Bolton Article

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Feel free to ignore if you don't subscribe to The Athletic or are one of the people who get angry when articles are behind a pay wall, but they published an interesting article about Rasir Bolton today. He addresses leaving Iowa State in pretty vague terms, but it's the most I've seen him say about it.
I'm rooting for him to do well until they face the Cyclones in the championship game.

Rasir Bolton has found joy, winning and a larger purpose at Gonzaga — not necessarily in that order – The Athletic
 
I'm happy for how the season has turned out for Rasir and for Iowa State. Watching him knock down 47% behind the arc for Gonzaga, it's hard not to think man, he's exactly what our roster is missing. But TJ has definitely earned the trust for how he's constructed the roster, and it appears to have worked out well for both sides
 
I'm happy for how the season has turned out for Rasir and for Iowa State. Watching him knock down 47% behind the arc for Gonzaga, it's hard not to think man, he's exactly what our roster is missing. But TJ has definitely earned the trust for how he's constructed the roster, and it appears to have worked out well for both sides

There’s no room for the ole defense on this team. He belongs on an offensive team like Gonzaga.
 
Dude is hella toxic, a me-first type. Think that would work on this team?

I am not disputing that he was. And I’m not saying he should have stayed.

But I do wonder if some of the toxic stuff was less about him and more about the situation. Think about how terrible last year was. The team wasn’t together until fall semester. You had the weird COVID situation so practices were weird and there were no fans. And then the wheels fell off the bus with this team. They couldn’t catch a break. And I’m guessing they all wanted to win. So, to me, it doesn’t seem crazy that someone might not know how to deal and become selfish. I could even see someone acting in a selfish way but actually thinking that was the best way to try and win. And I could definitely see someone disengaging and trying to find humor in inappropriate places when things are going bad. We ***** about how much last year sucked for us. Imagine playing or coaching in that hell scape.

So while Bolton was too toxic to keep around, it’s too bad he wasn’t a little less toxic because I think he might have flourished on a team that had time to work together and bond. And maybe he wouldn’t have gotten selfish if there were examples of how they could win.
 
Sometimes change is good.


Absolutely. But the narrative that was shoveled on this site last fall is just not true.

There is a reason certain players play for certain coaches. Why players who get recruited by 20 teams only pick one. What happened here has nothing to do with him being "toxic".

A coach lays down the plan....a player can decides whether he likes it or not. If they decide to move on that doesn't make them "toxic".

As it has worked out........they were both right parting ways.
 
Absolutely. But the narrative that was shoveled on this site last fall is just not true.

There is a reason certain players play for certain coaches. Why players who get recruited by 20 teams only pick one. What happened here has nothing to do with him being "toxic".

A coach lays down the plan....a player can decides whether he likes it or not. If they decide to move on that doesn't make them "toxic".

As it has worked out........they were both right parting ways.
Cool.
 
Great piece, and really enjoyed the story of Ra's final college tour. Happy for both him and the new Otz era of Cyclone basketball.

And it's annoying how any of us have to preface sharing pieces from The Athletic. They are one of the most comprehensive sports media platforms in existence with some great long form journalism sprinkled in for good measure amidst the usual player/game analysis and recruiting and trade tidbits, collegiate and all pro sports combined.

I've learned just as much about our Cyclone player's through Athletic pieces over the years as I have through Cyclone Fanatic. By all means, let's continue mocking the ungrateful and ignorant Stewie Mandel, but The Athletic as a whole is well worth the few bucks per year. Give it a try, y'all.
 
There’s no room for the ole defense on this team. He belongs on an offensive team like Gonzaga.
Yet we kept Hinson, or tried to?

That’s not it. Gonzaga is good on defense too. 9th in AdjD even with Bolton’s defense.

Few and Gonzaga are an established program that have what it takes to make a talent like Bolton fit. TJ apparently didn’t feel he could. At least not in Year 1, and fitting with the other guys that returned…which ended up being just Conditt, Jackson, and Walker. Hunter too, although they had not played together, and Hunter not yet recommitted.

In the future it will be important to get to a point in which we figure out how to make such talent fit, as Few has been doing.
 
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Happy he is doing well at Zaga. I wish no ill will on former clones. Honestly can't be upset that he isn't on the team since we are in the sweet 16 and we have no clue how him being on the team would affect this year's team.
 
I am glad Bolton is having success at Gonzaga. We had a few other guys have success - Harris and Dubar. Johnson was up, but mostly down with DePaul but got hurt when he seemed on a roll. Coleman-Lands transfer to KU probably disappointing from a PT standpoint. Then Hinson, Foster & Blackwell are all members of the Daniel Simpson Day Club.

Getting back to Bolton. He is probably top 20 percentile on offense. But he is equally bad on defense. IMO it would have been impossible for TJ to implement the culture he wanted with Rasir as our team leader.

Conversely, Few didn't need Rasir to be his team leader or focal point. As long a Rasir is OK being the 4th or 5th option on offense and plays OK defense that's fine for Gonzaga since they have guys on the bench who are ready to take his minutes.
 
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Absolutely. But the narrative that was shoveled on this site last fall is just not true.

There is a reason certain players play for certain coaches. Why players who get recruited by 20 teams only pick one. What happened here has nothing to do with him being "toxic".

A coach lays down the plan....a player can decides whether he likes it or not. If they decide to move on that doesn't make them "toxic".

As it has worked out........they were both right parting ways.
Is this said in the link? I'm not a subscriber. It'd be interesting as everything we've heard said he had no option to come back. I think it is odd though, none of the other players who left were given any kind of negative label, just Rasir. He's the only one we've heard anything negative about.
 

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