Dark clouds finally lifted from McDermott's ISU program

The sun bathed Greg McDermott as he spoke with Iowa State fans last Thursday in Cedar Rapids. It was fitting.

McDermott had been riding in the bus that transported ISU's “Tailgate Tour” ensemble of coaches and administrators from Davenport to Cedar Rapids that afternoon when he got a happy phone call.

Starting guard Lucca Staiger of Germany called to say he was coming back for his junior season instead of playing pro ball in Europe.

Finally, as he enters his fourth season as the ISU coach, McDermott appears to be navigating through an off-season without significant unwanted roster changes.

Staiger's decision was a few weeks after All-Big 12 forward Craig Brackins announced he was returning for his junior season with the Cyclones instead of entering the NBA draft.

Iowa State's roster? Stable? It might be, it could be … It is!

“I feel like now we're at the point we should have been a year ago where you have some people that have been in the program multiple years,” McDermott said. “Because of that you have some built-in leadership that we haven't really had the luxury of having in any of my three years.”

Three lean years, as if ISU followers need reminding. There hasn't been a winning season in the bunch, and the Big 12 marks have been 6-10, 4-12, 4-12.

Was this coach who had taken Northern Iowa to three straight NCAA tourneys really equipped for the step up in competition? It was a question asked more and more frequently within the last year.

You don't win when you're in constant rebuilding mode. Two years ago, the team's point guard and leading scorer had a series of legal troubles. McDermott was left with no choice but to boot Mike Taylor, now an NBA player, off his squad.

Last year, burgeoning star forward Wesley Johnson abruptly left the program and blew a big hole in the ISU roster. Oh, how Johnson's presence could have opened things up for Brackins, and vice versa.

It looked like another spring of discontent in Cycloneland when Brackins entertained the thoughts of turning pro and a lot of projections said he'd be a first-rounder.

But Brackins did the smart thing and stayed, because he has a lot of area for improvement. In other words, he can move up that list quite a bit before the 2010 NBA draft.

“The NBA people that we talked to really felt like he needed to improve his body to be able to make that next step at the level of play we all hope he would be able to achieve when he enters the NBA,” McDermott said.

“It all starts with continuing to develop his strength and explosiveness. Defensively, he's got room for growth. His skill set is in facing the basket, both shooting and handling the ball. But there's room for improvement there as well.”

Brackins is back, starting guards Staiger and Diante Garrett are back. Freshman point guard Chris Colvin of Chicago is fresh off an Illinois high school state championship and is likely to be in the playing rotation as a freshman.

The added piece that could make this season particularly interesting is junior college transfer Marquis Gilstrap, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds last season at Gulf Coast (Fla.) Community College.

Gilstrap plays above the rim, as they say, but also hits a lot of 3-pointers.

“When we lost Wesley Johnson,” said McDermott, “we had to go find the best wing player we could. We thought Marquis was as talented a small forward as there was in the country.

“He led his league in scoring, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage. So he's a very versatile athlete. We really think he'll add a lot to our team on both ends of the court.”

The revolving door of players appears to have stopped. Talent is in place, via incumbents and new additions. A potential All-America power forward leads the way, because he wanted to come back.

That bright thing hanging over Cyclone men's basketball? It looks like it really is the sun.