Alright, first of all I just found this site today because I was looking for another POV for tomorrow's game. I did not come on here to gloat or brag about how great Kansas State is, because I realize how easy/quickly you can flaw into the basement of the Big XII. My questions revolve mostly around Iowa St.
First of all; What actually made Wesley Johnson decide to transfer? I remember when it happened, but what was the incident that caused it? It obviously wasn't PT and there was talent there with Brackins and others.
2nd: What's up with Brackins? I realize he is avg 16 and 8, but this guy was projected as a lottery pick last year. I thought that he was going to have a James Anderson type impact. Different players, but still thought he would be better than Anderson yet.
3rd and final question: The season hasn't gone well so far, but why? I look at the potential lineup below and it looks solid enough to do well in the Big XII. Okie St-esqe.
PG (****) Colvin
G D. Garret - avg 10/game last year
F Gilstrap
F Brackins
C - Who cares
That seems like an explosive enough team to go .500 in the league.
Some decent conversation, I can handle. Gloating or smack talk just doesn't play here with the season we're having. I'll try to answer the questions.
1.WJ had a stress fracture in his foot. Problem was that they couldn't see it with X-rays due to swelling. WJ even had an independant doctor look at it and the didn't see the break. Anyway, everyone thought it was just a bruise and GMac basically told WJ to tough it out. WJ's brother-in-law basically saw that as a way to gravy train and started shopping him around to SEC schools (reportedly Gilespie at UK) for cash. ISU released him, but only to schools that weren't in that shady game. Huge shock to GMac and the program and now GMac IMO handles players with kid gloves for fear that they will leave.
2.Brackins, we just don't know. He has a lot of pressure on him. Doesn't have guards that can get him the ball. And IMO he's so set on improving his pro game that he doesn't work inside like he should. His rebounding, defense and toughness have regressed instead of improved.
3.That's the big question and why everyone here is so touchy. GMac had somewhat valid excuses why ISU struggled the first few years, but this was supposed to be his big year. 3rd year starter in PG with DG. Solid SGs in Lucca and Christopherson. A big time talent at SF in Gilstrap. Lottery pick in Brackins. Developing center in Hamilton plus a rebounder/defender in Dendy coming off the bench. What happened? Lucca left, Vanderbeeken (post rotation with an outside game) got hurt. Boozer (very good energy guy on the perimeter) got hurt. The team had all kinds of confidence early on, but that loss to NW really hurt them.
GMac changed his style to go more uptempo. Now they don't have the bodies to do it. Some say that GMac has too many sets and it is too tough for college players to learn. It worked at UNI because he had a bunch of hard working Iowa kids. With Big XII athletes, I really think that they can't grasp what he wants. The effort isn't there. There's discontent everywhere and the team has basically fallen apart. Mostly, they can't defend. What everyone is mad about is that this is supposed to be the season that they were building for, but ISU is an NIT team at best. And if that's all we can hope for, it may be time to make a change.
