Rashon Clark comments on McDermott (In honor of his Birthday)

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Mr Janny

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Ya I knew before hitting send that I didn't even agree with my own post but did it anyway. Poor shockers, I think they could of made it farther if they played anyone.

agreed. They were a good team, but hadn't played anyone decent for weeks before their game with Kentucky. Also, Kentucky was a bad draw.
 

im4cyclones

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The best thing about the McDermott era was that it bought us some time until Fred and Jamie were both ready to take the leap. If Fred had followed Wayne, would his results have been the same? Who knows.

So, thanks to Greg for allowing Fred a few extra years to prep himself. Thanks to Creighton for taking Greg off our hands. Thanks to Fred for making the call. And thanks to Jamie for taking a chance. It all worked out in the end.

Oh, and thanks to Fred's parents for getting it on and creating a son full of awesomeness and attractiveness.
 

Clone_12

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If we would've played uptempo with guys like McIntosh, Petersen, Haluska, Dunson, Brock Jacobson, Garrett (as a freshman), Boozer (as an underclassman) etc..we would've gotten run out of the gym and lost a lot of games much worse than we actually did...thank goodness we slowed it down with those teams.

I agree it's more exciting to watch uptempo basketball, and am thankful things turned out like they did with McDermott leaving and Fred coming in, but there is no "right" or "wrong" style of play. Teams can win by slowing it down and running set plays, or by playing 40 minutes of hell...it's how you recruit and how you execute. McDermott's last team is really the only team he had that really underachieved. His problem was that he had WAY too many recruiting misses, and evidently struggled relating to a lot of players.
 
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im4cyclones

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Help me out... did stinson and blalock declare before Morgan was shown the door or was it the other way around?

I thought it after Greg was hired but, turns out, I was wrong. Looks like Wayne being fired was about the same time as the two declared.

They announce on March 15
http://globegazette.com/news/isu-s-...cle_2d6ca20c-5cc9-56d0-a616-04f346de03e1.html

Wayne fired on March 17
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/spor...ball/big12/2006-03-17-iowa-state-morgan_x.htm
 

ImJustKCClone

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I thought it after Greg was hired but, turns out, I was wrong. Looks like Wayne being fired was about the same time as the two declared.

They announce on March 15
http://globegazette.com/news/isu-s-...cle_2d6ca20c-5cc9-56d0-a616-04f346de03e1.html

Wayne fired on March 17
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/spor...ball/big12/2006-03-17-iowa-state-morgan_x.htm

Most folks back then were fairly certain Morgan tipped them off.

Responding to someone else who was wondering about Stinson & Blaylock playing for McD...IMO that would have been a trainwreck, at least for Stinson. He would have found McDermott much less...complacent? I'm not sure what word I want to use, but Morgan let Stinson take control quite a bit. I don't think McD would have.
 

Clone_12

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He let Mike Taylor jack up 28 footers with 25 on the shot clock and get away with leading the nation in to's by a wide margin...during games I think he would've let Stinson take over. In practices and off the court, Curtis would've been held to a different standard than he was under Morgan.
 

ImJustKCClone

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He let Mike Taylor jack up 28 footers with 25 on the shot clock and get away with leading the nation in to's by a wide margin...during games I think he would've let Stinson take over. In practices and off the court, Curtis would've been held to a different standard than he was under Morgan.

Maybe. I just think there would have been a decided personality conflict there. I think they would have been butting heads. Will, not so much. He wasn't quite as aggressively intense as Curtis.
 

awd4cy

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I dunno... There are hundreds upon hundreds of guys that stay with their teams through losing seasons each and every year. Clark is or is not a hero because he stayed during GMac's tenure, but he is a great former Cyclone.
He is one of the only ones to stick it out when everyone left right before one of the darkest periods of the programs history. I would say he is.
 

awd4cy

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I appreciated someone like Clark, but I don't miss watching Morgan's teams underachieve, and I don't miss watching the stale loaf of bread that was McDermott's way of playing, and seeing players transfer out only to achieve high accolades elsewhere.

Moving on--barring a complete breakdown, this should be the 4th year in a row that ISU makes the tourney, which is a record, and I feel like some other kinds of records like that are in the near future, along with more quality players wanting to be in the state of Iowa, and Ames, namely.

That's far better than anything that happened from 2003-2010.
Well, nobody is arguing with you there.
 

keepngoal

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I'm past McD. It wasn't a good fit. I am a McD fan, but I am glad be isn't here. He is a great coach at the UNI/Creighton level.
 

CYKOFAN

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They declared on March 15th. Morgan was fired on the 17th. So I'm assuming they knew he was getting fired when they declared.

True. I talked with one of the leaders of Morgan's teams and he said they really felt if WM hadn't been fired they would have been back in the NCAA the next year and could have done some damage there. Stinson, Blaylock and Rashon flourished under Morgan's system but when Homan graduated they depended on Taggart for help inside. But Taggart missed the first couple of months of the season with an illness and was weak and ineffective when he came back for the Big 12 season, so that team really had no inside strength. With everybody back and a healthy Taggart the next season, it could have been a good one.
 

CYKOFAN

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Most folks back then were fairly certain Morgan tipped them off.

Responding to someone else who was wondering about Stinson & Blaylock playing for McD...IMO that would have been a trainwreck, at least for Stinson. He would have found McDermott much less...complacent? I'm not sure what word I want to use, but Morgan let Stinson take control quite a bit. I don't think McD would have.

GMac already wasn't too popular with the ISU players after the incident at UNI when GMac reportedly called Homan a thug, and he and Morgan went at it.
 

Clone_12

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Taggart was gone whether Morgan came back or not per Taggart himself.
 

Clone_12

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My source is Shawn Taggart. As far as I know most of the players did like Wayne Morgan...his popularity among the players was never the problem for Wayne.
 

cykadelic2

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If we would've played uptempo with guys like McIntosh, Petersen, Haluska, Dunson, Brock Jacobson, Garrett (as a freshman), Boozer (as an underclassman) etc..we would've gotten run out of the gym and lost a lot of games much worse than we actually did...thank goodness we slowed it down with those teams.

I agree it's more exciting to watch uptempo basketball, and am thankful things turned out like they did with McDermott leaving and Fred coming in, but there is no "right" or "wrong" style of play. Teams can win by slowing it down and running set plays, or by playing 40 minutes of hell...it's how you recruit and how you execute. McDermott's last team is really the only team he had that really underachieved. His problem was that he had WAY too many recruiting misses, and evidently struggled relating to a lot of players.

Agree.

Two biggest issues with GMac at ISU were his players never completely bought into him, in particular, Clark who harbored bitterness over the Morgan firing and perhaps that bitterness filtered into the heads of other players, namely Wesley Johnson. The other big issue is that GMac didn't recruit a Brooks McKowen/Grant Gibbs type guard to ISU. It's no coincidence that every GMac team with either McKowen or Gibbs has made it to the NCAAs.