POOR COACHING

acody

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2006
1,180
131
63
70
Spin the Iowa game whichever way you want. I've heard it all. New program, new system, freshman, lack of experience, it's early with a new coaching staff, he needs to get his own players, blah, blah, blah. I've followed ISU basketball for over 30 years and have seen a lot of crappy BB, but that was pathetic!!! Morgan's teams played much better defense. Orr, Floyd and LE would have never let this happen!! What's wrong with a zone early on when Iowa is doing nothing but dunks and lay ups? Oh, by the way, Iowa is terrible also. That's two games in row now of awful defense. I thought we hired a coach that put a more organized team on the floor. The offense stunk also. I'm really disappointed with McDermott. I guess I'm supposed to be patient. With the coach making big time money, and the Big 12 around the corner, I'm finding that hard to do.
 

HardcoreClone

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2006
1,208
536
113
Complain all you want, this season is just going to be a rough rebuilding year. All of those things you consider to be spin...are actually facts of where the program is at right now, and that state of the program is going to get much better in the next couple of years. And no, Morgan's teams didn't have much better defense and rebounding and effort than this team. At least not last season or anywhere in the near future if he was still our coach.
 

Balls

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2006
1,475
133
63
50
Iowa
While I am also frustrated as many of the problems are very correctable and are a result of the staff either electing to do or not do something, I believe that GMac knows more then we do and has his reasons for what he is doing / not doing.

GMac has shown he can put a winning team on the floor so I have to believe and hope that in time we will see a good to great team in Ames again. However, I agree as you make an excellent point that all the spin is pretty sad. The new program, new players, lack of his type of players, lack of experience, blah, blah, blah, is not a legitimate reason for many of the problems we saw against Iowa tonight, just an easily thrown out excuse.
 

Balls

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2006
1,475
133
63
50
Iowa
It's unfortunate that one should have to work for either positive or negative rep levels. Seems making comments based on getting rep points makes for bad discussion and lack of independent thinking.
 

HOTDON

Well-Known Member
Mar 24, 2006
3,630
1,749
113
Fort Dodge, IA
Do you think that Hubalek shooting 3's was part of Mac's plan? Was Grey getting burned repeatedly part of our defense?

The coach can't play the game, he can only prepare players for it. If they don't listen to him (risky passes, 1 on 2 situations, blown defense, poor shot decisions, etc.) then there is only so much he can do. It was clear that Mac was frustrated for most of the game. The lack of experience is killing us.
 

Cyclonepride

Thought Police
Staff member
Apr 11, 2006
98,745
62,226
113
54
A pineapple under the sea
www.oldschoolradical.com
Spin the Iowa game whichever way you want. I've heard it all. New program, new system, freshman, lack of experience, it's early with a new coaching staff, he needs to get his own players, blah, blah, blah. I've followed ISU basketball for over 30 years and have seen a lot of crappy BB, but that was pathetic!!! Morgan's teams played much better defense. Orr, Floyd and LE would have never let this happen!! What's wrong with a zone early on when Iowa is doing nothing but dunks and lay ups? Oh, by the way, Iowa is terrible also. That's two games in row now of awful defense. I thought we hired a coach that put a more organized team on the floor. The offense stunk also. I'm really disappointed with McDermott. I guess I'm supposed to be patient. With the coach making big time money, and the Big 12 around the corner, I'm finding that hard to do.
No negative rep points for you......I'm just hoping that you recover your senses. Good luck with that.
 

burn587

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Apr 14, 2006
4,558
5,373
113
Denver, CO
I don't think it was due to poor coaching, just poor floor leadership. We don't have a PG worth a damn and it shows. McIntosh rarely touches the ball even when he's on the floor and Taylor is no PG. Stinson or Blalock would at least take leadership and they definetly wouldn't have been bullied by Iowa's guards. This is a throw away year until we get a decent PG.
 

galles15

Member
Jun 12, 2006
175
0
16
38
Ames, orginally from Remsen, IA
i would have to agree with him. I do understand and feel for the team with being young and all, but Iowa is just as young, granted there coaching staff has been there, but we just got thumped. No other way to put it. I hate to see what Ohio State with Greg Oden is going to do to our defense.
 

Skyh13

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2006
7,423
4,322
113
I don't think it was due to poor coaching, just poor floor leadership. We don't have a PG worth a damn and it shows. McIntosh rarely touches the ball even when he's on the floor and Taylor is no PG. Stinson or Blalock would at least take leadership and they definetly wouldn't have been bullied by Iowa's guards. This is a throw away year until we get a decent PG.


Yeah, the offensive potency of Blalock and Stinson helped to offset last year's ridiculously awful defense. However, we don't have that this year, at all.

aw, damnit, they just showed a top ten play from the game and you can guess which team it was for. Bleh.
 

brentderocher

New Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Apr 18, 2006
20
0
1
I was at the game this evening. The bottom line is that we DO NOT have a point guard that we can rely on to settle us down offensively. Our gaurds turn the ball over far too often but some of the decisions that they make on the offensive end are as costly as turnovers. I am not worried about our coaching staff, ultimately it comes down to the players making wise basketball decisions. Unfortunately thay are not making the best decisions right now. Be patient and give it time. If we can ever get into a flow offensively, the defense will also get better. But we need a PG to step up and take control of the team on both ends.
 

Cyclone_MI

New Member
Nov 8, 2006
4
0
1
Spin the Iowa game whichever way you want. I've heard it all. New program, new system, freshman, lack of experience, it's early with a new coaching staff, he needs to get his own players, blah, blah, blah. I've followed ISU basketball for over 30 years and have seen a lot of crappy BB, but that was pathetic!!! Morgan's teams played much better defense. Orr, Floyd and LE would have never let this happen!! What's wrong with a zone early on when Iowa is doing nothing but dunks and lay ups? Oh, by the way, Iowa is terrible also. That's two games in row now of awful defense. I thought we hired a coach that put a more organized team on the floor. The offense stunk also. I'm really disappointed with McDermott. I guess I'm supposed to be patient. With the coach making big time money, and the Big 12 around the corner, I'm finding that hard to do.

I partially agree with him too. This was the first game I watched on TV this season and I was completely disappointed, not with the loss, but with the way we played.
Mike "Mr. 1 vs 5 aka Human Turnover Machine" Taylor is as a very bad pointguard. His play yesterday was horrendous!! Why didnt GMac sit him on the bench more? The kid has to learn that he can't play that way. He's basically being Stinson, the problem is that he has half Stinson's talent.
I didn't like Hubalek last year and I dislike the guy even more this year. He needs to realize that we need him down low, not shooting jumpers!! Again, the coach needs to do something about this.
Rashon Clark, did he even play?! What happened with this guy? We sorely lack his energy and enthusiasm.
The new guys, I liked Wesley and Cory Johnson, and Dunson too, but they still have to develop.
My last negative comment to GMac was defense. I would very much like to see a zone implemented and have it as an option that can be used at any time. Iowa is a bad basketball team and they killed us inside, with a lot of dunks and open looks. No help defense for the most part. A zone would help disguise someof these defensive shortcomings, at least in these initial games.
I hope the future will look brighter, but I also hope we recruit some beefy guys to play the post. We won't go anywhere with twigs playing the post. This season, and I hope I'm wrong, but I think we're gonna lose big in Big 12 play.
 

farmrmac

Member
Mar 24, 2006
44
5
8
east central iowa
lol, 8 games into new basketball era and you guys want to throw Gmac under a bus. Unbeleivable.....................................No wait, i beleive it. Talk about a bunch of cry babies with 0 patience. You guys were dreaming if you thought Gmac would walk in here, change the system to his, bring mostly all new players late in a recruiting season, start winning and look good doing it.
 

joepublic

Member
Apr 11, 2006
927
0
16
Ankeny
Zone will not work with Taylor and McIntosh defending. They won't stay in front of their man, so both of them would have a contest to see who could give up the most dribble penetration.
 

GM4ISU

Active Member
Mar 17, 2006
641
140
43
Wait till the Big 12 starts ....... Everyone better start drinking ... no one fault this team needs lots of time.... GMac will get it done!!
 

bld1942

Member
Apr 7, 2006
110
10
18
No one likes losing, but negatives comments at this stage are ridiculous and hardly worth a response! Support the team and GMAC at least:biggrin9gp: till you can see next couple years recruits get in the system.
 

kuney1

Member
Mar 20, 2006
312
0
16
Spin the Iowa game whichever way you want. I've heard it all. New program, new system, freshman, lack of experience, it's early with a new coaching staff, he needs to get his own players, blah, blah, blah. I've followed ISU basketball for over 30 years and have seen a lot of crappy BB, but that was pathetic!!! Morgan's teams played much better defense. Orr, Floyd and LE would have never let this happen!! What's wrong with a zone early on when Iowa is doing nothing but dunks and lay ups? Oh, by the way, Iowa is terrible also. That's two games in row now of awful defense. I thought we hired a coach that put a more organized team on the floor. The offense stunk also. I'm really disappointed with McDermott. I guess I'm supposed to be patient. With the coach making big time money, and the Big 12 around the corner, I'm finding that hard to do.


I think Mac is just as disgusted after listening to the post game show. Everyone knew this was going to be a rough year, it will get better.
 

cyclonenum1

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2006
7,191
330
83
Let me preface my comments by saying that I live in Louisiana and last night was the first time I have seen ISU on TV (I was pleasantly surprised that Cox Sports televised it here!). I know that any one game can be deceiving. I do however, see a lot of basketball in person (SEC) and on the TV.

My observations:

-Wesley Johnson appears to have great potential...a real diamond in the rough. He really needs to hit the weights and improve his upper body strength.

-Mike Taylor is a huge liability defensively. He cannot guard his man either on or off the ball. I don't know if I recall seeing someone as poor as he is defensively in the recent past. He also plays out of control on the offensive end...he is a turnover machine. He does have a "streaky" offensive game but if this guy is on the court and not scoring, we might as well be playing with four instead of five.

-Cory Johnson does not appear to be a "Big 12 caliber" player. He is in way over his head. With hard work and great improvement, he will only be a marginal player at best.

-Our overall team strength appears to be lacking. It looks to me that we really need to get these guys in the weight room. We are going to get pushed around all season.

-The entire game was "sloppy". Both ISU and Iowa will struggle this year from what I saw...neither team is very good.

Having said all of that, I do think McDermott can coach. I saw his UNI team come in and beat LSU last year in Baton Rouge (LSU had a great team that ultimately made the Final Four).

The question will be his ability to recruit the kind of premier athletes that you need to be competitive in the conference and on a national basis. We should get some indication of his abilities in this department with the recruits he brings in for next year. If he is recruiting the right guys they should have immediate impact. If he is recruiting guys that will take 3 or 4 years to develop, he is recruiting the wrong guys to compete in the Big 12 and nationally.
 

explorer

Member
Apr 16, 2006
93
6
8
55
Marion, IA
When you say that Orr, Floyd, or Eustachy never would have let this happen, you are being plain ignorant. All three were great coaches in their own way, but remember that it was a post-Elite Eight team that tied the largest Hilton losing margin to a Hawkeye team. This from whom you say would not let this happen (they lost by a larger margin at Hilton that year than we did at Carver this year).

To be frustrated and hoping for better play is one thing, to call McDermott a poor coach or a poor choice to be our coach is ridiculous. He has a great BB mind and will get this program to a highly respectable level. You need to be patient.

If you truly have been watching ISU BB for 30 years and call this pathetic, you must have forgotten the first 5 - 8 years you watched ISU BB because it was not until 83 or 84 that we started fielding respectable teams.

Please at least give this coaching staff time to get their style of play and players implemented into the prgoram before the ridiculous level of criticism starts. It's ok to discuss what went right/wrong, and how things need to be improved, but to criticize in this fashion is pathetic.
 

EggMcClone

Well-Known Member
Mar 19, 2006
2,374
42
48
44
Michigan
mylifeinthebasement.blogspot.com
What I find funny is how so many of the complainers act like GMac can't see that they're playing bad basketball. So, he coached several teams that did all of the good things he wanted to see but just forgot how to do them between Cedar Falls and Ames? Patience!

Bob Huggins (ignoring all of the other stuff) is a really good, proven basketball coach. However, his K-State team, with more returning talent than ISU, has looked horrible for most of this season. He was quoted this week as saying it was like the movie 50 First Dates. Every day he walks into practice and they act like it's the first time they've ever heard a word he's said. It...takes...time!