jdoggivjc- I think you better wait for G-Mac to do something before you bad mouth Morgan, who had a 2-1 record against g-mac's best 3 uni teams. You've given plenty of opinions, but look at the facts. Morgan never had a losing season- looks like G-Mac will have 2 in his first two years. Morgan beat 4 top ten teams, including two on the road. Mac hasn't beat a top 25 team. Morgan won 4 post season games- we're just hoping G-Mac can get us to post season in his first 3 years. Morgan raised the team gpa and the only player that got in trouble was George, who was gone before we knew it. Can you say Mike Taylor? After the LE fiasco Morgan was able to keep the players at ISU and keep the recruits coming (in fact Stinson, Blaylock and Staple said they weren't coming if Morgan wasn't named head coach). G-mac was not able to keep many of the current players or recruits coming, and that's why we've had these bad years. And please don't bring up the scheduling thing. It was a non-issue and the NCAA said as much. Bottom line-the Morgan years shine compared to the last two, and it only makes those that bad mouth Morgan look pretty silly. And that doesn't mean I don't have high hopes for Mac, it's just that so far it's only been hype and hope.
McDermott = Kevin Stallings
- Thread starter Incyte
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And once again you need to keep this in mind - Morgan had talent coming in - McDermott is practically starting from scratch. The two scenarios are completely different. And the major opinion is Morgan should have done a lot better with the talent that he had. Iowa State was rated in the top 25 in both polls in the preseason 2005-06 LINK. By week 1 we were out of the AP Top 25, by week 2 we were out of the ESPN/USA Today Top 25, and by week 4 we weren't receiving votes in either poll. This was a team that was expected to do big things with the talent it had and fell flat on its face early and never recovered. Care to explain that to me?
But should they have been ranked? They were very weak in the front court, much like the team we had last year, caused by bad luck... I really don't see the argument here outside of a personal vendetta against Morgan...
It's very easily explained. That team had all new first year bigs, two freshmen and a sophomore. Yes we had two excellent guards, but that's not usually enough to get ranked. Anybody that really followed our team and looked at it realistically knew we were going to struggle with NO experienced big men. Losing George to trouble and Faukner to grades left us waaay too young inside. In fact that team was younger and less experienced than this year's team, which I continually hear from Mac supporters is young and inexperienced. And yes Morgan's team's had more talent, BECAUSE HE RECRUITED IT. Isn't that one of the most important jobs a coach has, in fact maybe The most important.
Man...you have nailed it. The hypocrisy among those who tell us to be patient because McDermott is such a great coach while also telling us that Morgan was a lousy coach with no control that had to go in year 3. I'm not asking to bring Wayne back or let Greg go...but people...do you understand how hypocritical you are being when discussing these two guys?
You guys do realize poor coaching wins with good talent more than good coaching wins with poor talent right??? Or do you think that talent isn't the main factor in a team winning and losing? GMac couldn't get Morgan's guys to stick around, but they were recruited for a system 100% different the the one Greg runs, and all of the players knew Wayne when he took over. Let Greg get his own players in the system before you talk about this stuff. If he can't, then you'll have a point...but I think he will...btw, I would hope a team with Stinson and Blalock could beat a team led by Brooks McKowen 2 times out of 3...There's something to brag about (not)...Btw, one of those coaches team's were in the NCAA Tourney all three of those years, and one was in once with better individual talent.
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Clone12- I agree with you, that's why I said recruiting talent is probably the most important job a coach has. So why all the Morgan bashing because he recruited talented players? And Mac's last and best team also had Jacobsen, Coleman, and a few other talented big men. Morgan's worst team still beat them, so why do people continue to bash Morgan? I'll continue to defend Morgan (based on his accomplishments in 3 short years) as long as people on this board continue to criticize him and try to blame him for Mac's problems. That doesn't mean I don't have high hopes for Mac, and we won't know if he can cut it in the big 12 for another year or two. It's just ridiculous for some people to continue to bash Morgan when he did a lot for ISU when we were desperate for somebody to save our basketball program after Larrygate. Morgan stepped up and did a great job under the circumstances.
Considering the publications I saw all had us projected to finish 12th (and that was assuming we had Lucca and were healthy), I would say that the constant complaining is both unnecessary and obnoxiously redundant.
The real problem was the change of basketball battle rhytmn: pell mell was to turn into controlled bball. Many athletes want to play at a faster pace. They left. I think the players that left has a special connecton to Wayne which was not reestablished for various reasons. They chose to go to Creighton, Memphis, Philadelphia, etc. The second year they went to Morningside, Bradley, Idaho, and back to school. Will there be more changes after this year? Probably. Certain players are getting less playing time than expected.
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Great attitude...
PUBLICATION: You're going to be bad this year.
ISU FANS: Great, I won't complain about being bad and I won't expect more out of our coach and players this year because you expect us to be bad. I sure do thank you for telling me we'll be bad, now I can be all happy and smiley about being bad.
Yeah, because I'm happy and smiley, right? Contrary to your belief, there are more reactions one can have other than happy/smiley and *****/moan.
I can agree to that. But based on on your logic, does that mean if the publications predict us to be in first, and we are in first, constant rejoicing would be both unnecessary and obnoxiously redundant?
You're reaching a little bit. Celebrating with fellow fans is not obnoxious. Constantly kicking the team, coaches, and sometimes fellow fans when they're down is.
Sometimes venting is needed for everyone, but some people are able to get things off their chest and move on. Others have some kind of obsession with urinating in the wound at every opportunity. Those kinds of people like to say, "I told you so," when we lose, but are happy to be wrong if we win. That way it always goes their way.
I wanna win now...but I didn't cry and moan when Mac said it wasn't going to be a quick fix, so I sure as heck am not going to start in year two...especially with the excessive amount of injuries and bad luck we have had.
Sorry...I personally think that a good coach adapts what he is doing to the players he has. What if Roy Williams died at the end of the season and for some unknown reason they (UNC) decided to hire McDermott. Is he going to go in and say "I have a deliberate system and we are going to run that deliberate system and I want to let you know it will take time to implement it"? He would be an absolute fool to do that...if he was smart he would adapt his approach to fit the players he was inheriting. That is what good coaches do.
I know you are thinking...well ISU didn't have that kind of talent when McDermott came in...you need to look and see what some of those kids that left are doing now. The much derided Shawn Taggert is a key contributor for a team that has been in the top 5 all season and is a likely #1 seed in the NCAA Tourney. I will not go into the others that we lost...you get my point.
A real concern for me is that his MVC approach and system might not work in a power conference like the Big 12. While we are waiting for our players to develop and mature and learn the system...our rivals are bringing kids in that can play right away (and some of them at an incredible level...Durant POY, Beasley POY candidate, etc.). The kind of kids that can play right away don't necessarily gravitate to the deliberate tempo game that McDermott appears to want to play. These kids want to play a type of game that will get them ready for the NBA...have you seen any NBA teams that use a "system" like we do?
I think McD has opened it up more at the team has went through the year and got better.
Taggart is playing 16 mins, 6 pts, and 4 rebounds a game, I have watched them play and he still looks like the player he was at ISU. But you live closer so you probaly know how he is playing better than I do.
Its funny how some think some of the players that left are great now that they left and are playing in lower level conferences. They all would have been nice players but they left for whatever reason and I think there is equal talent on this team as those guys were the current players just need experence. Its not like the players that left were lighting it up when they played.
Taggart is playing 16 mins, 6 pts, and 4 rebounds a game, I have watched them play and he still looks like the player he was at ISU. But you live closer so you probaly know how he is playing better than I do.
Its funny how some think some of the players that left are great now that they left and are playing in lower level conferences. They all would have been nice players but they left for whatever reason and I think there is equal talent on this team as those guys were the current players just need experence. Its not like the players that left were lighting it up when they played.
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To be fair to Taggart, double his minutes to 32 and you have 12 points and 8 boards a game on a team that has a number of NBA level players. That's pretty good, and I'm sure his stats would be better on a team that needed him to score. Westbrook is starting at Minnesota as a freshman, Stinnett is the second leading scorer for Creighton in his first year, and Tasheed is having a good year for a team that may make the NCAA, so I think those players would have improved our team, especially in the guard court. All would also have another year of d-1 experience under their belt this year. But there is no guarantee we would be better so I understand what you're saying.
