Here's a good article in the Ames Tribune on the work ethic and attitude of the players on the men's basketball team:
Ames Tribune > Ames Tribune > Sports
Ames Tribune > Ames Tribune > Sports
ISU MBB article in Ames Tribune
- Thread starter cyclone_fan_1000
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Man, it's good to hear that Melvin has improved his ballhandling. If he can become a player that can beat his guy off the dribble, even with just a couple of dribbles to the hoop, he will be dangerous.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I'm glad they are putting the facility to good use on their own time. It seems like the "24 hour, always open" type of facility was an awesome idea. Glad to see everybody is hungry to improve their game.
Don't get me wrong I am very excited and high on this team but have been around BBall and in my experience ball handlers are born and not made. We will see I guess -- I do hope we get picked near the bottom cuz we will surprise, the only question is how big of a surprise will we be.
A more well-rounded Ejim will be problematic for defenders. He's already had to prove himself down low. An inside- out game will make him really tough.
A couple of hard dribbles to the hoop is not too much to expect out of a forward. It's not like I'm expecting him to have mad point guard skills or anything.
Absolutely it was. It had been the #1 item on my Cyclone "wish list" for years. By a wide margin. I give Jamie huge props for getting it done.
Great article. The players are all very driven and feeding off each other. Sometimes you get the perfect situation that fosters that kind of chemistry and drive, and it appears we now have it. It's going to be a good winter.
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I have to disagree with this. One can improve their eye-hand coordination with the right training. They arent saying he has amazing dribbling skills now, but instead he is able to have a solid handle. Besides the training, a lot of this has to do with the coaches installing so much confidence in these guys. If you have someone believing you can do something as well as having yourself believe it, more than likely you are going to improve.
I don't know, you can get bigger and stronger, but IMO shooting and ball handling you either have or you don't. They can improve a little, but pretty much whatever you have, you have. Rashon Clark worked on his handle all four years and it never got better. Ejim was better at it as a FR than Clark was as a SR though.
I will have to disagree with you. Many times players can struggle with shooting or ball handling due to bad habits and/or poor fundamentals. These usually are not easy to correct because they have been used for such a long time, but if a player works on shooting form consistently they can improve quite a bit.
So should Okoro be playing AAU ball this summer instead of working on his shot?
PS Nkereuwem, we're all still super stoked that you're going to be a Cyclone.
OK, there are exceptions, but I'd like to see some examples of ISU players who improved quite a bit. DG started his ISU career as a PG that couldn't shoot and ended his ISU career as a PG that couldn't shoot. Fizer and Brackins I would say extended their range, but I can't think of someone who turned into a shooter that wasn't before. And ball handling is even harder to improve.
I couldn't disagree more. GREAT ballhandlers might be born but Melvin doesn't need to be a great ballhandler. A player can make huge strides in a summer of ballhandling work. I actually think it's easier to improve ballhandling than shooting.
I've been saying that for 6 months. History always repeats itself. I haven't been this excited for basketball this early since 05.