Will Blalock on Fred

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Nuts4Cy

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This was also taken from the scout website on the free board. It goes along with the Rashon quote as it appears to be from the same upcoming article. But I thought it deserved it's own thread since it would get lost in the larger one. Mods please merge if you want.

In another interview as part of the upcoming article, I interviewed Will Blalock in May and here is what he had to say about declaring for the NBA draft and his relationship with current Head Coach Fred Hoiberg.

"If they would have hired Fred Hoiberg then I would have stayed for my senior year. I had a really good relationship with Fred because when he was with the Timberwolves, he would come home and practice with us and run drills. He would give Curt and I advice on how to stay strong and lead the team. We would say the little stuff that we didn’t realize at the time, but became bigger issues as we got further into our professional careers. He was a really good guy, so if he would have been the next coach I would have stayed."

Carmon Wilson
Reporter - Women's Basketball
@Cdub_99
 

ianoconnor

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I don't know... I think building that NBA experience during the McD years was helpful. Might not have beem the same had he replaced Morgan. Either way, I'm just so thankful he's here now.
 

im4cyclones

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Sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like to have just wrapped up Hoiberg's 8th season as head coach. I always end up getting mad.

Hard to say if Fred would have been as successful as soon. Maybe he would have had to build through the high school ranks, which is a much slower process. Maybe that would have prevented him from landing the Royce White class. Perhaps his first call to Jamie (between Wayne and Greg) really got him thinking about coaching and he started playing out various scenarios in his head. Maybe he spent those McDermott years picking the brain of colleagues about coaching moves that helped prepare him. Maybe, maybe not.

Point is, none of us know. Things are looking good now. So enjoy...
 

MNCyGuy

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I don't know... I think building that NBA experience during the McD years was helpful. Might not have beem the same had he replaced Morgan. Either way, I'm just so thankful he's here now.

This. He was basically just coming off of his active playing days when they fired Morgan. I don't think you can discount his days as a scout/assistant GM as part of his preparation for taking the ISU job. Ultimately he would still have done well and we'd probably be further along as a program, but the growing pains/leaning on more experienced assistants period would have been longer. I also wonder if his recruiting philosophy would be different without him developing that NBA GM/win-now mindset.
 

CloneIce

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Hindsight is 20/20. Older version of Blalock knows he would've stayed, but would a younger version of himself think the same? Maybe, maybe not. He did get drafted and play in the NBA.

Of course, if he just plain didn't like Gmac or his boring style of play and that is why he left (not the NBA), then yeah. One thing is for sure, Will the Thrill would've been great in Fred's offense!
 

CysRage

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This. He was basically just coming off of his active playing days when they fired Morgan. I don't think you can discount his days as a scout/assistant GM as part of his preparation for taking the ISU job. Ultimately he would still have done well and we'd probably be further along as a program, but the growing pains/leaning on more experienced assistants period would have been longer. I also wonder if his recruiting philosophy would be different without him developing that NBA GM/win-now mindset.
Continuing off this, Hoiberg had said somewhere that when he wasn't offered the job when Wayne was let go, Fred took the time to prepare even more for the ISU job. There's no way to tell exactly what would have happened if Fred would have gotten the job in 2006 but just be glad we have him now. There's a good chance that if Fred was hired in 2006 we may not have had the success we are having today.
 

awd4cy

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Fred is a winner. I just feel like you give him 4 extra years from 06-10 he would have had similar results with 10-14 but the main difference is that we would have done better from 06-10.
 

Cydkar

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I wouldn't change a thing. Timing is too important to mess with.
 

Wesley

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Sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like to have just wrapped up Hoiberg's 8th season as head coach. I always end up getting mad.

Oh, in case anyone's interested, I started a discussion on the hypothetical scenario of Hoiberg being hired in 2006, just for fun: http://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182809&highlight=

I think I am being fair that Fred would have had a better record than McD during the McD years. Am I wrong? MVC sloball just did not hold up to B12 run and gun athleticism. It is not surprising that TCU is having a difficult time.
 

clone52

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Sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like to have just wrapped up Hoiberg's 8th season as head coach. I always end up getting mad.

Oh, in case anyone's interested, I started a discussion on the hypothetical scenario of Hoiberg being hired in 2006, just for fun: http://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182809&highlight=

You just never know what would have happened. At the time, Fred was just joining the T-Wolves front office. He would not have had every NBA GM on speed dial. I would not have been an up and coming NBA front office and coaching prospect. We can't really say how important those facts have been to Fred's recruiting.

Also, the graduate transfer rule was not in place until 2006. Not many people took advantage of it early on. Remember, when Jake Anderson did it in 2010 when Fred was hired, most of us didn't even realize it was a rule. Since it wasn't used much, who knows if Fred would have taken advantage of it as much as he has now. Plus, if Blalock and/or Stinson say, he may not go down the transfer route at all.

Plus, Melvin Ejim may not have come to Iowa State. Who knows if Fred would have recruited him. Just because of that it might have been worth having the McDermott years.
 

Wesley

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You just never know what would have happened. At the time, Fred was just joining the T-Wolves front office. He would not have had every NBA GM on speed dial. I would not have been an up and coming NBA front office and coaching prospect. We can't really say how important those facts have been to Fred's recruiting.

Also, the graduate transfer rule was not in place until 2006. Not many people took advantage of it early on. Remember, when Jake Anderson did it in 2010 when Fred was hired, most of us didn't even realize it was a rule. Since it wasn't used much, who knows if Fred would have taken advantage of it as much as he has now. Plus, if Blalock and/or Stinson say, he may not go down the transfer route at all.

Plus, Melvin Ejim may not have come to Iowa State. Who knows if Fred would have recruited him. Just because of that it might have been worth having the McDermott years.

Fred is a players coach and he would have found a way. Too much talent was wasted with the McD playbook. Another ME would have come.
 

ArgentCy

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:rolleyes: Evan after you have seen the results of Hoiball for what, 4 years, some of you are doubting if he would have been a better higher than McDoormats.. Really?
 

NorthCyd

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Didn't Will announce he was leaving before GMac was hired? Whatever, is all this necessary? Do we really need former players telling us Fred is better? Next article...former ISU basketball player says water is wet and sky is blue.
 

im4cyclones

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I think I am being fair that Fred would have had a better record than McD during the McD years. Am I wrong? MVC sloball just did not hold up to B12 run and gun athleticism. It is not surprising that TCU is having a difficult time.

I think that is fair. I think we would have been better than McDermott. But would we be as good as we are now? Would Fred have landed the transfers? I doubt it. And without the transfers, we don't go to three straight tourneys. While Fred has pulled in some impressive HS talent, he hasn't done it enough to build a roster. And without McDermott, we don't have Coach Otz.

So you may be trading better McDermott years for a less impressive last three years. I would rather have what we have now.
 

jsb

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Didn't Will announce he was leaving before GMac was hired? Whatever, is all this necessary? Do we really need former players telling us Fred is better? Next article...former ISU basketball player says water is wet and sky is blue.

He did announce before Morgan was fired. I suppose he could have been tipped off. Morgan did not leave happy and I think he wasn't especially interested in leaving things in a good place here.

It's all kind of interesting, but I really doubt that Stinson and Blalock would have stayed.
 

Cy$

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Stinson would have too hearing stories about him. would have been a scary team.
 

pulse

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I think I am being fair that Fred would have had a better record than McD during the McD years. Am I wrong? MVC sloball just did not hold up to B12 run and gun athleticism. It is not surprising that TCU is having a difficult time.

Yes. I can't stress how bad of a coach McD was at ISU. He was seriously one of the worst coaches we've ever had.