With a full season behind him, men’s basketball coach Larry Eustachy now enters into one of the most critical phases of his young Iowa State coaching career.

After a turbulent first season that ended with a 15-15 record, a three- game improvement over the previous season, Eustachy must now replenish his roster through recruiting.

Recruits may now sign letters of intent to play basketball for colleges around the United States. Eustachy faces a momentous task in adding talent to a squad that has been depleted by player departures.

The emphasis this year is, surprisingly, on guard play and perimeter shooters.

Ineffective outside shooting has hurt the Cyclones since the departures of former bombers like Fred Hoiberg, Dedric Willoughby, Hurl Beechum and Julius Michalik.

Four players are expected to sign letters of intent with Iowa State, all of whom are guards. Three of the four are from the junior college ranks, a place that the Cyclones have gone to lately for much of their talent. The four recruits are:

• Thomas Watkins, a 6-1 guard from Mesa Community College in Arizona

• Richard Evans, a 6-6 swingman from Kilgore College in Texas

• Jamaal Tinsley, a 6-2 point guard from Mount San Jacinto Junior College in California

• Brandon Hawkins, a 6-3 shooting guard from St. Thomas More Prep School in Oakdale, Connecticut

Two other important players will debut for the Cyclones as well. Travis Spivey, a 6-3 sophomore point guard, enters the mix after sitting out as season following his transfer from Georgia Tech.

Kantrell Horton, a 6-2 guard from Middle Georgia Junior College, will also suit up for the Cyclones and has been heralded as a top-notch shooter.

Unfortunately, we’ve heard that line before with little success. In the past two years, ISU has recruited bunches of top-notch shooters/guards.

Last season it was Lamar Gregg, Rodney Hampton, Michael Lloyd and Michael Nurse.

Lloyd was gone from the team before the season began. Hampton was thrown off the team after the season ended, and Gregg decided to transfer.

Nurse is the only member of that group who will return for the Cyclones next year. Nurse was the leading three-point shooter for the Cyclones last year, making 47 of 103 shots. However, Nurse shot just 32.9 percent from the field on three point shots.

Second to Nurse on the team was Hampton, who made just 33 of 106 three pointers at a 31.1 percent clip.

Gregg played about 12 minutes a game in 24 games, making just one of three three-point baskets.

In 1997, the cure to the three- point drought was placed in the hands of freshmen recruits Paris Corner and Lee Love and junior college shooter Jerry Curry.

Curry could not live up to his hype as a premier three-point shooter in the junior college ranks, making 27 of 76 shots for 35.5 percent in just 15 games of action. Curry was gone before the start of the 1998-99 season.

Corner and Love are now former Cyclones who left ISU with undistinguished careers.

Corner played a total of 30 games in two years with the Cyclones, making a total of 15 out of 46 three-point shots in about 12 minutes a night.

Love played 31 games in two years, making 20 of 37 three-pointers in about 25 minutes of action per game.

The balance between an effective perimeter game and a strong inside game is hard to attain for most college teams. Those that do achieve the balance tend to be the most successful.

With the low post lineup of Marcus Fizer, Tony Rampton and a returning Paul Shirley, the Cyclones may have problems with more physical teams.

Will this year’s recruits solve the never-ending perimeter problem for the Cyclones? It’s too early to say.

Of course, when one of the Cyclones’ top outside shooters is 6-9 Martin Rancik and a top rebounder is 6-4 Stevie Johnson, any semblance of predictability is hard to account for.

This year’s recruits will have to live up to yet another ominous mass of expectations. Then again, things could always be worse. We could be the Chicago Bulls.

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Justin South is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Ankeny.