07-08 Basketball Roster

[bawbie]

Why does everyone think AT will play center...he is much smaller in size than Jiri. HE also is shorter. He played F his whole career at the highschoolwe both went to.

Jiri is not bigger. According to the roster on cyclones.com Jiri is 6'11" 225#; Thompson is 6'10" 230# and he is rumored to weigh more like 245# now.

The reason I think he'll play center is that Jiri is our only other center, while we have Brackins, Wesley and Cory Johnson and Vette to play the 4. There will be many more minutes at the 5 available.

 

[mj4cy]

Jiri is not bigger. According to the roster on cyclones.com Jiri is 6'11" 225#; Thompson is 6'10" 230# and he is rumored to weigh more like 245# now.

The reason I think he'll play center is that Jiri is our only other center, while we have Brackins, Wesley and Cory Johnson and Vette to play the 4. There will be many more minutes at the 5 available.

Trust me, AT is pretty darn skinny. He's a great player, but he's no center.

 

[Wesley]

Our team will be as young or younger than the other Big 12 teams. Much like nebraska. Just a replay of this season. Deja Vu.

 

[StLouisClone]

IF Taylor is dismissed, does anyone think that McIntosh or Dunston will rethink their decision? In reality, McIntosh was more valuable than Taylor during ISU's last 8 games. McIntosh led us to victories in close games against Colorado and Nebraska. Those were ISU's only wins in its last 6 games.

Taylor hasn't done much to help ISU win a game since the win over Nebraska on January 10th.

 

[arganbright2]

Is it possible to have Wesley play shooting guard. Out of high school he signed with Louisiana-Monroe as a 6'4'' shooting guard. Somehow he grew 3 inches and is expected to play PF. I didn't see him handle the ball much last year but he did have some decent 3 point shooting games although his average for the year was less than 30%. That would be an athletic starting 5 if he were able to transition to 2 guard.

PG-Brister, Garrett
SG-Wesley, Brister, Boozer
SF-Rahshon, Staiger
PF-Brackins, Thompson, Johnson
C-Jiri, Thompson

 

[Michael Lastuvka]

I'm surprised with all the hype on Vette that he was only a 2 star.

What hype? His hype didn't go anywhere beyond the state of Iowa...and even then, there wasn't that much. If you're talking about the hype given to him from CF or CR, I'll grant you that. But the hype wasn't particularly based on his talent, but moreso had to do with simply signing another big.

 

[hiwhatis]

I also hope that Dodie stays. He seamed like a really nice kid and always worked hard on defense in the games I saw. I also was pumped after last year about having possibly four starting seniors which now looks like two but being young won't be so bad in a couple of years and I agree that we are better that last year at guard and especially down low.

 

[wheels686]

ive known alex for a long time and mjones we went to school together. when alex played the 3 with marsden and bokhoven. he has gained alot of weight since then and is at 235 with would be 10 pounds more than jiri's playing weight this year. he is 6'10, one inch less than jiri and the same height as ross. i think he will play center especially with brackins, cj at the pf

 

[Drive4cy]

This is one of the first "unrealistic" threads I've seen in my time here at CF. No way in hell do we win 18+ games without Taylor, and even with him would require some luck. Assuming Mike is done, I'd put our over/under for wins next season at 14.5. With Mike, 17. Will we be the best team in the state? Probably, but that's not saying much considering the state of the other programs currently.

 

[Cyclonepride]

We've probably got more experience for next year than for last season. That isn't saying much, but at least some of the guys have been in McDermott's system for a year. Who knows what to expect as far as wins and losses. You'd have to be psychic to know how all the new people are going to turn out.

 

[Bobber]

Maybe I'm way out in left field, but I'm not going to miss Mike Taylor that much. The guy was a streaky shooter, but he turned it over so darn much you could could subtract at least 1 point for every 2 or 3 he made when the other team scored on his turnovers.

Yes I'll agree we're going to be really young next year and it would be nice if we had an experienced floor general guard, but it's not happening. Freshman can perform well ie; Kevin Durant.. All we really need is one of the freshman to step up and control the ball well and be able to pass well inside or out. That can be his only job and we can still be very successful.

My final comment is that it would be nice if we had a more even spread between classes as in 5 years we're could lose a lot of firepower, but maybe Gmac will redshirt a few of them to help.

 

[clone33]

Maybe I'm way out in left field, but I'm not going to miss Mike Taylor that much. The guy was a streaky shooter, but he turned it over so darn much you could could subtract at least 1 point for every 2 or 3 he made when the other team scored on his turnovers.

I totally agree. I would actually take it a step further and say he scored very little points when compared to how many points teams got off his turnovers. He was very streaky, and if teams could defend him, we had no offense. If 1 (hopefully more) of the new guards can offer some consistency and ball-control, we will be perfectly fine, and could win 18+ games next year. This being McDermott's first real recruiting class, we could see a much more balanced attack. With Jiri playing the 5, Thompson at the 4, Rahshon at the 3, and Johnson at the 2, we would have an unbelievably athletic starting lineup who gets a lot of rebounds and keeps the defense guesssing. If the freshman who ends up with the 1 spot (presumably Garrett) can be a 3-point threat that would open up our offense in ways we havent seen since Stinson/Sullivan/Vroman.
To summarize:
1) Garrett-- If he can hit the three pointer consistently and control the ball, we wont need 10+ ppg out of him.
2) W. Johnson-- I know he can play the 2, and he will be a threat from long range, medium range, and up close. He would create a mismatch that would be impossible not to capitalize on.
3) Clark-- Also has a good mid-range game, and will get rebounds. Hopefully he will score more than he did last year. Is most certainly not a liability on defense.
4) Thompson-- Once again, another player with a good mid-range game, and the ability to take it underneath and battle for rebounds.
5) Jiri-- Can battle for rebounds, and score points any where. If he contiues to improve, the possibilities are endless.

We will also have some good help from the bench. Brackins will obviously be a huge part of the offense, but he probably wont start unless Thompson doesnt end up all he is cracked up to be. He will offer relief minutes at both the 4 and 5, and can also score from mid/long-range. Staiger can come in and play the 2 and be the guy the defense has to respect for his range. Brister could see minutes at the 1 or 2, Boozer and Vette may get redshirted because of our talent at the 3.

...Theres always the other alternative: I'm wrong.:no6xn:

 

[CyCy]

I have a hard time seeing Wesley at the 2. I have never seen him take a guy on a one-on-one dribble for the length of the court bringing the ball up. He also didn't seem to have a lot of lateral quickness that would be needed to guard some of the quick off-guards. Plus one of his major strengths is offensive rebounding and if he is playing the 2 he pretty much has to stay off the offensive board to protect against the break.

 

[acody]

I'm sorry but replacing two experienced Big 12 guards with unproven freshmen does not equal 20 wins. We'll have similar growing pains in the back court as we had the prior year.

I agree. 20 wins next year is a unrealistic, but I can understand the optimism and hope with all the new players, but they are freshman. Remember last years hope with Dunston, Cory M., Cory P. and Wes? 3 of the 4 really did not pan out. I think next year GMAC has another year similar to this year. No NCAA, maybe an NIT. GMAC is a good coach, but when we need to rely on so many new guys, I'm not going to have unrealistic expectations. I'm going to watch the Capital City league in Des Moines this summer as I assume many of the new guys will be there. I'll be able to determine then whether we have some legitimate talent. Last summer I was not impressed with Cory M. because he was clearly too slight to take on Big 12 talent. I also was not sure Cory P. would play. Neither did much. Wes was a no brainer.

 

[Oldgeezer]

Don't mean to rain on your picnic, but Garret is not really a 3 pt. threat. Clark didn't show much of a mid-range game last year, or long range for that matter. Jiri could battle for rebounds, but hasn't yet. He can get position because he plays center, but he doesn't pursue the ball, and he doesn't squeeze it when it does come his way. Wesley is not a SG. Optimism is nice, but it won't feed the bulldog.