Impact of Brackins' Return
by Mark Kieffer on Apr 25, 2009 11:37 AM CDT
in Basketball
3 comments
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!
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I think Brackins made the right choice...
It was questionable at best that he would be a lottery pick and may even drop to a later draft pick. If he has a season like he had last year he could be a top 5 pick in next year’s draft. With the talent around him at ISU improving next season I look for him to be in the running for the MVP of the Big 12 and lead ISU to a NCAA berth. Go Clones!!!!!!!!!!1
Expectation Reality
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.
How can you make such a statement when we haven’t even seen many of these new guys play? Don’t let over-hyped recruits cause you to give up on McDermott if they don’t pan out in their first year. Most recruits that we are going to sign will need a year or more to develop into players that can contribute in the Big 12.
To clarify
I am not going to put all of the pressure on Colvin. I’m not really sure what to expect from him. Gilstrap and Dendy are JUCOS so I expect them to contribute right away. Gilstrap is actually here for only 1 year, so this is his chance.
The fact of the matter is that we’ll have a Big 12 POY Candidate, a team full of juniors, to go along with the #2 JUCO, and another decent JUCO. Add to that a top 100 guy in Colvin. I think the Big 12 (besides Kansas) will be rebuilding on a lot of levels, so finishing in the top half seems doable.
This will be the best team talent-wise in McDermotts era, and this will be the first year there isn’t an easy excuse for not doing well. If McDermott cannot yield a NCAA quality team with this talent, in his 4th year at the helm at ISU, then he isn’t the man for the job.
by Mark Kieffer on Apr 25, 2009 10:09 PM CDT up reply actions
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