Steve Prohm
- Thread starter tyler24
- Start date
Max would've helped the team off the bench more than the other guys did.. Also, Fred was not 100% committed to Iowa State and therefore did not 100% commit to recruiting that year either, especially when things started shaking out the way they did as far as NBA coaching changes. I think had Fred been committed to being Iowa State's coach, he would've kept up getting similar players and would've kept giving his teams chances to succeed in the tournament. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things because Fred was not committed to Iowa State. This is a testament to what Fred could've done and not what Prohm should have done.
I was thoroughly impressed when one of their guys missed a dunk so hard it was rebounded by his teammate in front of the half court line. Truly astonishing whiff.
I haven't said that Prohm hasn't achieved some impressive things while being at ISU. But his achievements don't negate his shortcomings. Though that team won a the Big 12 title, they underachieved.
Outside of his first two seasons in Ames, none of his teams had a clear identity. As a fan I can't put my finger on one thing that Prohm coached teams do great at.
So sure, he has accomplished some things that other coaches that have been in Ames has not come close to, but that shouldn't be the standard we measure things off of.
There absolutely was, that's what allowed them to crawl back at all. We actually straightened up the assignments some late-game and forced tough shots...that still went in. They really did have some utterly-s***tastic shots fall when they needed them to.
Obviously the core problem is still letting them get that close and not taking care of that issue sooner, but I'm not going to give FAMU zero credit for making it happen on their own accord. They deserve a little of it, teams like that generally collapse under late-game pressure. They didn't.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Just brutal stuff. Nothing about FAMU said, "Hey, this is a decent team having a great day" or "Hey, bad team having a good day." They're just a bad team that didn't play that well and found out we were prepared to play worse.
The intensity FAMU stepped up with at about 4-5 minutes left, though, showed who was going to pull that one out.
This is true. We took our foot off the gas and allowed them to get back in the game. When that happens, you're opening up the opportunity for some stupid s*** to happen, like them hitting a step back and-1 jumper over a 6'11" shot blocker to go up 1.
I just said the same thing, FAMU deserves some credit for putting themselves in position to win and not falling apart. They were completely steady late-game and didn't make many mistakes. We made just enough mistakes to lose to them instead. Our guys looked defeated before the game was even over, their guys were playing at max hype. Which is exactly why I fear this loss is gonna drag the entire team down and kill the season even before coaching would. I hope our guys are mentally-strong enough to put the past in the past and keeping looking forward. It's okay to review and learn, but they can't dwell and sulk on it.
Other than being correct about having a loaded team for the '15-16 season, how so? I mean, I read all about how Fred was going to start bringing in Top 100 HS players, but he was not doing that during his last couple of seasons at Iowa State. Honest question, because I don't know, but did we have any high school players, Top 100 or not, signed from the class of 2015 ready to come in as freshmen, even if they ended up backing out of the LOI's due to Fred leaving? Again, it's an honest question, because I don't remember. Anyway, to Fred's credit, he was going after guys like Vaughn and Diallo, but they didn't sign with us. So, I feel this idea that he was going to keep on landing top level HS talent is based on wishful thinking, rather than any factual evidence (and yes, he did a great job of landing guys like Niang, Morris, and Thomas, but I think they were more the exception rather than the rule when it comes to his HS recruiting).
And this isn't an anti-Fred screed; I was sad when he left, and I certainly appreciate all that he did during his time here. But this idea that he was going to keep on doing bigger and better things and keep on elevating Iowa State basketball seems to be based on a sort of Utopian ideal mindset. Anyway, maybe the Cult of Fred is right and we would have a national championship banner or two hanging in the rafters, but we'll never know.
We'll see on Saturday what type of team we're going to be for the rest of the year. Win or lose, if we look focused and prepared, I'll be happy. If we come out of the gates and get rolled and look like we don't want to be there, I'll be incredibly disappointed.
That's exactly where I'm at. There's still a chance to make a decent conference showing out of this (I'm not personally convinced the B12 is super-strong this year, but I could be wrong). There's clearly talent on this team...but they are limited, and it's gonna take some more work from both players and staff to maximize what they have. They clearly aren't doing that right now.
Diallo knew Fred was likely not going to be back, just like a lot of other recruits that were initially considering Iowa State. Vaughn was the year before Fred left and he did not come literally due to us not being able to bring to the table what UNLV could (you know what I mean).
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I respect your ability to exaggerate things out of proportion.
He was talking about transfers and freshmen to fill in gaps on that Niang team. That was a pretty likely outcome.
We needed to step up the high school recruiting, but that was a doable thing.
Oh, I absolutely know what you mean, and I certainly don't blame Fred for that, but again, this idea that we were going to be bringing in top level HS talent was just that, a nice idea.
No, but Cheick Diallo would have. Everything I've heard was that the only thing holding him back from committing was Fred not committing to stay at Iowa State.
The season is not even close to being over. There are teams all of the time that start off crappy and then something clicks and the season completely changes. That's not going to happen without full commitment from the staff and the team. It's up to Coach Prohm to figure out how that happens and then it's up to his players to be able to do it. Like you said we have the talent, but how can we get that talent to blend correctly to win games? I'm not quite sure, but that's why we're paying Coach Prohm to do that job. And if Coach Prohm can't do that and these types of seasons keep happening, then a change will be made in regards to his job.
If Prohm can get this team to sniff the tournament this year and either somehow get in, or put together a deep run in the NIT, that will shine a ton of light on the program for the future to come.
What exactly am I exaggerating here Erik? He's the one who specifically wrote Top 100 HS recruits. How many of those did we have coming into the roster that season? It might have been doable to bring in those types of players, as you suggest, but only if Fred had been willing to commit long term to ISU, which he clearly wasn't.
But Fred wasn't bringing in the best high school talent.. He was getting some pretty good guys that he believed fit into his system and sprinkling in some high quality transfers. In Fred's system, those guys developed into some of the best players to ever put on Cyclone uniforms (Georges, Monte, Ejim, Naz, Matt). He had 4 year guys that were committed to the team and sprinkled in talented transfers to round them out. Some of them worked (White, Kane, Deonte), some of them not as much (BDJ, Cook). Fred had a pretty good system in place and until his last year, everything was running pretty smoothly. Had there been a year like we're currently having where the pieces didn't seem to fit, then I'd have some different feelings and opinions on whether or not Fred would've succeeded. But, he didn't. Besides his first year, every single one of his teams fit well together and could compete against anyone.
I never heard this.
I heard "Kansas lean" the whole time.
Diallo wasn't that great in college, anyways, and has underwhelmed in the NBA.
Besides, this lineup --
Morris
Mitrou-Long/Thomas
Niang
Diallo
McKay
= super awkward.
