Norm Peterson

I kinda look at it this way: You have guys who are holdovers who probably will ride the pine with this new coaching staff. You can replace them with unknown quantities. Worst case scenario, you replace them with guys who ride the pine and you're no worse off than you would have been anyway. However, you could replace them with someone who turns out to be really darn good. There's very little risk in this case of looking at what's behind Door #3.

Sumbitch. How'd we get cut from the list? I wanted us to get this kid.

This is a guy I mentioned yesterday. Rivals has him top 35ish. Should we make sure there's room in the event he and a number of other top recruits in the 2020 class want to commit? Or should we keep someone who shot less than 30% from the stripe? I vote we make sure we have room.

It's hard to not name names and level specific criticisms when you're having this kind of discussion. I get the feeling some people look at the holdover players as birds in the hand. Maybe they're worried we won't have enough players to field a team in the next two seasons if all of Miles' players leave. Maybe they're used to recruiting expectations under a coach who, IMO, was hamstrung by the former AD with contract issues and job security question marks. But the last couple of recruiting classes were a step down from what we'd seen before. I think the new coaches should fairly comfortably be able to find players that suit their system better than a number of the guys they inherited. I don't think they'll have any compunction about moving guys on in order to make room for the type of players they want to go after. Nor should they have any such compunction. I expect recruiting will improve. I expect there will be further roster turnover. I think in the long run, we'll be better for it.

Listen, if this coaching staff cannot, in relatively short order, go out and find and then obtain commitments from players who would be immediate upgrades over Amir and Thor (and you can throw Nana in there, although he's already gone), then we've all been sold a bill of goods.

Karrington Davis HS Highlights.

True.

Let's start with October, because that's when we first saw Amir at PBA for that open scrimmage. I saw him then; I saw him in warmups in March. His jumper looked just as shitty in March as it did in October. His freethrow stroke is a disaster. They say FT% is a predictor of developing 3-pt% in the pros. Well ... Amir is under 30%. At free throws. Here are numbers from another 6-6 kid. One who is visiting soon. SEASON TEAM 2017-18 DUQ 2018-19 DUQ GP GS MPG FG FG% 3PT 3P% FT FT% OR DR REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 32 31 33.7 4.6-11.7 39.2 2.1-5.8 36.4 3.0-4.1 74.0 2.1 6.6 8.8 1.6 0.3 1.3 2.3 2.1 14.3 32 28 30.8 4.7-11.1 42.4 1.8-4.7 37.1 2.8-3.7 74.8 2.9 4.7 7.6 1.4 0.2 1.1 1.9 1.7 14.0

Sure. Did you see Amir make any progress from November to March?

What I've seen of Arop gives me some degree of optimism that he could actually develop a jumper. Amir would have to basically start all over from scratch. He needed to start doing it when he arrived on campus. I don't see any evidence that it actually happened.

I would be more surprised if Amir IS around for 4 years than if he ISN'T. I've gone back and watched some archived ISU games while Hoiberg was there. Someone else posted stats on it. You didn't play for him if you couldn't shoot the ball. This is not an offense that likes the 3 but loves the rim; this is an offense that loves the 3. Loves it. Like find yourself someone who looks at you the way Fred Hoiberg looks at the three. Amir don't got no three. With hard work and perseverance, he could maybe develop one in a couple of years, but there are other guys around who have it now. So ...

Good luck, Nana. Hope you land somewhere that feels like home.

I cannot upvote this enough. I've said it before but let me say it again: We are not spending $4million a year on coaching salaries and bringing in top notch recruiters in the hopes that guys already on the roster with significant holes in their games will develop enough to be serviceable down the road while passing on players who have a better chance of fitting this system and helping us win. Now.

It is. Bucket seats. Sport wheels. Windshield wipers that automatically turn on when it starts to rain. Heated seats. Power sun roof. The works. It's beautiful.

OK, now Nana is apparently transferring. So, now we have room for the Duquesne transfer and two more 2020 freshman OR the Duquesne transfer, the PF from UNLV and ONE more 2020 freshman. Would you rather have Nate Tabor or Thor Thorbjarnarson? Go ahead and pick.

You have to keep this in perspective. When Hoiberg started at ISU, he inherited a roster from Greg McSpermott, who didn't have one of his kids on the team at that point.

Technically, that's not official. It has to come from Rosenthal to be official.

Was committed to St. Johns. HS Class of 2020. Would sign this fall and be a freshman next season (20-21). OK, so we already have Donovan Williams committed from that 2020 class. Rumor has it that Hoiberg is good friends with 5-star PG Jalen Suggs' dad. Also from that class. There was discussion on the Iowa board that we would be getting a visit from 5-star center Xavier Foster. Also from that class. I have seen references to us having interest in the #35 player, Dawson Garcia from Minnesota, also in that 2020 class. And there's Ben Carlson, the #84 player, also in the 2020 class. Guys we sign this year who have to sit a year as transfers would become eligible for 2020. There are half a dozen at least of those players that we're looking at. There are six players on the current roster who are underclassmen who, if they stayed, would take roster spots that would otherwise be available to use for 2020 players. Additionally, there are two re-committed recruits who also would take up roster spots that could otherwise go to 2020 players. That's 8 out of 13 roster spots for the 20-21 season. We still have holes to fill on the 2019-2020 roster. Any non-grad-transfer player we bring in at this point represents one fewer player to offer for the 2020 class. Bring in Cam Mack? Now, we're down to 4 spots to spread among 2020 freshmen and sit-a-year transfers coming in this spring. Donovan Williams represents one of those 4 spots. Now we're down to 3. Keep De-Andre Davis? Ok we're down to 2. Bring in the transfer from Duquesne? That would leave one spot for either a 2020 freshman OR a sit-a-year transfer. Please someone explain to me the value of keeping guys who are marginal talents from a prior administration?

Don't be so hesitant when you have specifically targeted and hired assistant coaches who can recruit, and a head coach who not only isn't on the hot seat but who has some NBA cred to bring along with him. I think it would be beyond foolish to think that this staff wouldn't be able to upgrade the talent in a relatively short window of time. And if they can do so, it would be relatively even more foolish to hang onto players who require some degree of improvement to an important skill beyond the normal development that you'd generally expect to see. Bottom line: The new staff isn't going to keep holdover players unless they think they'll be better players than other players they'd be likely to find doing their own recruiting.

I go back to the game show "Let's Make a Deal" and do I stick with what I have or do I go with whatever is behind Door #3? When it came to talking coaching changes, I was absolutely against rinse and repeat of the "bring the next rising mid-major coach aboard" philosophy that hadn't worked all that well in the past. I'd rather keep Miles than take whatever mid-major up-and-comer was behind Door #3. That equation all changes when you have a better sense of what you're getting. Would you rather have this nice Rav4, or what's behind Door #3? Before you answer, let me show you that there's a new Lexus crossover SUV behind Door #3. Now tell me which one you choose. Different scenario, right? With players, do you want to try to work and develop a guy that was brought in by a previous administration whose recruiting efforts were (IMO) hamstrung by the prior AD's decision not to extend him? Or do you want what's behind Door #3, knowing that the guys who are putting players behind Door #3 are widely considered some of the best recruiters in the country, recruiting to a system where the coach is not on the hot seat? In that situation, I'm inclined to take whatever's behind Door #3 and roll the dice that those guys are going to be better players.

I like Brady. I think he'll have an improved 3-point shot going into next season. He has a lot of work to do but he has a lot to work with as well. I'm not so confident that Amir will ever have a good jump shot. His mechanics are such a dumpster fire at this point that it'll take completely breaking them down and starting over. Yes, he has length and athleticism. You know what? So does this Duquesne transfer we're looking at who also shoots the ball at 38% from long range.

If Miles was still the coach, I would not be advocating cutting dead wood. He recruited Nick Fuller; he stuck with Nick until Nick decided to go somewhere else to play his senior year. You never heard me advocating processing Nick and moving him on to bring in a better player. However, these are not the new coach's recruits. Last year's freshmen would tie up a roster spot for Hoiberg's first 3 seasons. A sophomore would tie up that spot for 2. I strongly assume they will be able to find players out there who are a better fit for this new system than some of the players currently on board. We are not spending $4 million in coaching salaries to saddle the guy with the last coach's players. I do not get this notion that, hey, so-and-so could develop a jumper maybe, so let's see what he does. I know there are plenty of potential recruits out there who already have a jumper. If we cannot land enough of them to fill out a roster, and there's still room for guys on this team who don't necessarily fit the system, I don't see any reason to hurry and part ways. But if we can find more suitable players, I think we should try.

He could learn a lot as a student manager. Thor is a career 21% 3-point shooter. He was a reach offer when we made it. He's a nice kid and a good teammate. His skillset does not translate very well to the new coach's system. That happens sometimes with coaching changes. Just ask Joe Daley. Or Patrick O'Brien. Not bashing Thor, but a guard in this system needs a jumper and Thor doesn't have one. Same thing would be true for Amir if I'm being totally honest.

Nice thing about grad transfers is they are gone after this year. We have two 2020 commits. There are actually a few additional 2020 names we're being mentioned in connection with who are top 50 to top 75 players. Replacing guys who are clearly not long-term fits with grad transfers who will be gone after next season would open up some room for the opportunity to try to land a couple of those 2020 4-stars.

I believe Mack has 3 years to play. Could be wrong.