Various ISU notes

[mred]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3027438&BRD=2034&PAG=461&dept_id=331740&rfi=6Here</a> is an article about Nina Smith's situation. She will not be with the team the rest of this season (to concentrate on academics). This does not mean she won't be with the team next season, but this certainly raises doubts regarding her future.

6'7" Gillian Goring started playing for Waterloo West this week. Recent interviews with her have not mentioned W. Kentucky, only ISU and UConn. She has reportedly been doing quite well academically and some ISU fans speculate that W. Kentucky may have been a fall-back option for her if she couldn't qualify at ISU or UConn (ISU does not usually accept partial qualifiers).

If Nina Smith does not return to the team next year and Goring goes elsewhere, that leaves ISU very thin at the post. Freshman Lisa Kriener has been backing up Welle this season, and her rebounding and defense are fine, although I think she needs some work on her offense. ISU also has Brittany Wilkins, a freshman currently on a medical redshirt. Wilkins had a very successful high school career in Nebraska, and has been practicing with the team for a few weeks now since being cleared by her doctors. With Kelly Cizek graduating along with Welle, ISU has no more real centers beond Kriener and Wilkins. Melanie Bremer could play post in a 3G/2F offense, I suppose.

ISU will be loaded (as usual) in the backcourt. Gahan will be a big loss, but ISU gains freshman PG Megan McCracken (ISU fans who have seen her say she's more of a Frese than a Wilson) as well as Anne O'Neil, whom Fennelly says would be starting right now if she weren't redshirting. Of course ISU will also be getting back Erica Junod: a 50%+ 3pt shooter, great perimeter defender, and the best 5'7" rebounder in the country. I suspect Wilson, Junod, O'Neil, Bremer, and (Smith/Goring/Kriener/Wilkins) will be the five starters next season.

[metromaniac]

If your analysis is correct, sounds like the cyclones will find out if they can play OU ball. Any team would miss Welle after her efforts over the last 4 years. Not alot of them floating around.

[swok34]

If Nina Smith does not return to the team next year and Goring goes elsewhere, that leaves ISU very thin at the post

Iowa State will look a whole lot like OU......maybe, just maybe we will finally win in Norman next year; though OU will be mighty young.

[mred]

ISU has played OU ball before. In 97-98, ISU started Frese, Taylor, Jayme Olsen, Janel Grimm, and a rotating fifth player (Erica Haugen, Amanda Bartz, or Monica Huelman). None were taller than 6'2". Although, back then there seemed to be fewer 6'4"+ players.

[mred]

Speaking of OU, there's buzz about a GBB player (H.S. junior) from Norwalk, IA, named Jill Martin. She sounds like a Gahan-ish player: 6'2", great shooting range, great ballhandler, etc. Apparently there were some OU coaches scouting her one night. Someone said she's getting interest from MN as well. No one seems to know ISU's level of interest right now.

[This message has been edited by mred (edited 01-18-2002).]

[schooner2]

It was my impression that OU is done for the year in recruiting. All 5 players they wanted the most, they got.

Couple of other notes......I think ISU will miss Gahan more than people realize. Her stats are amazing. A great 3-point shooter, can play point, 2-guard, forward, whatever else you may want her to do.

But then again, how can you minimize the loss of Welle as well.

OKAY, big question here - was going to start a new topic with this, but I'll just ask it in this thread. In everybody's opinion, how will Welle do in the WNBA?

I keep going back and forth on this. Sometimes, she seems too soft, that she could get pushed around a lot in the WNBA. But then, I watch her against OU, and she has well-developed, very polished moves. Somebody outsizes her on the block, she steps back and nails the 8-footer. If she can step around the defender, she eats them up all game long. Right now, I'm leaning towards, she could have a good career in the WNBA. I just don't follow the WNBA and don't know how she would match-up in that league.

[mred]

Originally posted by schooner:
It was my impression that OU is done for the year in recruiting. All 5 players they wanted the most, they got.

Martin is a junior, so she's being recruited for 2003.

I had a typo in her name. I've corected it in both messages.

According to the ighsau.org website, through Jan 7 she is averaging 27.6 PPG (shooting 58%FG, 59%3pt, and hitting 1.9 threes per game), 10.2 rpg, 2.3 bpg, 3.9 apg. She seems to be the type of player many programs would love to have.

Norwalk is a 3A school (second largest class)

[This message has been edited by mred (edited 01-18-2002).]

[Press]

Originally posted by schooner:


I think ISU will miss Gahan more than people realize. Her stats are amazing. A great 3-point shooter, can play point, 2-guard, forward, whatever else you may want her to do.

It's hard to replace what Texan's bring to the table. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/wink.gif
(Sorry folks, I couldn't resist that!)

Seriously, she's a great player and Texan's are proud of her success, until she goes off on our teams. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by Press (edited 01-18-2002).]

[mred]

Originally posted by schooner:
Couple of other notes......I think ISU will miss Gahan more than people realize. Her stats are amazing. A great 3-point shooter, can play point, 2-guard, forward, whatever else you may want her to do.

It's like when Stacy Frese graduated. I insisted that, even though Stacy was better, ISU would miss Desiree Francis much more. I won't say ISU will miss Gahan more than Welle (because they won't; Welle will leave a HUGE hole in the team) but there is a reason Gahan has been a starter since day 1 at ISU; she is just that good.

And to think, Bill only scouted Gahan as a favor to the Men's Swimming coach at ISU (a good friend of his). Tracy's older brother was an all-american swimmer at ISU. Tracy's parents were up in Ames watching him and they mentioned to Coach Lynn that they had to get back to Texas for a tournament Tracy was in. Coach Lynn convinced Bill to check her out as a favor.


[This message has been edited by mred (edited 01-18-2002).]

[carolann]

I think Welle can have a solid WNBA career, not necessarily be a star. As mentioned, she has very good post moves.

[swok34]

I loved watching Desiree Francis play.........what spunk she had.

The post play in the WNBA is very physical......I think Welle will do okay.

[Cycurl714]

mred

I live in Indianola and I have played against Jill Martin. She's a great athlete. She can play all five positions on the floor. I agree she is a Gahan-ish type player, but I think she's more willing to shoot.

[KSUron]

Originally posted by mred:

6'7" Gillian Goring started playing for Waterloo West this week. Recent interviews with her have not mentioned W. Kentucky, only ISU and UConn. She has reportedly been doing quite well academically and some ISU fans speculate that W. Kentucky may have been a fall-back option for her if she couldn't qualify at ISU or UConn (ISU does not usually accept partial qualifiers).

If Nina Smith does not return to the team next year and Goring goes elsewhere, that leaves ISU very thin at the post.

In another thread I made a sarcastic comment about the NCAA. After I posted it I thought, "where did THAT come from". Then I remembered reading this post about Gillian Goring and also seeing references to her situation on other boards. This is a situation that is just rife with potential problems for her and for ISU, and for that matter UCONN. NCAA rules say that anyone who is an "athletic representative" of a university may not "contact" a potential student to influence their choice of schools except as allowed by NCAA rules. In addition the school can not comment on potential recruits. That means of course that you won't be hearing anything about this from ISU. It also means that Fennelly and his staff can only contact her a certain number of times in careful compliance with the rules.

Does it mean anything else. You bet your A**. If you have EVER even paid for a ticket to attend a game at ISU the NCAA considers you to be an athletic representative of the University. Do you see a problem here? I sure do. Even the most inocent comments from fans to Goring saying it would be nice to see her as a Cyclone could be taken as a violation of NCAA recruiting rules. Do you think anyone could be watching this deal? I'm sure ISU's compliance officer is, and anyone with an axe to grind against ISU or Gillian Goring will be too. Call me parniod, but I think the way this plays out could easily make it impossible for Goring to play at ISU.

My "worth what you paid for it" advice is that fans don't contact her in any way including the hallway at Waterloo West and if you do be midwestern polite and talk about anything BUT where she might be thinking of going to college. I wouldn't even mention her wardrobe if you think she would look good in red & cream. Seriously I am somewhat concerned that inocent efforts to treat this kid decently will be made into something seen as ugly and unfair. If you are not paranoid enough just think of all those dour Hawkeye fans up there. (I lived in Iowa during the time that Rafe LaFrentz played for KU. Don't tell me Hawk fans can take seeing a star player going to another school with grace.)

[DblT81]

When Duke played Texas Tech in the first game of the year, Duke was pursuing a committment from a top recruit (can't remember which one). That recruit was at the game. Duke fans made it a priority to make sure she knew they wanted her. They made signs with her name on them that were held up during the game. At least one Duke fan, I believe maybe a student, posted a message on the ESPN board saying he/she talked to the recruit after the game. There may have been other fans also talk to the recruit. Since recruits do attend games on official visits, I would guess there are many opportunities for fans to talk to recruits.

There are some very fine lines that separate what is a violation and what is not. I suspect many minor violations are overlooked because the NCAA has enough problems with finding and punishing the major violations. Duke can probably get away with all the minor violations it wants.

[KSUron]

You are right about interpretations. A few years back Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne, assisted a football player who's car had broken down. He was on his way back to shool. The only reason it was not a violation is because the kid had turned down Nebraska and acceptected a schoolarship with a school in the southwest. The kid called Osborne because he had kept his phone number. Coach Osborne could not have assisted one of his own players.

I expect as WBB grows in fan support and financial importance we will come under more attention from the NCAA rules police.

[swok34]

yah.......Minnesota is in jeopardy of having their women's BB program shut down for 2 years because Littlejohn gave the "players" money. Sadly, that would penalize the current coach who replaced Littlejohn and the players who have stayed on at Minnesota..

Texas Tech fans,,,,,I know there was a "fight" for Cisti Greenwalt from the New Mexico fans, did they run an ad in a newspaper???....

[This message has been edited by swok34 (edited 01-20-2002).]

[RaiderPower1]

I wouldn't doubt it...but Cisti just wanted to go to the better basketball program. Heck...Lubbock is even closer than Albuquerque is to her hometown of Clovis.

[two cents]

Originally posted by DblT81:
When Duke played Texas Tech in the first game of the year, Duke was pursuing a committment from a top recruit (can't remember which one).

Seimone Augustus, I believe.

[cyfanatic]

Welle will be missed, no question about it. If indeed Nina Smith doesn't cut it academically, we are in for a world of hurt next year. Kreiner is still getting her feet wet, so to speak, and Bremer is...inconsistent. I am sure it is going to take a lot of re-thinking next year. It would be great to see FOUR consistent players next year, as opposed to the three we have this year. I have no idea how Mary Cofield made the team.

[mred]

Originally posted by cyfanatic:
I have no idea how Mary Cofield made the team.

Were you at the UNI game? Mary Cofield is a great jump-shooter suffering a huge crisis of faith in her own shot. I thought she'd be a great player, and at the UNI game she showed exactly what she can do. If only she'd have a game like that on a consistent basis.

[This message has been edited by mred (edited 01-23-2002).]

[cycofan]

Mary Cofield had a great game at UNI, but one game isn't enough. Pretty tough to win when you are playing 3 on 5, which is what ISU is doing most time. Every opponent knows that you really only have to guard three of them. Tracey Gahan, God love her, the girl probably carries the equipment bags to the bus, too, but on any other team she is a role player. At ISU she is a leading scorer.

Definitely some issues, but lots of bright spots, too. Tracey Paustian has a big upside if she can learn to look to score.

As ISU fans, we have gotten spoiled. The fact is that Fennelly makes GREAT teams out of good players. We can't win 26 games every year....but it's fun to hope!

Keep the faith, State fans! http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

[mred]

Originally posted by cycofan:
Mary Cofield had a great game at UNI, but one game isn't enough. Pretty tough to win when you are playing 3 on 5, which is what ISU is doing most time. Every opponent knows that you really only have to guard three of them. Tracey Gahan, God love her, the girl probably carries the equipment bags to the bus, too, but on any other team she is a role player. At ISU she is a leading scorer.

I agree that one game isn't enough, but I think that Cofield has the potential to be great. Unfortunately, we only have a season and a half left with her, and I don't know how quickly she'll develop.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say Gahan would be a role player. She would start for pretty much any team in the nation (perhaps not UConn or Tennessee). If she were on a team not playing 5-on-3 like ISU, she might even do better because she'd see more open looks. She's a great defender (leading the team in steals) and isn't fazed by playing over 35 minutes per game. Tracy has always been my favorite Cyclone so I feel a need to defend her. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

Tracy Paustian is showing a lot of promise, but she isn't enough of an offensive threat yet. Paustian and Mary Fox are great one-on-one defenders, and I hope that ability allows Coach F to start using some man-to-man defense in the next few seasons. Melanie Bremer is not afraid to shoot in the clutch and has great games, but she can be really inconsistent. That description sounds just like Desiree Francis in her junior year, and remember how her senior year turned out. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif Bremer is no Francis, but she'll be a huge asset if she can be more consistent.

Next season will be really interesting, and I mean that in every possible sense. I have high hopes, but I always have high hopes. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/smile.gif

Go http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/isu.gif!

[cycofan]

No offense meant to Tracy Gahan....she is very impressive. She does anything the team needs her to do. I'd take five people with her heart and attitude on my team any day! Perhaps role player was a poor choice of words on my part. If she could focus on ONE role, I think she might be more of a threat.

[two cents]

As a Tech fan, I have to admit being envious of Iowa State for having Gahan on their team the last few years. She's just the kind of player I love to see on the Raiders squad. After reading mred's story of her recruitment, I wished Tech had a swim team. http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/wink.gif How did all the Texas schools let a player as heady and gutsy as her sneak out of state? I can't dispute that she is a role player, in a sense, but she is the kind of role player that wins games. Like Amber Tarr, Tracy does things that are hard to notice but which change the dynamics of the game when she is on the court. Also like Amber, she has changed and developed her game to improve the team's performance. Selfless players always earn my admiration.

[mred]

Don't feel too bad about letting Gahan go out of state. Both her parents went to ISU along with both of her brothers: older brother Jeff (the all-american swimmer) and younger brother Brian, who started out on the swim team but is now a walk-on for the MBB team because the men's swim team was cut. With a family like this, it's no wonder she went to ISU.

I'm sure other Texas schools gave a good look at her. She was 4A player of the year and honorable mention all-american as a senior. I know TCU recruited her; ISU assistant Kelly Kebe was an assistant for TCU at the time and Fennelly first met her while both were recruiting Gahan.

[two cents]

Ah...okay, there was already a lot Iowa State loyalty there. Well I feel a little better then. Of course, there are always plenty of good players from Texas that leave the state, as well as players who are recruited into one of the many colleges from out of state. It just bugged me until I read your last post for the simple reason that Tracy is exactly the type of player I love to see on the floor, and Tech built its program with players cut from that mould.

[BenEClone]

One parting comment on Cofield. It was my impression that she came with Coach Robin Pingeton from St. Ambrose where she was a Kodak hm all american as a soph. From her being on the floor, we can conclude that she works hard in practice, does what she's told and BF thinks she has the potential to contribute. Her starts and pt have diminished as the season continues, but, she keeps getting chances. Trust that faith will be rewarded.

[mred]

Cofield had a pretty good game against Colorado. She hit 3-6 threes for 9 points and 3 rebound in 19 minutes.

[dem]

Coach Fennelly on Cofield (quoted in Ames Tribune):

"I think she's somebody in the long run who's going to dramatically impact our team because she has experience. One of the easiest kids to coach I've ever had to deal with. Here's a kid that started a lot and all of a sudden there's a game she plays one minute, three minutes. You couldn't tell the difference. Next day at practice same thing."

[cyfanatic]

I was at the UNI game (a UNI team that was compared to a high school team)...and Cofield did definitely have her best game that night. However, as mentioned above, Cofield is anything but consistent. In fact, the UNI game was pretty much her only fair game. Believe me, I want to have faith in her, but she is either busy turning over the ball or missing shots. I don't care how "coachable" she seems, it doesn't seem to be working, evidenced by the fact she hasn't been starting. I say give the spot to Bremer or Kreiner who at least can hit an occasional shot.

[dem]

Keep in mind that UNI beat Drake in Des Moines, so I certainly wouldn't compare them to a high school team.