there is NOTHING academically he can accomplish at duke that he can't accomplish here. College is mostly about effort and you learn what you want to and work for. Some pretty bright people have gotten an education at ISU. Any of you criticizing ISU's academics must have the delusion that Duke would have transformed you into a genius while ISU held you back. As far as athletics go what we have to offer him is immortality ala Hoiberg. Duke and UNC can offer him name recognition for a few years but in the end likely he will be reduced to obscurity and a footnote in their future media guides if he is lucky. Hang a banner there and ho hum. Hang a banner in Hilton and you are a legend for life. I am sorry, but he is from Ames, his mother works for ISU, his dad played for ISU, and he works out with the team. If that isn't worth something then I don't know what is.
Wow, for a post that was completely benign in every way, you sure seemed to react with hostility. The fact of the matter is, Duke is a better school in most aspects, period. I'm not saying we have a bad one, in fact, I think that many of our programs are top notch, and have been proven to be so. That being said, I think you're wearing rose colored glasses if you can't see that fact. Maybe he wants to go to a smaller school, where teachers can focus more on students, rather than a large university like Iowa State. Everyone has different preferences.
Anyway, the real point I was making was, if he said he wants to play with THE BEST in the nation, then this isn't the school for him. That's it. I have many delusions of grandeur for this program as well, but I'm not so foolish to believe one top 100 PG, or Brackins, for that matter, is going to sway Barnes. At Duke or UNC, he would play with Top 10 recruits every year, not to mention the hugely greater amount of national exposure. UNC/Duke have numerous games nationally broadcast every year, which is definitely not something you can say about ISU.