Iowa State Men's Basketball - Totally in First Place
by CrossCyed on Nov 19, 2008 3:19 PM CST
in Iowa State Men's Basketball
3 comments
Yes, yes, your Iowa State Cyclones are in first place in the Big 12. In men's basketball. Want proof?
That's us. On top. You say we're only 3 games in? Who cares! We're on top of a conference with only one loss (to Montana State...).
But in all seriousness, the Cyclones have already run the gamut from nail-biting (against UC Davis), mediocre (Loyola Marymount), and somewhat kind of decent (Milwaukee). But does this team have what it takes to keep up the Ws for any length of time?
Let's take a look at our top performers so far.
Right at the top of the list is Craig Brackins, and with good reason. He's scoring at the rate that we'll need him to (nearly 29 points per 40 minutes). Moreover, he's becoming the inside scoring presence that we need him to become. Averaging just 3.7 rebounds per game - I don't know if he'll ever become the banger down low that we need him to be, but his scoring might be a much bigger deal to a team that's been downright offensive when trying to score the last couple of years.
And, speaking of rebounders down low, Jamie Vanderbeken has been a pleasant surprise. For a guy that likes to float out to the three point line, he's been grabbing boards at a decent rate (including a double-double already), and his shooting (again, a need) has been pretty good, both from outside and his limited attempts inside.
And the nice looking statistical parade continues with Diante Garrett. A 3.3 A/TO ratio is spectacular in any three games. He's done a nice job of finding guys this year (although it doesn't hurt that the shots are going in more often.) He's still kind of an ugly shooter to watch, but....if he shows something a bit closer to that three-point barrage he had against his hometown school, his progression will already be ahead of schedule.
Of course, missing from the leaders display has been the play of true freshman Wes Eikmeier. In a performance eerily similar to the days of Mike Taylor, we have a guy that isn't afraid to stop and pop. And, when those threes are going in over half of the time (53.5%, to be exact), he'll be useful as both a zone buster and as an emergency offensive stimulus.
To say I was disappointed with our season opener with UC Davis was an understatement. And although they beat Loyola Marymount and very nearly beat Milwaukee, that game was still way too close. But, as the weekend went on, and this group of guys has begun playing with familiarity, they've started settling in. A date in Hawai'i this week provides a golden opportunity to get an elusive road win and to continue momentum.
But, does McDermott continue starting his safe lineup of Thompson, Brackins, Haluska, Petersen and Garrett? Now might be the time to give that nod to Vanderbeken over Thompson, but when do guys like Eikmeier and Staiger start getting the minutes belonging to some of our senior leaders? Or do they at all?
One last note - as one of Greg McDermott's louder critics, I've been pleased with what I've seen in terms of progress. I know mpls has discussed how the Milwaukee game is probably more of an aberration than anything, but it would seem we now have some of the shooters we desperately need - and maybe just the improvement in 3 point percentage will help us win some games we didn't last year. I mean, I don't have to like our head coach to be a fan...do I?
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Not trying to be negative
I apologize if I’m coming across negativley. I want it to be clear that I’m a big fan of McDermott as I believe he’s a good coach.
I enjoyed the fact that we looked better as each game went on.
I do have a couple of biases:
First, I don’t like the current style of play of the team. It’s been proven in basketball that teams that shoot high percentage shots and rebound well, generally do better than those who spread it out and shoot it. Look at Duke for example: in years where they just spread it out and shoot it, they are a respectable team but fade in the NCAA tourney. When they have a good post player like Carlos Boozer – they win the national championship. If you’re going to throw up a bunch of threes, you have to have a good inside game to offset the low percentage shots.
Let me be clear: I like having good shooters and having the ability to shoot the timley 3 pointer. I just don’t like seeing us shoot mostly the 3 pointer. I understand we have to play to our teams strengths, which is why I like McDermott. .I see so many things this team needs to improve in order to hang with our harder opponents and I will point them out. I think a lot of our issues would be elliviated if Brackins can develop into a complete player and AT can put up 6-10 points.
Second, I don’t think our non-conference schedule is all that respectable. I think there are a few tests, but every game is very winnable. I understand why we have the teams we do scheduled, but it’s nothing to brag about. Because of this, I am always going to compare us to our conference foes.
If we win 20 games on the season but 14 of them are from non-conference games, then we just went 6-10 in our conference. That won’t give us any respect and ultimatley the NCAAs and NIT care more about how we’re doing in the conference as opposed to whether we beat Houstin Baptist at home. I have been watching Big XII teams: I’ve already seen Kansas and Oklahoma, and I’m trying to watch as many Big XII teams as possible. If we’re going to be a respectable conference we’ve got to do well in the conference. The reason I’m not pumped about what’s happening is because if we played Oklahoma today, Blake Griffin could very well outrebound our whole team and that’s frustrating. I’d hope we can improve to hang with them at least for a bit.
In sum, I will try not to sound as negative about the team, but I will point out things they can improve. When I’m posting about actual games, I will try to post some positives about what’s happened and things we need to learn: I think I"ve done this well with football games I’ve posted about and I’ll try to do so with the basketball games I post. I think I’ve been optomistic about our Wrestling team as well….
I am just going a couple of posts about teams that shoot too many 3s or rely on the 3 too much to back up my opinion that we need to do more.
A lot of the current discussions about the basketball team remind me of football team discussions early in the year. We saw flaws from our team, like bad tackling, not the greatest O-Line and D-Line against SDSU and Kent State. When people were pointing out these issues, everyone brushed them off. When we got in conference play, all of our flaws have been exposed.
I don’t want to be negative, but I don’t want to see a ton of our fans get our hopes supremely up, only to see them crashing down. I think our basketball program has a very bright future and I’m pretty darn excited about it! I think the expectations that many are having about this team are a year early.
Lets get some respect in the conference and to the NITI this year. Next year, with a great incoming class and development of our returning players, then lets start thinking about getting ranked or making the dance!
If we do well, I will be the first to be excited! I’m a 100% fan of our ISU teams and want to see us do well. I
f we somehow went undefeated in the non-conference, got ranked and went to the dance this year, you wouldn’t see anyone happier about it than me! I am just not going out there to expect any of that because it’s way to early. We’ve already come pretty far compared to a couple years ago and I think we’ll continue to go in the positive direction.
Thanks for reading the blog, and go Cyclones! I apologize for the length of this, but I think I’m being misunderstood.
by Mark Kieffer on Nov 19, 2008 9:40 PM CST up reply actions
Some good points
I completely agree with you about relying too much on the three but if we’re going to do it I’d rather we have some guys that can actually hit them unlike last year. I’ll admit that I’m still skeptical about GMac and where the program is headed but if they prove me wrong I’ll be ecstatic.
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