I know I said it yesterday, but reflecting on it this morning, the speed in which this all went down was crazy! I still am trying to let it sink in that McDermott is gone and Hoiberg is here. Just 4-5 days ago, there was no sign of this at all.
Last night, I finally got to hear Jon Walters throw down some smack to Matt Perrault, a guy that prior to this was pretty high on many Cyclone fan's ish-list, ha ha ha! For those that don't listen to KXnO, Perrault really does go out and try to rip Jamie Pollard every chance he gets. Perrault was ripping on McDermott all throughout the basketball season (which I could tolerate), but now is praising him like he's freaking Phil Jackson heading out west to Omaha. It's too bad this (lack of) quality is what hits the airwaves on a daily basis from 4pm-7pm. I decided a couple of months ago, to just listen to music, and it has been a lot more kind to my ears!
Going back to Hoiberg, there is a press conference open to the public at the Jacobson building at 10:30am, TODAY. If I had to guess, I'd think there would be a lot of people in there, so I would advise going early.
We know that Hoiberg met with the team last night, and from various accounts Boozer and Dendy seem to be on board, which is encouraging considering how disappointed they sounded with McDermott leaving.
So what say you Cyclone fans after having some time to process and think about everything? I won't disagree that this move was bold, but I honestly think that it can work. I finally have some hope with men's basketball. Anyone that has ever followed me on here knows that I'm skeptical about almost everything, and I try to tell it how it is, even if it isn't a positive spin on ISU. If it doesn't work out, then it would be really disappointing, but I don't want to set something up as a negative, before we see anything. If crazy stuff happens, we're going to say it's crazy.
We do not know the entire staff yet, but I really do think Hoiberg is smart, and will surround himself with a staff in which he can be successful. The players staying and at least the majority of incoming recruits honoring their commitments is a good start.
We have to see if he can recruit, and having TJ Otzelberger on the staff is going to help out a lot with that. I mean, at face value recruits may not know who Fred Hoiberg is. It wouldn't be too shocking to believe. I'm sure some of you had to explain to your friends, or significant others who Fred Hoiberg was. But when recruits see that he played in the NBA for 10 years, and has been involved with basketball operations for the past 5 years, that is going to be very appealing.
Recruits look at college basketball as their route to go to the NBA, and someone like Hoiberg is going to a lot about not just getting there, but also what it is like to play for an NBA team. I think he will be able to develop guys to get them ready to play in the NBA, and when guys are going through the process and making NBA teams down the road, Hoiberg is going to be a guy who can be a mentor to that player as far as how to be a professional, as he knows both the business and the player side of things.
How many NBA players has Greg McDermott successfully coached? Right now just looks like Brackins.
As far as the Xs and Os, I'm sure that will be a big question. Any guy who was able to spend 15 years around the professional game, deserves more credit than what he has been given as far as knowing the game, in my opinion.
For Hoiberg, I think the challenge will be "the other things" involved with this program. For example: can he handle the media (especially if something isn't going well at a particular point in time), and the heightened expectations for this program from some in the community? Many more come to mind, but I won't list them all here. I really believe he will do well. It's an exciting time to be a Cyclone!
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