Brackins stops the bleeding at Iowa State

Finally, some good news involving a men's basketball program at a state university that isn't named Northern Iowa.

Craig Brackins, all 20.2 points and 9.5 rebounds a game of him, is staying at Iowa State for another season.

Finally, a piece of good news after what has felt like a non-stop, three-year downpour of depressing items involving the Cyclones.

Guard Mike Taylor and his 16 points per game were kicked off the ISU team by Coach Greg McDermott in July 2007 after Taylor was arrested twice in Ames in the spring of that year.

Taylor went to the NBA D-League, and then was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers, where he averaged 5.7 points in 51 games as a rookie this year. Fine player, dumb off-court behavior, bad deal for Iowa State.

He was one of just two players on NBA rosters this season who were from Iowa State. The other was Jamaal Tinsley, who was kept away from the Indiana Pacers all season even though the Pacers are still paying him.

"Later on this summer, we'll probably go into arbitration," Pacers president Larry Bird said. "Whether we win or lose, it's going to be the same as it is now -- we're going forward without Jamaal.  Hopefully, we can trade him before it comes up, but we'll see what happens."

Last year, Wesley Johnson left the program for reasons that still haven't been adequately explained. It sure wasn't McDermott's idea.

But Johnson, who averaged 12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds for the Cyclones as a sophomore, ended up at Syracuse.

Fine player, punch to the stomach for Iowa State.

For the last several weeks, the prospect of Brackins leaving to try the NBA has haunted Clonedom. But Brackins was smart, knowing one more big season in college should shoot him up next year's draft ladder.

Curtis Stinson, who left ISU with a season remaining rather than play for McDermott's first Cyclones squad, just finished an entire season with the D-League's Iowa Energy.

Thank goodness. The Cyclones are just 14-34 in the Big 12 in McDermott's three seasons. With a Brackins departure, "Hilton Magic" would have been as foreign a concept in Ames as "beachfront property."

The timing couldn't be better for McDermott to catch a break. He has veteran guards in Diante Garrett and Lucca Staiger, though they need to improve at getting pressure off of Brackins.

He has junior college transfers for frontline help in center LaRon Dendy and forward Marquis Gilstrap. He has a promising freshman point guard in Chris Colvin of Chicago.

But it would have been a pretty gloomy picture for next year and even beyond had Brackins skipped away.

The Cyclones may not be ready to challenge for a Big 12 title, but they have every reason to think they can be taken seriously in their league. Brackins, who scored 42 points in a game against Kansas, alone makes the team worth watching.

The fact Brackins said yes to ISU Friday in a press conference was a spirit-lifter to everyone who likes Cyclone sports.

And with prep phenom Harrison Barnes uncommitted to a college choice entering his senior year at Ames High, it sure doesn't hurt McDermott to have a big-time player stand up and say he wants to stay at Iowa State for another year.

Who knows what it will take for McDermott to keep Barnes from the clutches of the likes of Duke, Kentucky and UCLA, but another rotten season certainly isn't the ticket.

Draftexpress.com, a Web site that takes this NBA draft stuff very seriously, analyzed 24 power forwards who appared headed for the '09 draft, and said the following about Brackins before his announcement to stay in school:

Guard play is hugely important to the efficiency of many of the prospects at the power forward position.

Craig Brackins is getting plenty of love these days from various NBA decision makers, but he was obviously not a very efficient player at the collegiate level, as his situational stats indicate. Brackins indeed ranks dead last in overall efficiency (44.3%) of the 24 PFs, which tells us a little bit about his shortcomings, but also quite a bit about how he was utilized at Iowa State.

Brackins ranks last in possessions finished around the basket (which does not include post-ups)-indicating the problems Iowa State's guards in creating easy looks for him around the rim. He shot quite a few jumpers, with mixed results (making just 32%), many of which he had to generate on his own in tough off the dribble situations. He saw a considerable amount of time grinding with his back to the basket in the post-over 10 possessions per game, second amongst all PFs to just

Luke Harangody-and only saw moderate success there as well (45% FG).

Iowa State rarely got out in transition from what we could see (Brackins ranks last in that category), and Brackins rarely saw the ball as a pick and roll finisher or moving off cuts to the rim either, which helps explain his lack of efficiency compared with the Jeff Pendergraphs and Patrick Pattersons

of the world.

These are all things Brackins will probably think about when he makes the final decision to return to school or not next year. With that said, Brackins' excellent skill level still does jump off the page when you see how favorably he ranks in his ability to operate out of isolation sets (being the second most prolific PF in this category, while converting on 49% of his attempts), as well as his ability to make pull-up jumpers (he ranks 3rd).

Cyclone fans shouldn't take any of the above as insults. Be glad Brackins still has things to work on before truly being NBA-ready, and be glad he'll be working on them later this year wearing your colors.