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Cyclones believe all the pieces are in place for a special season
By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-10-15
Iowa State forward Craig Brackins sees it all.
Talent. Depth. Athleticism. Chemistry.
Everything the Cyclones need to have a successful season is in place for the 2009-10 season.
“We’ve added a lot of the pieces that we’ve been missing over the last couple of years,” Brackins said.
Between the return of superstar forward Craig Brackins, the influx of exciting new talent and the progress made by returning players, there is more buzz around this team than any of the others during the Greg McDermott era.
Now all the Cyclones have to do is find a way for all the pieces to come together.
“Our challenge, I think, will be whether we can get through to this group that it has to be a team-first approach,” McDermott said. “If we can do that, we will have a chance, I think, to have a special season.”
McDermott believes he has more talent at ISU than ever before.
There’s Craig Brackins, the preseason All-American who McDermott calls one of the premier power forwards in America.
There’s Marquis Gilstrap, the Big 12 preseason newcomer of the year who gives the Cyclones the athletic wing they lacked a season ago.
There’s Lucca Staiger, healthy and more confident than ever after playing on the German national team.
There’s Justin Hamilton, Jamie Vanderbeken and LaRon Dendy to help take the pressure off Brackins in the post.
There’s Diante Garrett at the point to run the show and Chris Colvin to break down opposing defenses.
McDermott will have plenty of options when piecing together his lineup.
“It’s going to be hard for coach to pick a starting five out,” Staiger said.
But it beats the alternatives.
Last year ISU finished 15-17 with Brackins the only consistent scoring threat. He averaged 20.2 points a game, but the Cyclones didn’t know where the rest of its scoring would come from on a nightly basis.
“We need balance,” McDermott said. “We tried it last year with Craig Brackins scoring 26 points and nobody else getting double figures. It doesn’t work. You have to have three or four different people that can give you 15 or 16 points on any given night, and we are closer to that now than we’ve ever been.”
And it’s due, in part, to the junior college transfers.
Gilstrap, ranked 10th nationally with a 22.6 point average, is as adept at scoring on the block as he is from beyond the arc or by slashing to the bucket.
Brackins calls Dendy an athletic freak who can make plays happen around the basket. Before suffering a stress fracture in his sophomore season, Dendy averaged 8.1 points while shooting 63.3 percent from the floor at Indian Hills Community College.
“What we’ve added through our recruiting class is a better athlete, and that was one of our weaknesses last season,” We were able to stay close, but we just couldn’t punch that door down with close games at the end.”
If the Cyclones can turn enough of those losses into wins, they could make the postseason for the first time under McDermott.
McDermott feels the talent is in place for ISU to make a run at the NCAA Tournament. Brackins said the Cyclones are good enough to make the Big Dance for the first time in 2005.
But to do it, ISU’s talent will have to mesh together.
“Starting this afternoon, we’ll try to get them to buy into that and accept whatever role we ask them to play, because without question, we have more depth than any point in my tenure here at Iowa State,” McDermott said.
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929 or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-10-15
Iowa State basketball players Justin Hamilton, Diante Garrett, Craig Brackins, Lucca Staiger and Marquis Gilstrap expect big things out of the team this season.
Tribune photo by Nirmalendu Majumdar
Tribune photo by Nirmalendu Majumdar
Iowa State forward Craig Brackins sees it all.
Talent. Depth. Athleticism. Chemistry.
Everything the Cyclones need to have a successful season is in place for the 2009-10 season.
“We’ve added a lot of the pieces that we’ve been missing over the last couple of years,” Brackins said.
Between the return of superstar forward Craig Brackins, the influx of exciting new talent and the progress made by returning players, there is more buzz around this team than any of the others during the Greg McDermott era.
Now all the Cyclones have to do is find a way for all the pieces to come together.
“Our challenge, I think, will be whether we can get through to this group that it has to be a team-first approach,” McDermott said. “If we can do that, we will have a chance, I think, to have a special season.”
McDermott believes he has more talent at ISU than ever before.
There’s Craig Brackins, the preseason All-American who McDermott calls one of the premier power forwards in America.
There’s Marquis Gilstrap, the Big 12 preseason newcomer of the year who gives the Cyclones the athletic wing they lacked a season ago.
There’s Lucca Staiger, healthy and more confident than ever after playing on the German national team.
There’s Justin Hamilton, Jamie Vanderbeken and LaRon Dendy to help take the pressure off Brackins in the post.
There’s Diante Garrett at the point to run the show and Chris Colvin to break down opposing defenses.
McDermott will have plenty of options when piecing together his lineup.
“It’s going to be hard for coach to pick a starting five out,” Staiger said.
But it beats the alternatives.
Last year ISU finished 15-17 with Brackins the only consistent scoring threat. He averaged 20.2 points a game, but the Cyclones didn’t know where the rest of its scoring would come from on a nightly basis.
“We need balance,” McDermott said. “We tried it last year with Craig Brackins scoring 26 points and nobody else getting double figures. It doesn’t work. You have to have three or four different people that can give you 15 or 16 points on any given night, and we are closer to that now than we’ve ever been.”
And it’s due, in part, to the junior college transfers.
Gilstrap, ranked 10th nationally with a 22.6 point average, is as adept at scoring on the block as he is from beyond the arc or by slashing to the bucket.
Brackins calls Dendy an athletic freak who can make plays happen around the basket. Before suffering a stress fracture in his sophomore season, Dendy averaged 8.1 points while shooting 63.3 percent from the floor at Indian Hills Community College.
“What we’ve added through our recruiting class is a better athlete, and that was one of our weaknesses last season,” We were able to stay close, but we just couldn’t punch that door down with close games at the end.”
If the Cyclones can turn enough of those losses into wins, they could make the postseason for the first time under McDermott.
McDermott feels the talent is in place for ISU to make a run at the NCAA Tournament. Brackins said the Cyclones are good enough to make the Big Dance for the first time in 2005.
But to do it, ISU’s talent will have to mesh together.
“Starting this afternoon, we’ll try to get them to buy into that and accept whatever role we ask them to play, because without question, we have more depth than any point in my tenure here at Iowa State,” McDermott said.
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929 or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
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