Now initially, the thought of Iowa State losing out to schools such as Idaho and Creighton when it comes to landing big-time basketball recruits doesn’t sound good.

OK, let’s not sugarcoat this: It sounds bad.

But don’t worry, Cyclone Nation, everything is going to be fine, and the recruiting class of 2007 will still be one to remember in the Greg McDermott era.

In my last column, I told you about the trio of recruits – Craig Brackins, Andre McFarland and Kenton Walker – who were taking official visits the weekend of the ISU-UNI football game.

All three visits occurred, and from what I’ve been able to gather, they went really well. Unfortunately for Iowa State, Walker, a 6-foot-9-inch power forward, committed to Creighton, while McFarland, a 6-foot-5 swingman, committed to Idaho last week.

That’s what went down; this might be why it went down.

When these athletes come on official visits, it’s common for the guys to get together with the current players to play pick-up ball.

That happened a couple weeks ago. Well, according to some sources I have close to the situation, ISU commit Craig Brackins looked unbelievable. One source told me he looked like an NBA player.

Unfortunately, I have a sneaky suspicion it was at Walker’s expense. Walker committed to Creighton the next Tuesday.

Now, here’s the skinny on McFarland.

“The atmosphere was amazing. People were out there chanting my name and that was really a trip,” McFarland told me the day after his visit. “Walking down the street I signed autographs and everything. It was so crazy. I never expect that on the trip.”

That sounds great, right? Well, yes, it’s great that McFarland would say those kind things about Iowa State, but the fact of the matter is his cousin is still an assistant coach at Idaho. Blood is thicker than water, and that cliche held true in this situation, as McFarland committed to Idaho on Sunday evening.

I really respect him for his decision. After talking to McFarland quite a bit over the last few months, academics are truly a top priority for him, something that a lot of college athletes should take with them.

So, if McFarland committed to Idaho, then so will Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, N.H.) prep school teammate P’Allen Stinnett, right? Wrong.

Here’s the latest update on the soap opera known as Iowa State’s recruitment of Stinnett. You might remember that Stinnett committed to former ISU men’s basketball coach Wayne Morgan last year but then withdrew from his commitment after Morgan was fired. Now, Iowa State is back in the mix, along with yes, you guessed it, the Idaho Vandals.

Well, that’s what we thought a week ago. Now, three other schools are jumping in the mix late in the game. Those schools are Creighton – who has offered – Tennessee and Seton Hall. Sources close to McFarland tell me that he wants to visit Seton Hall before his official visit to Iowa State on Oct. 15.

I’ll be honest with you. Stinnett is a bit of a loose cannon, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. He’s a loose cannon in an exciting way in the sense that you never know what he’s going to do next, but he’s an incredible prospect and a fun guy to talk to.

His game reminds me of Allen Iverson and I know ISU students would love watching this guy play for four years. Right now, landing Stinnett is up in the air, but my gut tells me if this kid from Vegas committed to Iowa State once, and after all he’s been through he’s still interested in the Cyclones, then he wants to come here. I think McDermott will snag him on Oct. 15.

Chris Williams is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Clarinda. He is the publisher of CycloneNation.com. You can also hear Williams on 1430 KASI from 10 a.m. to noon every Sunday. You can also watch him every week on Mediacom’s “Cy-Hawk Talk: State of the Nations” and Wednesday’s on the WHO TV 13 sportscasts.