New coach

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Localfan

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MadBird said:
Although I tend to agree with you - hiring a 3 time national champ, 4 time national coach of the year, 9 conference titles in 12 seasons - there's something there to sell. Let's say we aren't in the mix for Powell, or Prohm or someone like that. Is McCollum an easier sell than, say, Oliver? or one of the Utah "connection" guys? A "faceless" assistant just like the last guy? I think you could take McCollum and say, hey folks, here's a champion, a guy who knows how to win, young guy on the way up. Excitement, already has coaching experience, etc. etc.

I don't know, but I look at his record and say, who knows? I could get behind it.
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For what its worth, This is what I have been saying all along. Go get the man
 
T

The Beak

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Birgs said:
A D-II lifer. A directional Missouri school.

My goodness, this is what we've become.

It almost has to be Powell @ this point.
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I'm not saying McCollum is the guy, but our women's team has seen marked improvement since Gillespie was hired away from D-2 Lewis U.

And McCollum's teams didn't just win, they dominated. Pretty impressive.
 
R

Redbird28

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According to Synergy Sports Technology, the Bearcats average 1.124 points per possession, the most in all levels of NCAA hoops. That includes unbeaten Gonzaga in Division I. (Mar 26, 2021)

325-83 career record. 31 of his 83 losses were in his first two seasons while he was trying to get the program turned around. Current team is 25-5 (18-4 in conference).

Listening to the podcast that was posted earlier and he seems like the real deal.

I think the million dollar question is - How well can he recruit?

I like his philosophy though and would be intrigued to see what he could do on a bigger stage.

So, if he can convince Brennan that he can recruit, the question then becomes whether ISU wants to hire a name but unproven bench guy like a Roger Powell or do they want to hire a non-name coach that has proven he can win at the level he resides at currently?
 
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jwa123

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From what I’ve read here, McCollum appears extremely solid. My only possible reservation is recruiting. His entire background is a far corner of Missouri.

What we don’t know is can he establish relationships with Illinois high school coaches? Would most of the players come from western Missouri or Kansas? Not that I am against good players regardless of origination. After a decade of running off to Georgia and Florida to recruit I’d prefer getting players from Illinois and surrounding midwest states. Call me old fashioned and out of touch but there was something special about those Smithson and Donewald teams that followed that prescription. This is Illinois State; why not players from Illinois?
 
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Manchester Matt

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jwa123 said:
From what I’ve read here, McCollum appears extremely solid. My only possible reservation is recruiting. His entire background is a far corner of Missouri.

What we don’t know is can he establish relationships with Illinois high school coaches? Would most of the players come from western Missouri or Kansas? Not that I am against good players regardless of origination. After a decade of running off to Georgia and Florida to recruit I’d prefer getting players from Illinois and surrounding midwest states. Call me old fashioned and out of touch but there was something special about those Smithson and Donewald teams that followed that prescription. This is Illinois State; why not players from Illinois?
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NMSU has as many Chicago area players (Brother Rice, Geneva) as ISU does.
 
isuquinndog

isuquinndog

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Recruiting has changed so much since 1995. You don't have to go somewhere to see kids any more, which is why you usually recruited near home. With social media, YouTube, living streaming video of most games you can recruit the entire world from you office or living room. Go get the best players you can from wherever. I personally don't care where they are from.
 
R

Redbird Alum 2004

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jwa123 said:
From what I’ve read here, McCollum appears extremely solid. My only possible reservation is recruiting. His entire background is a far corner of Missouri.

What we don’t know is can he establish relationships with Illinois high school coaches? Would most of the players come from western Missouri or Kansas? Not that I am against good players regardless of origination. After a decade of running off to Georgia and Florida to recruit I’d prefer getting players from Illinois and surrounding midwest states. Call me old fashioned and out of touch but there was something special about those Smithson and Donewald teams that followed that prescription. This is Illinois State; why not players from Illinois?
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Johnson could stay on and recruit.
 
Y

Yogi

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If he can recruit kids to that school in the middle of nowhere MO he can recruit players to Normal
 
jamminjamarsmiley

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Listened to a podcast with Jeff Goodman and he mentioned Gates as a leading candidate for Georgetown if they can Ewing. Don’t see him considering ISU
 
A

Adunk33

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jamminjamarsmiley said:
Listened to a podcast with Jeff Goodman and he mentioned Gates as a leading candidate for Georgetown if they can Ewing. Don’t see him considering ISU
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I know it could be all optics but Georgetown recently publicly stated they are all in with Ewing. Based on those comments, I'm not sure a change will be made this year. Maybe they give him one more to right the ship. If Muller's buy-out was that coach friendly, I've gotta think Ewing's is quadruple.
 
M

MadBird

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jwa123 said:
From what I’ve read here, McCollum appears extremely solid. My only possible reservation is recruiting. His entire background is a far corner of Missouri.

What we don’t know is can he establish relationships with Illinois high school coaches? Would most of the players come from western Missouri or Kansas? Not that I am against good players regardless of origination. After a decade of running off to Georgia and Florida to recruit I’d prefer getting players from Illinois and surrounding midwest states. Call me old fashioned and out of touch but there was something special about those Smithson and Donewald teams that followed that prescription. This is Illinois State; why not players from Illinois?
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Like Manchester Matt, I looked at McCollum's roster and saw he has a couple Chicago area kids this year. Also in past years has had a Minneapolis area kid or two. Lots of kids from Iowa and Missouri (including KC area, which is a rich recruiting area). You know, like those kids from UNI and MSU who give us fits!! Get himself an assistant with some local ties and he'd be off to the races.

Totally agree with you 123, I've posted before, we don't have to be 100% Illinois kids to my liking, but sure would like to see the team at least reflect the ISU student body - fair number of midwest kids with some "outsiders" to add to it. Can't convince me there aren't 2-3 kids per year in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin who'd make it at ISU.

We're prolly playing up this McCollum thing too much, chances are he won't get hired here, but fun to speculate on someone concrete. Good article about him here, he's on some radar screens:

www.midmajormadness.com/2021/5/20/22408100/ben-mccollum-rumor-northwest-missouri-state-coach-ncaa-tournament-candidate-division-i-basketball

Warren, who wrote an excellent piece breaking down Northwest’s brutally-effective offense in 2019, compares McCollum’s unpredictable ball screen system to abstract art or free jazz. And he thinks a form of that could translate to Division I.

“The key would be attempting to find both a fabulous ball-handling guard and an excellent three-level shooting small-ish center,” Warren said. “He’s clearly got a type he likes to mine, and I’d be fascinated to see if he could find the right balance of shooting and athleticism at a higher level.
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A

Adunk33

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MadBird said:
Like Manchester Matt, I looked at McCollum's roster and saw he has a couple Chicago area kids this year. Also in past years has had a Minneapolis area kid or two. Lots of kids from Iowa and Missouri (including KC area, which is a rich recruiting area). You know, like those kids from UNI and MSU who give us fits!! Get himself an assistant with some local ties and he'd be off to the races.

Totally agree with you 123, I've posted before, we don't have to be 100% Illinois kids to my liking, but sure would like to see the team at least reflect the ISU student body - fair number of midwest kids with some "outsiders" to add to it. Can't convince me there aren't 2-3 kids per year in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin who'd make it at ISU.

We're prolly playing up this McCollum thing too much, chances are he won't get hired here, but fun to speculate on someone concrete. Good article about him here, he's on some radar screens:

www.midmajormadness.com/2021/5/20/22408100/ben-mccollum-rumor-northwest-missouri-state-coach-ncaa-tournament-candidate-division-i-basketball
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His offense doesn't include a traditional 5? A lot of folks on here would hate that.
 
M

MadBird

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Adunk33 said:
His offense doesn't include a traditional 5? A lot of folks on here would hate that.
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I would hate that! But let's see what happens if it happens. He may be able to draw a bigger guy to DI if he tried.

By the way, for those interested, Creighton's leading scorer this season, Ryan Hawkins, is a grad transfer from Northwest Missouri, and he's fun to watch. Very, very smart player. He may be the kind of 5 they're talking about, 6'7, 225. He put up 25 and 11 vs DePaul a couple weeks ago, I watched some of that one. DePaul could not figger him out.
 
C

cubird

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Ironic that his offense is that good since he is considered more as a defensive coach.
 
TBS_20

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McCullough has won 3 d2 titles. I dont care that's good. Id be okay with that. He can coach the question is can he recruit? Especially, the chicago area coming from around Kansas City? Worth noting he has two kids from the Chicago area on his roster currently.
 
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