) year at ISU.

He would have had 2-4 more years? I just don't think it was in the cards for a McDermott at ISU.

I remember being so relieved when the move to Creighton was announced, McDermott just didn't have the juice at Iowa State if that makes sense.

Maybe in a different world with Barnes and Doug they get momentum going but I think the disaster that was the end of the Prohm era makes people forget just how stuck in the mud Greg was here. IIRC, they only won one game against a ranked team in his tenure here and it was K-State in year 4?

 

[VeloClone]

I remember being so relieved when the move to Creighton was announced, McDermott just didn't have the juice at Iowa State if that makes sense.

Maybe in a different world with Barnes and Doug they get momentum going but I think the disaster that was the end of the Prohm era makes people forget just how stuck in the mud Greg was here. IIRC, they only won one game against a ranked team in his tenure here and it was K-State in year 4?

Very last conference game. And they were ranked #5. And it was on the road.

 

[cyclones500]

Very last conference game. And they were ranked #5. And it was on the road.

It was such an unlikely win, considering almost no signature wins up to that point. Sometimes I wonder if things would have gone differently if GMc had gotten a couple more of those types of wins in the first season or two (not even on the road, just anyway)... maybe wouldn't have mattered and the "big wins" simply would have happened early instead of later.

Never got any momentum. Several competitive losses along the way to highly ranked teams, but horseshoes/hand grenades.

 

[VeloClone]

It was such an unlikely win, considering almost no signature wins up to that point. Sometimes I wonder if things would have gone differently if GMc had gotten a couple more of those types of wins in the first season or two (not even on the road, just anyway)... maybe wouldn't have mattered and the "big wins" simply would have happened early instead of later.

Never got any momentum. Several competitive losses along the way to highly ranked teams, but horseshoes/hand grenades.

I remember one game Bill Self decided to let Brackins get his and try to stop everyone else. After the game Self claimed to have been sweating and thinking he had made a mistake. Brackins got like 42 and 14. That might have been a bit of hyperbole since KU was up by double digits at the half and put the game away in the first five minutes of the second half.

 

[cayin]

It was such an unlikely win, considering almost no signature wins up to that point. Sometimes I wonder if things would have gone differently if GMc had gotten a couple more of those types of wins in the first season or two (not even on the road, just anyway)... maybe wouldn't have mattered and the "big wins" simply would have happened early instead of later.

Never got any momentum. Several competitive losses along the way to highly ranked teams, but horseshoes/hand grenades.

Diante Garrrett took over that game. We were not even running offense, just give the ball to Diante and let him go to work. KSU couldn't stop him

 

[cyclones500]

I remember one game Bill Self decided to let Brackins get his and try to stop everyone else. After the game Self claimed to have been sweating and thinking he had made a mistake. Brackins got like 42 and 14. That might have been a bit of hyperbole since KU was up by double digits at the half and put the game away in the first five minutes of the second half.

Definitely a game I recall from that era. If it was the strategy to let Brackins "get his" and shut down everything else, it worked. I remember being disappointed we couldn't leverage his dominance a little bit and start spreading the ball in the second half to keep KU off balance.

 

[SoleCyclone]

This thread has gone somewhere else and might not come back :/

 

[tomar1]

I’ve just watched his highlights but Omaha reminded me a lot of Julius Randle.

It’s going to be fun watching Omaha & Milan playing together I can’t wait !!!

 

[LLCoolCY]

5 Star in Rivals final ranks.

Rivals Rankings Week: Five-Star Countdown for 2023 class

The final 2023 rankings are being released this week and we started it off with the Five-Star Countdown.

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