SB Nation User Blog: mplscyclone

Iowa State Football Adds Another 2010 Commit

mplscyclone — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:55:52 -0000

Iowa State has just received a commitment from JUCO WR Chris Young out of Trinity Valley C.C. in Athens, TX. If you remember, incoming 2009 OT Zach Spears, came from Trinity Valley CC so perhaps that relationship helped us land the recruit.

Chris Young is 5-11 and 185 lbs. He was being recruited by Kansas State, Southern Miss, North Texas, and UAB. Last season, Young played in 8 games, caught 31 passes for 482 yards and 4 TDs. I don't know much else about the guy other than that.

In other recruiting news, Scout has upgraded Givens and Howard to 2 stars up from their initial 1 star ranking as well.

World University Games: Medal Round Preview

mplscyclone — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:59:28 -0000

Today was an exciting day in the competition. Team USA got revenge and beat Serbia 68-66 in a very close game. Brackins started and played 19 minutes. He got 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block, shooting 3-8 from the floor including 1-3 from downtown.

Also, I stand corrected regarding Germany's future. They did beat Romania 81-69 to get in a 3-way tie with Latvia and Romania. Germany beat Romania but lost to Latvia. Latvia beat Germany but lost to Romania. Romania beat Lativa but lost to Germany. Sounds like the Big 12 South last season in football, except it was the battle of 1 win teams, not 1 loss teams!

Back to the Germany vs. Romania game. Lucca started and logged 31 minutes. He scored 9 points, got 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. He shot 3-7 all from beyond the arc. He shot efficently, and contributed in other ways to help the team win. If he can play like this next year, it will be all good!

So here are the teams that have made it into the medal rounds:

USA, Serbia, Lithuania, Germany, Israel, Russia, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

USA will play Bulgaria on Thursday at 1pm CST. The winner will advance to the Semifinals and play the winner of Russia and Lithuania. The loser will go into the 5th-8th place bracket and play the loser of Russia and Lithuania.

Germany will play a tough Israel team on Thursday at 5:30am CST. The winner will play the winner of Serbia and Turkey, while the loser will play the loser of Serbia and Turkey.

The ONLY way (and I triple checked) for Brackins and Lucca to play each other would be if Germany and the USA could make it to the finals.

My prediction is that the final four will be USA, Russia, Serbia, and Israel. The USA will play a tough game against Russia, but win, and Serbia will handle Israel. The finals will be USA vs. Serbia, and it's really anyone's game. These teams have played 2 close games already. The Bronze Medal Game will be Russia and Israel with Russia taking it. For the record, I think Germany will play in the 7th place game.

Prior to competition, I thought the 3 best teams were USA, Serbia, and Russia. Nothing that I've seen from the results would indicate that this still isn't the case.

Quarterfinals are on Thursday, Semifinals on Friday, and Finals on Saturday. I will do my best to keep you posted.

World University Games Update: 7/6/2009

mplscyclone — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:22:04 -0000

After Monday, July 6th, 6 of the 8 teams playing for a medal has been decided.

Team USA beat Greece 108-77. Brackins got 7 points and 7 rebounds, in 16 minutes of play off the bench. Team USA will play Serbia at 1pm CST to determine 1st and 2nd place in Group I.

Thus far, it's tough to get a read on how Brackins is doing. If you just look at the stats, it would appear he's been inconsistent. International play is typically less physical and relies on more jumpshooting. I would figure that would be a situation in which Craig would do well, as I think he'd have to be more of a perimeter player in the NBA unless he bulks up. At the same time, international play is often more fundamentally sound than college basketball and the NBA. This means there are players that actually know how to play defense. Perhaps players are playing good defense on Craig, and Craig isn't used to be guarded like that.

Germany had a tough loss to Lithuania yesterday, losing 76-75. Lucca started, scoring 21 points, getting 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals on 7-18 shooting (including 4-12 from beyond the arc) in 35 minutes of play. Germany will play Romania today at 1pm CST as well.

Germany will not advance to the medal round, as the best they can do in their group is 3rd place. Even though they will not win a medal, Germany will continue to play. This basketball tournament places all 26 spots, so Germany will play 2 more games (3 including today's) regardless. It's just more of a question if they'll be shooting for 9th to 12th place, or 13th to 16th place.

Lucca is doing very well in this tournament. He's Germany's leading scorer and he's been racking up minutes as well. Although he's been scoring a lot, he isn't shooting all that great from 3, as he's 11-30 (36%) for the tournament thus far. Lucca has been a lot more effective from inside the arc, shooting 9-15 (60%), although it's hard to tell if these are legitimate shots, or fastbreak types of layins. Regardless, 36% from 3 is decent, but next season I'd like to see him take more shots from inside the line. He'll score more, and it will force him to be more selective on his 3s. We need a guy who can shoot the 3, but we also need a guy who can make them at a relativley high percentage. When you're the 3rd option on a team, you do not need more than 10-12 ppg. You just have to score those efficiently, and score more than that on a given night if needed.

Thus far, here are the teams going on to play for medals: USA, Serbia, Lithuania, Israel, Bulgaria, and Turkey, although not all the placements are set. Russia, Romania, Lativa, and Canada are on the bubble. Russia will advance unless they lose to Italy (0-2) AND Canada (1-1) beats Israel (2-0). Romania will advance unless they lose to Germany (0-2) AND Latvia (1-1) beats Lithuania (2-0). I am going to play it safe as assume Russia and Romania will indeed advance.

I will post another update after play today, outlining where everyone will go, and my predicitions. Here's to Brackins and Lucca doing well, and continuing to get valuable experience over the summer!

World University Games Update: What are Brackins and Lucca up to?

mplscyclone — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:47:43 -0000

As you may know, Craig Brackins and Lucca Staiger are competing in the World University Games for USA and Germany respectively. Since competition started on July 2nd, you are probably wondering how they are doing?

Let's start with team USA and Brackins. Currently the USA is 2-0 having defeated Finland and South Korea. In the first game, the USA won 87-40. Brackins came off the bench, scoring 12 points (tied for team high), collecting 9 rebounds, on 5-7 shooting from the floor in 19 minutes.

The second game was 113-76. Brackins started, getting 9 points and 6 rebounds on 4-5 shooting from the floor in 23 minutes. It was nice to see Brackins getting rewarded for his good play in the previous game. He started off slow in the exhibition tournament against Serbia and Russia, but he seems to be playing better.

Lucca has been playing well also. Germany played their first game against Latvia. Lucca dropped 22 points going 8-16 from the floor and hitting 4 threes, although Germany lost 76-80. In the second game, Lucca had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists going 5-11 from the floor and hitting 3 threes, in Germany's victory over South Africa 86-42.

USA has now advanced to the next round, where they will play Greece (1-1) at 1pm CST tomorrow. They will then play Serbia (2-0) on July 7th at 1pm CST as well.

I expect the USA to win the first game as Greece lost ot Serbia 81-50. Serbia is tough and beat us in the preliminary tournament but it was a respectible game.

The competition is now down to 16 teams, in 4 team groups.

The groups are:

Group I: USA, Greece, Serbia, Finland

Group J: Lithuania, Germany, Latvia, Romania

Group K: Canada, Russia, Italy, Israel

Group L: Bulgaria, Portugal, Ukraine, Turkey

I believe the top 2 teams in each group will advance to the round of 8. I am guessing USA, Serbia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Israel, Turkey, and Bulgaria to advance. Sorry Lucca!

Two New Football Commits for 2010

mplscyclone — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:56:00 -0000

Over the past week, the Cyclones have picked up two commitments. The first is JUCO Safety Durrell Givens and the other is a JUCO Tight End, Ricky Howard. Both are out of Chaffey Community College in Rancho Cucamonga, CA., which is about an hour outside of Los Angeles. They both will have two years of eligibility.

Givens seems to be a heady guy, as he had 47 tackles and 4 Interceptions in the 2008 season. He's 6'0, 195 lbs, has a 4.5 40, a 36 inch vertical, and can bench 260 lbs. There's no doubt that he's an athlete. In the Big 12, you need to have DBs that can keep up with the athletic WRs in the league.

There is a lot less info about Howard out there. He caught 10 passes for 164 yards, including 2 TDs. He's 6'5, 255 lbs, and that's pretty much all I know. Often times the JUCO passing game is not going through the tight end. He's mainly an extra offensive linemen except in the redzone. Depending on his ability, I could see him being utilized differently at ISU than he may be in JUCO, but I don't exactly know. I just do not think we should be discouraged by the lack of stats on him, as he could have untapped potential where being in the right system would make him a productive player. He's big and tall. If he can block and has good hands, he could be very valuable.

Early on, you aren't necessarily filling spots with these kind of players, as they are not sexy. BUT I am all for guys who can help us win more ball games and I think you should be too. The last couple of years have been rough, and it will take a while to turn the program around. We have a lot of young players, and adding some JUCOs can help in the shorter term so some of these developing underclassmen can be ready in a few years from now.

My apologizes for the delayed update on this story, as being out of town with limited internet can be tough. ISU now has 4 commitments in the 2010 recruiting class, and I can't wait to see who else we sign!

World University Games Preview

mplscyclone — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:14:31 -0000

If you have not heard, Craig Brackins is spending part of his summer competing for USA in the World University Games. The competition is being held in Belgrade, Serbia, and it's a great chance for elite college basketball players to compete with some of the world's best at their age group.

Here's a rundown of USA's Roster:

Number	Name	Class.	Position	School
#4	Talor Battle	JR	Guard	Penn State
#5	Corey Fisher	JR	Guard	Villanova
#6	Da'Sean Butler	SR	Forward	West Virginia
#7	Robbie Hummel	JR	Forward	Purdue
#8	Evan Turner	JR	Guard	Ohio State
#9	James Anderson	JR	Guard	Oklahoma State
#10	Quincy Pondexter	SR	Forward	Washington
#11	Lazar Hayward	SR	Forward	Marquette
#12	Craig Brackins	JR	Forward	Iowa State
#13	Trevor Booker	SR	Forward	Clemson
#14	Jarvis Varnado	SR	Forward	Miss. State
#15	Deon Thompson	SR	Forward	North Carolina

The squad is coached by Wisconsin Coach, Bo Ryan.

The team has already arrived in Serbia, and played won an exhibition game against Canada 85-81. Brackins came off the bench, getting 4 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 18 minutes. Brackins went 1-4 from the field, and 2-2 from the charity stripe.

USA will play Serbia on Sunday at 2pm CST, and Russia on Monday at 11:30am CST. All of these, are an exhibition round-robin tournament prior to the World University Game.

The World University Games for the USA will start on July 3rd. The USA will play Finland on July 3rd at 1pm CST and will also play South Korea on July 4th at 1pm CST. Assuming the USA will advance (and that's a pretty safe bet), the 2nd round is July 6th and 7th, quarterfinals July 9th, semifinals July 10th, and the finals on July 11th.

The countries are formed into groups for the first round and do a round-robin in their group. The winner of each group moves into an 8 team tournament. The groups are as follows:

Group A: Serbia, Greece, Australia

Group B: Lithuania, Mexico, Romania, UAE

Group C: Canada, Italy, China

Group D: Japan, Ukraine, Bulgaria

Group E: Turkey, Portugal, Iran

Group F: Russia, Gabon, Israel, Brazil

Group G: Germany, Latvia, South Africa

Group H: USA, Finland, South Korea

It will be interesting, and we will update results as they come. I think this is a good chance for Craig to play against some meaningful competition, instead of the glorified pickup league known as the Capital City League. The USA typically does well in this type of an event, and I hope everyone on that team is enjoying their time there.

Remembering Ed Thomas

mplscyclone — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:45:51 -0000

Writing this has been long overdue, as I have been away on emergency. By now, you probably heard about the murder of Ed Thomas, the Aplington-Parkersburg High Head Football coach. June 24th was a sad day for not just Iowa sports, but for high school athletics as a whole.

Ed Thomas was a man that changed people's lives. From all accounts, he was a great football coach, but an even better mentor and person. He helped the community rebuild after the devastating damage a tornado caused, that wiped out the entire town. When a community has to endure something so devastating, it's make or break time. Either the community will crumble, or it will become united and stronger than before. Well, the community became stronger and it was because of the leadership of Ed Thomas.

Now the community is mourning the loss of a man who shaped so many lives. They will mourn for long I am sure, but no doubt they will become stronger than before.

There really is not much more to say other than to enjoy your life, and be thankful for everyday. You never know when it all can come to an end.

Goodbye Mr. Thomas. You were a great man, and those of us in Iowa will never forget you. The best way we can honor the man is to take the lessons he taught, and apply them to our own lives.

Jim Souhan Trashes Twins Offense and Money Ball

mplscyclone — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:55:02 -0000

I really do not get it. Souhan wrote an article today trashing the Twins offense. The premise of the article is that the Twins have gone from a speed team, to a team that relies too much on the homerun, and resembles a "Money Ball" offensive philosophy.

He claims the Twins are 1 dimensional. He points to the stats that show the Twins are 24-16 when hitting a homerun, but 10-18 when they do not.

It's kind of interesting to complain about this. Most of the cricism of the Twins offense in the past is the lack of power in the lineup. Remember those years when we'd have a good pitching staff but one of the worst offenses in the league? In 2005, the Twins were last in the AL in runs scored with 688 on the season. We had the 3rd least amount of home runs in the AL, and were 4th in the league in AL in steals. The Twins had the 5th best pitching staff in the AL.

How did that workout for them? They went 83-79 and finished 3rd in the AL Central.

The Twins currently sit 7th in the AL in homeruns. They are 6th in Runs scored. The offense isn't holding the team back. What's holding this team back is consistency in the rotation, and in the middle relief. The Twins are 10th in the AL in ERA, and have allowed the 6th most runs in the AL as well. Once the pitching gets better, this team will do better.

What's wrong with finally having guys on the team with pop? It's obviously helping us as we're scoring runs. Now, I don't disagree that some of the speed guys could do a better job of getting on base, and that would help us score more no doubt.

The problem is pitching, however, not lack of speed. Sorry Souhan, but you do not know what you're talking about.

You can read his article here.

Is Jamie Pollard's Extension That BIG of a Deal?

mplscyclone — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:44:40 -0000

The press release was yesterday. ISU Athletic Director Jamie Pollard signed a new 2 year extension until 2014. The previous extension was through 2012.

At first when I heard about this, I figured it wasn't REALLY that big of a deal. He did not get a raise, as he will be making the same amount as when he signed his previous extension.

So the question to me is, why is everyone getting all worked up?

There are two takes on Jamie Pollard thus far by the Cyclone Community.

The first being that Jamie Pollard is a complete failure. Basketball and Football haven't done well during his tenure. Sure, Women's Basketball and Volleyball have had success, but those were not Pollard's hires... Sure, the budget has increased and there have been some nice facility upgrades, but Pollard was able to get the money on selling hope and has failed to deliver. He's duped us fans into giving the department money, and has not walked the walk.

This take is the angle the radio talk heads and other media personalities tend to take. I can't really blame them, as it generates calls, ratings, and gets people fired up. The problem that I have with the above take, is that those people do not understand what it takes to be successful in college athletics.

Money and success in these big sports (particularly football) is like the "Chicken and the Egg" argument. They both depend on each other. If you're successful you'll bring in money, but you need money to be successful.

Jamie understands this, and the fact that donors paid in record amounts at ISU means that they understand this as well. At the same time, it's somewhat understandable if some donors are frustrated. People did pay a lot of money, but they haven't seen any results in the wins column. I really do think that those wins are coming.

What they may see (and what we are seeing) is that some of those donations helped with recruiting. Nicer facilities makes you a more attractive program. The basketball program had a great off season, and the football team has been bringing in athletic talent that has not come to ISU in the past.

The other take is that Pollard is doing a good job, considering the hand he's been dealt. ISU is a difficult place to have success, especially since the Big 12 has formed, as schools like Texas and Oklahoma are difficult to compete with financially and athletically. Pollard has had some bad luck, and now with McDermott finally figuring it out and the hiring of Paul Rhoads the programs will indeed go to the next level. Upgrading the facilities is a success, and overall there are enough things in the pipeline to see the program is better off now than a few years ago. Let's wait a few more years to see what McDermott does now that he has the talent, and now that the football program has a capable coaching staff.

I personally believe the above take is how most ISU fans feel. We'd all love to see the programs do better, but there are better days ahead. The negative take is what the media, and how a loud minority of fans feel. From my experience, the people who tend to complain about Pollard are non-season ticket holders, and some times are not even ISU fans.

This brings me back the original question though. Is this REALLY that big of a deal?? Is adding 2 more years and holding his salary flat bad? Is there someone out there at would come to ISU that would be an upgrade?

I would agree the timing is a bit strange, as others have asked why not wait until Basketball or Football reaches the postseason, but perhaps there's more to this story than we know. Perhaps Pollard was shopping around, or some other schools made some overtures to him? In the world of college athletics, hirings, firings, and job searches are all done through backchannel discussions that are hard to trace back. Perhaps there is some other reason that we do not know of, but whatever the case is, ISU clearly felt like they needed to make sure he was locked up until 2014.

Some pundits say that there's NO WAY Pollard is getting other offers to leave... That's what those same pundits were saying about Chizik about 6-7 months ago. They were saying how there's NO WAY Chizik could leave; how coaching at ISU and going 5-19 would damage his chances to coach somewhere else. That he'd have to stay here until he turned it around because only UNTIL then would he get his career back... Well guess how that worked out? I've come to realize that the pundits are often full of it and they really do not know what they're talking about.

My own opinion is that we're lucky to have an AD that is as ambitious as Pollard is. He's trying to change a culture of losing into winning, and it's a tough battle. It's his first AD position, and he's learning on the fly. I'm sure he'd admit to making mistakes, but I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's learned from those mistakes. I still believe ISU will get to a level we have not seen before, where bowl games and NCAA bids are more of a regular thing. I guess we will have a better picture of Pollard's legacy in the coming years.

So fellow Cyclone Fans, how do you feel? Cast your vote and share in the comments below!

Poll

How do you feel about Pollard now being signed through 2014?

Support it

50 votes

Against it

12 votes

What's the big deal?

29 votes

They should've fired him instead

6 votes

97 votes | Poll has closed

MBB: Antwon Oliver is Now On The Radar

mplscyclone — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:46:22 -0000

I know this was a guy who signed late this spring, that sort of flew under the radar. We didn't hear anything about him prior to his signing, and when he did, he was completely off the radar. I know for many it raised some concern.

Well, Oliver is now "on" the radar so to say as ESPN has finally graded him. He's rated an 86 out of 100 and sounds like a very athletic guy. You can read the writeup here.

I do think he'll need to hit the weights a little to play in the Big 12, but athletisim is one area you cannot teach. You can teach a guy how to shoot better, or to play better defense, but you cannot teach a guy to be an athlete. Something like this just validates that the coaching staff is finally starting to understand the type of player you need to bring into a Big 12 program. He may have to redshirt this year as we have a surplus of guards, and he may need to develop in some areas, but he could be an exciting player for us down the road.

From what I understand, the reason he was unrrated before was because everyone thought he'd go the JUCO route. Obviously he worked hard and got himself signed with ISU.

Congrats to Oliver and I hope to see him in a Cyclone Uniform soon.