Three ISU tidbits from Pioneer Press

[Ciclone]

I think this should be filed in the "throw as much against the wall as you can and see if something sticks" department, but here's what Charley Walters writes:

-DeLaSalle 6-foot-6 sophomore basketball player Reed Travis, brother of Harvard freshman Jonah Travis, is getting attention from the Gophers, Wisconsin and Iowa State.

-There's a decent chance that former Gophers guard Royce White, a sophomore at Iowa State, will declare himself eligible for June's NBA draft.

-Add University of Wisconsin deputy athletics director Sean Frazier as a potential candidate for the Gophers' AD job. Word is Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard has become a strong candidate.

Charley Walters: Minnesota Vikings still could trade away No. 3 draft pick - TwinCities.com

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

I hope they are dead wrong on the last two...

Unrelated: I love your avatar. Awesome show

 

[CyForPresident]

Pioneer!!! Science with service delivering success!!

 

[MNclone]

Walters likes to think that if he puts his thoughts into bullet point lists that he can make stuff up and pass it off as him having sources.

 

[jpete24]

I prefer the Press over the Tribune, but I never read the Press sports section. The local rag can only say so much without trying to hype up their ****** Gophers teams.

 

[Clone96]

I think this should be filed in the "throw as much against the wall as you can and see if something sticks" department, but here's what Charley Walters writes:

That pretty much describes every Charley Walters column.....

 

[Clonehomer]

I hope they are dead wrong on the last two...Unrelated: I love your avatar. Awesome show

Last one more than the second. I think we'll be okay without white, but losing Pillars could set the entire department back a long ways. We're just one bad hire away from losing all of the momentum we've gained.

 

[leroycyclone]

Last one more than the second. I think we'll be okay without white, but losing Pillars could set the entire department back a long ways. We're just one bad hire away from losing all of the momentum we've gained.

Alvarez is earning a cool $1MM this year. JP would have to look long and hard at that one.

JP has elevated ISU to new heights. The list of possible successors would be long. ISU is a lot stronger now than 5 years ago, thanks to JP. He has to do what's best for his family. He won't leave ISU high and dry.

In addition, Heath wants to raise $100MM next year and he called out Athletics as a key contributor to the effort. That's a good sign for now and the future.

 

[marothisu]

I think this should be filed in the "throw as much against the wall as you can and see if something sticks" department, but here's what Charley Walters writes:

-DeLaSalle 6-foot-6 sophomore basketball player Reed Travis, brother of Harvard freshman Jonah Travis, is getting attention from the Gophers, Wisconsin and Iowa State.

-There's a decent chance that former Gophers guard Royce White, a sophomore at Iowa State, will declare himself eligible for June's NBA draft.

-Add University of Wisconsin deputy athletics director Sean Frazier as a potential candidate for the Gophers' AD job. Word is Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard has become a strong candidate.

Charley Walters: Minnesota Vikings still could trade away No. 3 draft pick - TwinCities.com

If Royce knows what's best for himself, he'll stay another year (at least)..not only to improve but also for his academics. Not NBA ready yet and needs another year.

 

[jsb]

Interesting stuff.

I think it is never a good sign when the hometown people start getting word that someone is leaving. So I don't feel good about that. Of course, I read one of Royce's tweets the other day about loving Iowa State and Ames and took it as a goodbye type tweet. So, we'll see.

Pollard has got to be appealing to a lot of schools. Minnesota would be lucky to get him after having that idiot for so long. I have no idea if he would be interested, but I hope not. I feel pretty good about the new president, but I am not sure yet if I trust him to hire an AD.

 

[clonedude]

JP leaving is the only one that concerns me. Losing Royce this year would only affect us for one year because he wasn't going to stay more than one more year anyway, but losing JP could affect us for the next 10+ years or more if we don't make a good hire.

I actually expect Royce to be gone. I don't think it's the best decision for him, but only he can make that decision. Maybe he should ask Will Blalock if leaving early for the NBA is a great decision?

 

[CTTB78]

We have Fred, and he will advise Royce to come back with an experienced team, be on TV a lot, and up his draft status after a Final Four run next year.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Shooter's column is like an internet forum in print. Ditto, on Hartman's column in the Strib although it is probably ghostwrtten for him these days since he is 92 years old.

 

[kingcy]

JP leaving is the only one that concerns me. Losing Royce this year would only affect us for one year because he wasn't going to stay more than one more year anyway, but losing JP could affect us for the next 10+ years or more if we don't make a good hire.

I actually expect Royce to be gone. I don't think it's the best decision for him, but only he can make that decision. Maybe he should ask Will Blalock if leaving early for the NBA is a great decision?

We have to remember JP has a son with major medical issues. It would have to be really hard for him to just up, leave a find new Docs for his son.

After White calls Blalock he should call Stinson, Brackens, and Fizer. White is a good players but with some work this off season this staff can make him a more complete player. Just think how much better he would be if he could hit a 15 footer.

 

[calclone]

Gopher fans are very similar to Hawkeye fans, they think they have one of the best schools in the country and every coach/player should want to be at their school. U of M is a commuter school, like a JC and lacks the fan support that should follow a school of its size.

 

[marothisu]

Gopher fans are very similar to Hawkeye fans, they think they have one of the best schools in the country and every coach/player should want to be at their school. U of M is a commuter school, like a JC and lacks the fan support that should follow a school of its size.

Absolute ******* Truth, though there's a TON of support for the Gophers in Minnesota and some in ND and SD, and a little in WI. I grew up in MN and was a Gophers fan growing up. Now, basketball was mildly successful in the 90s (1990 Elite 8, 1993 NIT champions, 1997 Final Four, 1998 NIT Champions), but the recruits weren't as good as you'd think. For the 1997 team, the center was from a small town near South Dakota nobody had ever heard of (I mean the town). He basically didn't play until his senior season and lasted exactly 5 minutes in the NBA (seriously..funny story. Look up Trevor Winter). While Sam Jacobson won the Mr. Basketball for Minnesota, I don't remember him being that highly recruited outside of the immediate area (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin). Bobby Jackson was a Community College pickup recruited by Georgia Tech and Wake Forest..Quincy Lewis may have been a 3 or 4 star recruit and was a prep All American in Arkansas, and a few other guys like Miles Tarver being a 3 star. I think Eric Harris might have been the highest recruit, from NYC. It was mostly Clem Haskins and company being good coaches, not Minnesota getting ELITE talent. It was decent recruiting, but nothing like North Carolina is now like some people would make you believe.

Looking back on it, starting in the late 90s with football, so many people ALWAYS thought the Gophers would be doing something special. They did a little, especially compared to what the football program used to be like in the mid 90s and 80s, but nothing amazingly special.


I remember when ISU faced Minnesota in the 2005 NCAA tournament. I wrote to Patrick Reusse while he was doing his radio show and said hey, I am a fan of ISU and Minnesota both, have watched both of them play all year and I hate to say it, but ISU is going to win this game. I went on to say why. He read it on the air and then basically said "you know, these damn rubes thinking they know what they're talking about always email me and act like they know it, but they don't. Listen, there's no way Minnesota loses to Iowa State. Minnesota is very, very good this year and ISU..well..what have they done?" He had the most arrogant feel about him as he was saying this, it was ridiculous. It pretty much sums up Gophers fans to me.

 

[dcxme1183]

...I remember when ISU faced Minnesota in the 2005 NCAA tournament. I wrote to Patrick Reusse while he was doing his radio show and said hey, I am a fan of ISU and Minnesota both, have watched both of them play all year and I hate to say it, but ISU is going to win this game. I went on to say why. He read it on the air and then basically said "you know, these damn rubes thinking they know what they're talking about always email me and act like they know it, but they don't. Listen, there's no way Minnesota loses to Iowa State. Minnesota is very, very good this year and ISU..well..what have they done?" He had the most arrogant feel about him as he was saying this, it was ridiculous. It pretty much sums up Gophers fans to me.

The self-deception is pretty amazing up here. I had a coworker tell me on Friday that he was pretty certain the Gophers were making the tournament this year. When I laughed and asked how the 10 seed in the Big Ten with a 6-12 record deserved to make it, he said something about how tough the Big Ten is.

 

[Clonefan94]

Is the Gopher AD Job that high paying of a job compared to ISU? If I were comfortable, it woudl be tough to leave a job I felt secure in and felt that I built to go to another school where essentially I had to do it all over again. I think a lot of ISU's inadequacies are pretty self evident. We need stadium upgrades, we need Hilton upgrades and we need to raise more money. JP has us moving in the right direction.

Minnesota has a new stadium and their football team still sucks. Their basketball team hasn't done a lot lately that ISU hasn't done. Why would you want to make a jump to a school where basically you are starting over again.

I could see the Wiscy job and him taking that. It's different when the situation is where you came from and all you have to do is not **** it up. Minnesota seems like a lot of work starting from scratch again.

 

[ca4cy]

We have Fred, and he will advise Royce to come back with an experienced team, be on TV a lot, and up his draft status after a Final Four run next year.

The only way Fred will do that is if he's hearing from his NBA connections that Royce needs to work on his game another year. If Fred is hearing that Royce can be a top 20 pick, I think he'll tell him to go.

 

[DutchViking]

Put zero stock into what Charley Walters writes. As a Minnesota pro sports fan, I find him to be completely unreliable.