Update on Harrison Barnes
- Thread starter mpc4isu7
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I am going to have to strongly disagree here Jeremy. How is Kansas built to contend every 3-5 years? They are a number one or two seed about every single year. When was the last time USC was a 2 seed? When was the last time they were in the Final Four? When has Tim Floyd ever been to the Elite 8? Have they ever been a championship school in basketball?
I know Kentucky has won something like 7 National Championships but as far as recent history, they are no better (slightly worse) than Kansas. Kansas contends for a championship every 3/4 years out of 5. USC 1 out of 10 MAYBE.
I think some people are really not seeing the big picture here. It doesn't really matter if we went 14-18 last year. You put a Barnes on your team and Dykstra and you could be in the Sweet 16 the next year. We have great role players to fill around them. Look at Kansas St last year. Terrible, terrible program before Beasley got there. He took them from garbage to some big wins. I think McDermott is a better coach than Martin and can do even better things with a player of Barnes caliber.
I don't feel great about our chances but I don't feel down about them either. I think he was all but ours before Prileou left to TCU. I think the constant player turnover is a poor reflection as well. Those 2 things are really hurting us but we have a year to fix those. Get a great relationship with him and have no more player turnover and I think our chances continue to increase
I wonder how much style of play has to figure. McD is slow-tempo offense and defensive oriented. That style of play is fine for College Basketball, but doesn't translate into NBA-readyness. Barnes has to be a future NBA prospect. Won't he want to be on a team that runs up and down and court and puts up 80ppg?
I think in another thread cyismydog posted something about running a more penetrate and dish type offense set between a mix of purdue and eastern michigan or something michigan
I don't see USC finishing in the top 5 of the Pac 10 this year. That's a ways from any championship...
Sorry, I think you're getting a little carried away. Did you forget that ISU plays in 15,000 seat Hilton Coliseum. Just how many Ames high school alums are in attendance? Maybe 500? Most of them will be cheering for ISU regardless of where Barnes goes.
Perhaps you forgot about Greg's UNI team that hung a 100 on us. Greg plays to his players. If we have the horses, we'll put more points up.
word. I will not wish HB ill will if he chooses another school, but I WILL NOT be cheering for him if he comes to Hilton on another team!
Out of 15,000 at Hilton, there is no way that only 500 of those people are Ames High alums. I would guess it to be in the 1,000-2,000 range.
Yeah I don't know how he could possibly say that. 1990-1999 Kansas was 286-60 which was the best win loss ratio of any team in that decade. We alll know how good they have been since than. They contend for a championship more so than just about any team in the country
We are talking about college baskeball here... While run and gun teams do well there are some slow tempo teams that have done very well(notably Wisconsin just to our east). Defense wins games at both the college and NBA level. Dennis Rodman made a great liviing simply rebounding and defending well.
Mr. Barnes will play well anywhere he goes. It won't matter too much what style of offense is played. And it's not too great a leap to think that ISU's offense would change to a faster pace to accommodate such a great player. Indeed I think you'll see a more fluid offensive style this year with the influx of talented players coming in.
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The business college comments have me a bit concerned. Can't really blame a smart kid for wanting to go to a good business school. That said though, if Harrison lives up to the hype then he could easily end up in the NBA well before he gets any kind of a degree. If he is only a one year player, then I think we're setting up to be a really good team that first year, as has been pointed out.
Brackins, Lucca, and DG would all be seniors, and Buckley will be a junior. That looks to be a very solid, and hopefully very good, core of players for Harrison to play with his first year. If he sticks around for a bit longer he could form a new core with Dykstra, would still have a seasoned point guard running the show his sophomore year, and would hopefully be on a team with a lot of seniors looking to make a run.
In summary, if we can hang on to our players (fingers crossed) then it looks to me like ISU would be a great place for Harrison to step in and make an immediate impact on some potentially very good teams.
Brackins, Lucca, and DG would all be seniors, and Buckley will be a junior. That looks to be a very solid, and hopefully very good, core of players for Harrison to play with his first year. If he sticks around for a bit longer he could form a new core with Dykstra, would still have a seasoned point guard running the show his sophomore year, and would hopefully be on a team with a lot of seniors looking to make a run.
In summary, if we can hang on to our players (fingers crossed) then it looks to me like ISU would be a great place for Harrison to step in and make an immediate impact on some potentially very good teams.
Post-LeBron Camp Update:
Upon completion of the LeBron Camp, Harrison was offered by Florida and was ranked the 3rd best player in camp.
Just one more thing to throw in there to stir around discussion; there is all this talk about what ISU could be with Dykstra and Harrison running the show in the class of '10; however, you can also look at it from the flip-side. Texas has already drawn a verbal from the #1 player in the class of '10 in Tristan Thompson... Think of what Texas could be with Thompson and Barnes on the same court, under the same team. Just something to think about.
When talking to a 'Rivals.com' reporter about ISU, Harrison said:
"I would say the pros would be location, being right there. I am very familiar with the coaching staff. Fans would love me because they love Iowa kids. The cons would be that they have not been as successful as they would like to be and lately they have not sent many players to the pros."
When talking to the reporter about Indiana's recent offer:
"I have spoken to Coach (Tom) Crean and they offered me," said Barnes. "I am obviously looking into them right now. It is a school that I am seriously considering."
Upon completion of the LeBron Camp, Harrison was offered by Florida and was ranked the 3rd best player in camp.
Just one more thing to throw in there to stir around discussion; there is all this talk about what ISU could be with Dykstra and Harrison running the show in the class of '10; however, you can also look at it from the flip-side. Texas has already drawn a verbal from the #1 player in the class of '10 in Tristan Thompson... Think of what Texas could be with Thompson and Barnes on the same court, under the same team. Just something to think about.
When talking to a 'Rivals.com' reporter about ISU, Harrison said:
"I would say the pros would be location, being right there. I am very familiar with the coaching staff. Fans would love me because they love Iowa kids. The cons would be that they have not been as successful as they would like to be and lately they have not sent many players to the pros."
When talking to the reporter about Indiana's recent offer:
"I have spoken to Coach (Tom) Crean and they offered me," said Barnes. "I am obviously looking into them right now. It is a school that I am seriously considering."
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