As announced yesterday afternoon, Brackins has decided to return to ISU for his Junior season. You can view the press conference here

I was surprised about the announcement, especially since ESPN had him recently projected as a late lottery pick. It appeared to me that this year's class was relativley weak in that Brackins could be picked higher than originally expected.

After listening to some of Brackins comments, it appears that he wants to build a winner at ISU. It sounded like he just wasn't ready to leave college and deal with the business side of professional basketball.

I say good for him. You have to do what your heart is telling you, and I applaud him for that, as I'm sure there was a lot of pressure to leave.

So now that he's staying, what does that mean for the Cyclones next year? I have to say that with Brackins' talent, the development of our current players, and our incoming recruits, this is a NCAA team. Anything short of that, McDermott should be dusting off his resume.

Having Brackins stay an extra year will help with the stability of this program, and hopefully ISU can get back to respectability, as I think they will. Having a talented team, and a Big 12 POY candidate, will help with landing recruits. If high school prospects see that you can be successful at ISU, we'll once again become a legit place to play college basketball.

This 2009-2010 season is going to be one of the most pivotal in a long time. Success here, will likely lead to success in the future. Failure and we'll face yet another long road of rebuilding.

Finally, the talent should be in Ames! This is a great opportunity. One of the best in a long time! Let's get 'em next year!