maly, too: If I'm Georges Niang, I Need To Do Plenty Of Research So I Can Find Out Where I Might Be Picked In the June 25 NBA Draft. Then I'll Have To Decide Whether I Should Come Back for My Senior Season At Iowa State

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

If I'm Georges Niang, I Need To Do Plenty Of Research So I Can Find Out Where I Might Be Picked In the June 25 NBA Draft. Then I'll Have To Decide Whether I Should Come Back for My Senior Season At Iowa State

By RON MALY

I'm pretending to be Georges Niang today.

I'm a 6-foot 8-inch Iowa State basketball player, and people say I'm one of the best collegiate forwards in the nation.

Georges Niang

I've already played three seasons for the Cyclones, and I've really enjoyed myself in Hilton Coliseum, other basketball arenas around the country, and on the Iowa State campus.

I play in the Big 12 Conference, which--at least until the NCAA tournament began--was regarded as the best collegiate league in America.

I'm a very friendly guy, and people like me.

Reporters enjoy interviewing me, and I do the best I can to give them intelligent answers.

Like my teammates, I love playing at Hilton Coliseum, which historically has been one of the best arenas in the nation.

I enjoy the "Hilton Magic" atmosphere in our building as much as anyone. I think it helps me play better.

I've already had a very good career at Iowa State, if I say so myself.

I led our team in scoring with a 15.3-point average in my junior season, and my 184 rebounds ranked below only Jameel McKay's 190.

People expect me to play for Iowa State next season, but I know I have a decision to make--and I hope our fans know it, too.

Like most other collegiate basketball players, my goal has always been to play in the National Basketball Association.

Some talented players pass up their senior seasons, and make themselves eligible for the NBA draft.

I plan to do plenty of research on that matter.

I owe that to myself.

I plan to check with Fred Hoiberg, my Iowa State coach, and others about where I might be drafted.

A lot of our games are televised by ESPN, and I've heard that the TV analysts give me rave reviews all the time.

I know they say I can pretty much do it all--score, rebound and play defense.

They like it that I'm just as dangerous with the jump shot as I am under the basket.

I guess that's call versatility.

People say I have a high basketball IQ, which is something that doesn't hurt any player when it comes to the NBA draft and the professional career that follows.

But I'm not perfect.

I've heard it said by a few know-it-alls, like at Draft Express, that I'm not the fastest player in America, that I don't play well above the rim, and that maybe my rebounding ability needs to improve if I want to be a success in the NBA.

I can't do much about the speed except to not put on any weight. I lost 25 pounds after the 2013-2014 season, and I thought playing at 230 this season helped.

But becoming more of a rebounding force, and playing better above the rim is something I maybe can improve.

One reason I came to Iowa State was because I knew Coach Hoiberg was a standout player here, and also did well in the NBA.

I know he'll help me make the big decisions that are facing me.

Our season ended earlier than all of us wanted it to end. We finished with a 25-9 record, but lost our opening NCAA tournament game to UAB, 60-59.

I didn't play particularly well against UAB. I launched 15 shots, but made only four of them, and scored just 11 points. I had seven rebounds.

That shows you that I can have off-games. But that occasionally happens to all players at this level.

I feel badly that we lost so early in the tournament, and it's tough watching the Big Dance move along without us in it.

All of us thought we'd still be playing.

Anyway, I'll be doing my research to see if it would be a smart thing for me to make myself eligible for the NBA draft.

Some people think I'd be picked somewhere between high in the second round to the middle of the second round.

If that's the case, I'd probably decide to come back to Iowa State for my senior season.

Top guys at our level of competition are always gunning to be first-round selections.

That's where the money is.

Do the draft experts think I can become a first-round pick in the future?

I plan to find out.

The draft is June 25.

Stay tuned.

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.