Hlas: Those who dismiss Niang aren’t basketball-smart

AMES - At Iowa State men's basketball games in Hilton Coliseum, someone in the Cyclone Alley student section hoists a giant cardboard cutout of ISU forward Georges Niang.

It even has movable arms, and whomever it is who holds Cardboard Georges knows how to make those arms work. As tributes go to a player, it's pretty darn good and impossible to miss. It tells you Niang is appreciated around here.

Which he should have been yet again after his 19-point game in 16th-ranked Iowa State's 89-86 victory over No. 20 Texas Monday in Hilton. It was vintage Niang, with the junior forward hitting three 3-pointers and scoring with driving floaters that often looked easy though they were quite the opposite.

He also had back-to-back lobs to post player Jameel McKay for dunks late in the first half. Pretty plays, heady plays.

'You get the ball to Georges in the paint against a zone, he's usually going to make the right play,” said Cyclones Coach Fred Hoiberg.

It seems no one has a 100 percent approval rating in this life. Kentucky fans probably find things to pick apart.

Texas Coach Rick Barnes said that while he was having a pregame meal in an Ames restaurant, at least one or two Cyclone fans were less than gushing about Niang.

'They were killing him,” Barnes said shortly after his 19th-ranked team's furious second-half rally against No. 15 ISU narrowly fell short. 'I'm like, ‘Are you kidding me?' (The fans said) ‘We thought he was this, he's that.'

To which Barnes said a few hours later, 'He's arguably the hardest guy in this league to defend and maybe means as much to his team as anybody.”

Now, my guess is if you talk to 100 Cyclone fans, at least 98 will express love and respect for Niang. They'll surely always wonder how Iowa State would have fared in its Sweet 16 NCAA tourney game against Connecticut last March with Niang not sidelined with a broken foot.

In pregame warm-ups Monday, Barnes wandered over to Niang while the player was stretching on the court, and the two engaged in what looked like friendly conversation. What you find in sports is nobody is more respectful of good players and coaches than opposing players and coaches.

'I love (Niang),” Barnes said. 'I've been in this league a long time and he's one of my favorite guys. I just love his persona. I just love the way he plays the game. I like guys that are underdogs, guys that weren't highly recruited. They have an air about them.”

Iowa State and Iowa were the first two major programs to offer Niang a scholarship. He had taken unofficial visits to New Hampshire, Boston University, Siena, George Mason and Northeastern before making an Iowa State/Iowa swing in March 2011. Hoiberg and Fran McCaffery saw something that other coaches of major programs would see later.

'I'd love to have him on my team, I'll tell you that,” Barnes said.

Barnes has a Big 12 record of 169-80 over his 17 seasons at Texas. Among his many great former players are NBA All-Stars Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge. If Barnes says he'd love to have Niang, that's an opinion you can more easily accept than those of one or two uninformed fans.

Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com