By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com PublisherFollow Chris on Twitter @ChrisMWilliams
Happy Wednesday Cyclone Fanatics!
It’s mail time. We’ll start things off today with a question from Clones21.
Clones21 writes: Your thoughts on Royce White so far?
CW: Royce has given Iowa State about what I expected through the first six games of the season. He’s averaging 14 and 11 so you can’t really kill the guy for anything.
Royce obviously still has some work to do with his offensive game but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be a very productive player for Iowa State this season. You know has impressed me the most about Royce? That was last Friday’s performance against Providence. White went 2-for-6 from the field. He didn’t get many shots. What did he do? He didn’t pout. White snagged 16 rebounds and played a vital role in Iowa State’s victory, a game where the Cyclones out-rebounded the Friars by 17.
If White keeps that type of mentality all season long, that will be huge. The Cyclones have plenty of scorers and I’m sure that White will have plenty of nights where he gets his. But at 270-pounds, there aren’t many guys who can body up to him. I love the rebounding. Let’s hope that he keeps it up when Big 12 play comes around.
ShankinPAT’s writes: How badly will our line miss Kelechi Osemele and Hayworth Hicks next year? Probably have less holds and false starts.
CW: I know. I know. The false starts get annoying. But you can’t just write off the fact that Osemele is a 6-foot-6, 347-pound monster who will be playing on Sunday’s next year. He’s been dinged up all season too. But I understand where you’re going with this.
I actually plan on writing about this very topic later in the week. On Monday, I asked Paul Rhoads what the extra experience that guys like Jacob Gannon, Carter Bykowski and Kyle Lichtenberg would do for the future of this offensive line. As I expected, Rhoads glowed when talking about the depth that this group should have during the 2012 season.
Again, I’ll touch more on that at a later time.
Will Tyrus McGee earn a starting spot?
CW: If you go strictly off of production, he probably already has. But Fred Hoiberg loves what McGee brings to this team off of the bench. Right now, that’s where he’s needed the most. He’s the energy guy. Just because McGee isn’t starting doesn’t mean that he isn’t one of the five best players on the court.
I wrote about this yesterday. CLICK HERE to check it out.
VeloClone writes: Is there something medically wrong with James White? His involvement in two fumbles on two touches on Saturday seemed very uncharacteristic of him and then I don’t recall seeing him again.
CW: Yes. White suffered some sort of a shoulder injury against Oklahoma State. He should be good to go this weekend against Kansas State.
Aclone writes: Will Ishmail Hayes be a January enrollee?
CW: I believe that is what both parties are hoping for but like any situation with many junior college players, nothing is done yet. This one could go either way. Stay tuned.
CyBer writes: Was firing Turner Gill a bad choice for KU or was it time that something needed to be done?
CW: That’s a tough question for me to answer. A lot of times in coach firings, there are things going on beneath the surface that only those closest to the program know about. I obviously don’t follow KU football that closely. Here’s my take from a distance though.
First off, I think that Turner Gill can coach. But to me, the biggest mistake that Kansas made was giving him so much money up front. All he had done was go 20-30 in four years in the MAC. Now I’m not saying that Gill was a horrible hire by Kansas, I just think that they could have gotten him for less, but I could be wrong.
Was firing him the right move? That depends on who you get. If it’s Mike Leach, absolutely not. Leach can win anywhere in my opinion. But that’s another topic for another time.
At the end of the day, this shouldn’t surprise anybody. This is what new athletic directors do. They get their guys in place. From that perspective, it was probably the right call. If KU knew that it wasn’t going to work out, there wasn’t any point in wasting any time.
UPDATE: I just read that Leach took the Washington State job today, so you can pretty much disregard everything that I wrote about him in this mailbag.
Who will we play if we play a big 10 team in a bowl game?
CW: That all depends on how the cards end up being dealt. I’ve seen projections listing Illinois, Northwestern and Purdue as opponents. There’s also a decent chance that Iowa State won’t play a Big Ten team. Keep your eye on our site Sunday afternoon and I’ll get you the real scoop!
Pyrocyz writes: With ISU being the #4 seed in the volleyball tournament, will the local media finally recognize them as news worthy? Are you going to the game?
CW: I’m sure that the match will get covered, as it should be.
I’d love to have CF cover volleyball, wrestling, golf, track, softball, etc. But there are only so many hours in the day you know? We’re a free site that is run by advertising alone. At this point, we can’t afford to pay stringers/writers to cover every sport at Iowa State University. In all honesty, that’s what I’d like to see the content side of this site evolve to someday though. We’ll keep plugging away.
By no means am I taking anything away from volleyball. I LOVE volleyball. I used to do radio play-by-play back in Shenandoah, Iowa before I took over CF. My favorite sport to call was volleyball. I actually thought about pitching my services to do that for Clone Zone last year but again, there’s that darn time factor. I expect an awesome crowd to turn out on Friday and if my wife gets off of work in time, yes, we will be in attendance. It should be an awesome event!
Cyclone13 writes: Do you think Ron Zook will be a good fit for our program as recruiter ? If so, will there be a spot for him ? He can’t coach but for some reason he can recruit.
CW: I agree with you about "The Zooker’s" ability to recruit. It’s impressive. But I’m just not sure where he’d fit in on Iowa State’s staff. He’s a defensive guy and I just don’t see where any spots would open up in Ames after this year. Iowa State’s coaching staff is as close as I’ve ever seen. I’d be surprised if something pops up after this season, but who knows? Maybe somebody will get an opportunity that he can’t pass up.
Thanks for the questions everybody!
