Big Man Recruiting - Prohm's luck will change

[brokenloginagain]

All of the hand wringing by our fans this year about our lack of size in the middle is probably no surprise to our coaching staff - they've pretty much pulled every lever they could in a short time frame - and unfortunately mostly (thus far) struck out. I bet with more time (and the law of averages) we get our luck to change.

best available high school big as soon as prohm became coach: carter - hasn't worked out
high school offers the following year(s): curry/feazell/stokes - didn't get them to sign
high school offers who signed: young - seems promising to me thus far
talented juco w baggage: malou - didn't work out
talented high school player with grades concerns: Lard - hasn't worked out (yet)
mid major iowa kid: ernst - didn't work out
grad transfer: holden - didn't work out
traditional transfer: kasongo - TBD

So going forward, who knows, maybe Young/Lard/Kasongo are an improvement. I bet we will get a talented big from high school/juco/transfer yet - it just hasn't worked out yet in the short time frame Prohm has had to work with thus far!

 

[nickcyv]

Seems like blind optimism. I'll give you this, it will get better because it can't get much worse.

They've already struck out this year on high school kids, as you alluded too.

 

[WastedTalent]

I don't follow recruiting very close, except watching the thread here on fanatic, but it looks to me like the staff is fully aware of the issue, and they're recruiting accordingly. There's been a couple recent offers to Juco forwards that are the high energy, rebounding type of players needed. We don't need a 7 foot plodding center, but rather an athletic forward, with length for defense, and the aggressiveness to go get a rebound.

I'm certain the staff wants to pull their hair out, more than us even, watching our undersized posts continually get beaten on defense, and on the boards.

 

[swarthmoreCY]

Is this satire? Damn, that is a lot of whiffs.

 

[Messi]

Breakdown of some of the big men that are currently at Iowa State or could eligibility wise. Only included players that signed LOI with ISU and that are taller than 6-8

 

[allfourcy]

The weird part is that Holberg's luck wasn't real good either. McKay didn't choose us, he chose Marquette. Yet we were fortunate to get him later as a transfer. Edozie was signed very late because we couldn't get anyone else that year and played limited minutes for two years. Darien Williams left with Matt. Niang played as a freshmen and obviously the rest of Holberg's tenure. Our Greece signee didn't see the floor. I think the Mayor owes as much to Niang as Niang does to him. Was Hogue taller than 6'6"? He was definitely a great find.

 

[WastedTalent]

The Holden miss is the one I'm sure this coaching staff really hates. At a time when all we needed was size, defense, and rebounding, and all we got was size.

Here's some guys that the staff was perusing, some were under Hoiberg. But as you can tell, not everyone is a savior. There's some guys on this list I would love to have on this team, and there's others that would be sitting next to Holden and Carter.

-Mike Thorne, Illinois: Charlotte transfer two years ago. Avg 6 & 4
-LG Gill, Maryland: Grad transfer last year. Avg 4 & 2.5
-Jeriah Horne, Nebraska: HS recruit last year. Avg 4 & 2
- Anthony Livingston, Texas Tech: Grad transfer last year. Avg 12 & 4
-Cheickna Dembele, UNLV: HS recruit last year. Avg 3 & 3
-Romelo White, AZ St: HS recruit last year. Academically ineligible
-Cole Huff, Creighton: Nevada transfer 3 years ago. Avg 9 & 4
-Chris Boucher, Oregon: Juco recruit 2 years ago. Avg 14 & 7
-Kossume Yakwe, St John's: HS recruit 2 years ago. Avg 4 & 3.5
-Marvin Clark, St John's: HS recruit 3 years ago, went to Michigan St. Avg 4 & 2
- Darien Williams, St John's: Juco recruit. Avg 3 & 2.5
-Leland King, Nevada: Brown transfer 2 years ago. Avg 3.5 & 3

-Devin Davis, Houston: Indiana/Juco transfer. Avg 14 & 6
-Christian Jones, UNLV: St. John's Grad transfer. Avg 10.5 & 6.5
-Thik Bol, Southern Illinois: Juco teammate of Donovan Jackson. Avg 9 & 7.5
-Kostas Antetokounmpo, Dayton: HS recruit last year. Sitting out this season, academic redshirt
-Arlando Cook, Arkansas: Juco recruit last year. Avg 3.5 & 2

 

[acgclone]

I don't follow recruiting very close, except watching the thread here on fanatic, but it looks to me like the staff is fully aware of the issue, and they're recruiting accordingly. There's been a couple recent offers to Juco forwards that are the high energy, rebounding type of players needed. We don't need a 7 foot plodding center, but rather an athletic forward, with length for defense, and the aggressiveness to go get a rebound.

I'm certain the staff wants to pull their hair out, more than us even, watching our undersized posts continually get beaten on defense, and on the boards.

I feel like the "plodder" thing is overplayed and a convenient excuse for our failures in recruiting big men.

People now assume that because we ran circles around Notre Dame in the tourney a few years back, that big men are horrible and unnecessary. And forgetting we had a NBA stretch 4 (currently don't have one) and two really high level SF's (Hogue + Ejim) who played bigger than they look.

IMO there are plenty of big men out there that don't move like slugs.

The way Prohm seems to want to play..... by playing defense and more of a half court offense, could really benefit by having a big man or two. Young will be good, but he's kind of the bare minimum in terms of size for the team Prohm's trying to become.

If Lard is as good or better than Young, and/or we land another high level big man, then we may have a chance.

 

[NATEizKING]

The weird part is that Holberg's luck wasn't real good either. McKay didn't choose us, he chose Marquette. Yet we were fortunate to get him later as a transfer. Edozie was signed very late because we couldn't get anyone else that year and played limited minutes for two years. Darien Williams left with Matt. Niang played as a freshmen and obviously the rest of Holberg's tenure. Our Greece signee didn't see the floor. I think the Mayor owes as much to Niang as Niang does to him. Was Hogue taller than 6'6"? He was definitely a great find.

Hogue was 6'6, I think Solomon and Cameron will be the bigs we need going forward, higher rated guys than we've had for awhile besides Georges. Both rated higher than Nader, he was only 263 in composite.

 

[Tre4ISU]

The Holden miss is the one I'm sure this coaching staff really hates. At a time when all we needed was size, defense, and rebounding, and all we got was size.

Here's some guys that the staff was perusing, some were under Hoiberg. But as you can tell, not everyone is a savior. There's some guys on this list I would love to have on this team, and there's others that would be sitting next to Holden and Carter.

-Mike Thorne, Illinois: Charlotte transfer two years ago. Avg 6 & 4
-LG Gill, Maryland: Grad transfer last year. Avg 4 & 2.5
-Jeriah Horne, Nebraska: HS recruit last year. Avg 4 & 2
- Anthony Livingston, Texas Tech: Grad transfer last year. Avg 12 & 4
-Cheickna Dembele, UNLV: HS recruit last year. Avg 3 & 3
-Romelo White, AZ St: HS recruit last year. Academically ineligible
-Cole Huff, Creighton: Nevada transfer 3 years ago. Avg 9 & 4
-Chris Boucher, Oregon: Juco recruit 2 years ago. Avg 14 & 7
-Kossume Yakwe, St John's: HS recruit 2 years ago. Avg 4 & 3.5
-Marvin Clark, St John's: HS recruit 3 years ago, went to Michigan St. Avg 4 & 2
- Darien Williams, St John's: Juco recruit. Avg 3 & 2.5
-Leland King, Nevada: Brown transfer 2 years ago. Avg 3.5 & 3

-Devin Davis, Houston: Indiana/Juco transfer. Avg 14 & 6
-Christian Jones, UNLV: St. John's Grad transfer. Avg 10.5 & 6.5
-Thik Bol, Southern Illinois: Juco teammate of Donovan Jackson. Avg 9 & 7.5

Interesting there weren't 20 12&8 guys out there to go after as our fanbase seems to think.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Young will be solid, and Lard has a great chance to be (was a well regarded 4 star recruit).

 

[WastedTalent]

Thik Bol might be the guy we missed on. He was at Iowa Western with DJ, and I know the staff watched him, but I don't think they ever offered a scholarship. I'm guessing he would have taken it, if they had.

He's 6-8 200, averaging 9pts, 7.5 rebs, and 2 blocks per game, and 34 of his 65 field goals have been dunks.

He seems to be a Baylor type of player, or like Khadeem Latin from OU, but we can't be sure he's have this same production in the big 12.
http://www.siusalukis.com/news/2017...skills-after-escaping-civil-war-in-sudan.aspx

 

[Bryce7]

View attachment 46047

Breakdown of some of the big men that are currently at Iowa State or could eligibility wise. Only included players that signed LOI with ISU and that are taller than 6-8

Maybe Prohm needs a coach on his staff who attracts big boys.

 

[CycloneBBFan]

I'm sure Prohm will flush out a couple of more big men for next year. I like the class we've got coming in. The staff has done a great job reloading.

 

[SpokaneCY]

Interesting there weren't 20 12&8 guys out there to go after as our fanbase seems to think.

The nancys on this board seem to think getting a skilled big is like going to the grocery store and grabbing one off the shelf - especially because Fred left nothing in that category then bolted very late in the recruiting cycle to allow CDP to actually FIND a guy still left on the shelf to recruit.

But we lost a game on the road yesterday to a coach with a BIG time resume so CSP sucks...

 

[SpokaneCY]

I'm guessing he would have taken it, if they had.

Why would you guess that? Just because he was in the state of Iowa briefly? Do you guess that every kid that comes into the state of Iowa would take an ISU scholarship? Recruiting is WAY easier the way you think it works.

 

[Beyerball]

Biggest mistake to this point IMO was letting Ernst go..Kid has bright future at a periniel Top 25 program now..No clue why this staff decided to push him out or let him go. Bad mistake.

If we cant land another legit PF when we nearly have a McD AA coming in at PG with ISU being a Top 20 program the last 3 years then IDK when it will.

 

[acgclone]

Why would you guess that? Just because he was in the state of Iowa briefly? Do you guess that every kid that comes into the state of Iowa would take an ISU scholarship? Recruiting is WAY easier the way you think it works.

Get real. We recruited Thik Bol briefly (he visited for a game IIRC) and he was interested but we passed.

It's a no brainer between ISU and SIU.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but the picture seems to be a lot of mistakes and not landing much help for this year.

It will be really crucial for Prohm to start turning his luck in the other direction because now every coach in the B12 has a great resume and seems to be on the up trend. OU and Texas won't stay at the bottom for very long.

 

[WastedTalent]

Why would you guess that? Just because he was in the state of Iowa briefly? Do you guess that every kid that comes into the state of Iowa would take an ISU scholarship? Recruiting is WAY easier the way you think it works.

He's from Omaha, and went to Iowa Western because it was close to his home.

 

[Land Shark]

Biggest mistake to this point IMO was letting Ernst go..Kid has bright future at a periniel Top 25 program now..No clue why this staff decided to push him out or let him go. Bad mistake.

If we cant land another legit PF when we nearly have a McD AA coming in at PG with ISU being a Top 20 program the last 3 years then IDK when it will.

On two boards now, you keep hyping Ernst with ZERO fact to back it up. You have no idea if he will work out and the mistake was not letting him go- it was recruiting him in the first place. He should never have been here and the only reason it bugs anyone is because Carter still is (for now). Ernst is not and never will be the answer to what our problems are right now.

That said, this staff needs to fix that problem ASAP. Hopefully, the grad transfer and coaching change season allows us a nice surprise