I think Prohm was a victim of his initial roster. He had a talented group of upperclassman- so he was all in the first 2 years to maintain Fred Hoiberg's program.
In years 4/5 he is trying to create a new culture is finding out that is hard to do. Also losing is a bad habit, hard to break!
The recipe for a great program isn't hard to identify- it's been the same as long as I can remember:
- Great on ball defense with shot blockers to protect the rim.
- Great rebounding (off&def)
- Players who can shoot. A lot of coaches and fans get memorized by great athletes. Great shooters is far more important.
- Make more free throw a than the opponent attempts. This means pressuring the paint.
The icing is strong 3 point shooting. The are top 20 teams that shoot poorly from 3, but they do the other things well. Do the core items and shoot well from 3 and you have a top 10 program.
I think I've been a lot more quiet than normal this season, certainly compared to last year, and while a part of that is due to the apathy that is generated by a losing season, another part of is that there just that isn't much to write about that hasn't already been commented upon.
I was a Prohm defender through his first 4 years, and in certain contexts, depending on the subject, I suppose I might still be.
Now, I'm simplifying things to a great extent here, but to me being good at basketball boils down to two things; 1) putting the basketball in the basket, and 2) preventing the opposing team from doing that.
Now, damn the offensive efficiency numbers and ratings, because it's obvious to anyone with with even average eyesight that we are not very good at #1, at least in the Big 12. And we are just plain bad at #2.
Again, a simplification, but that's pretty much it, and that's on CSP. This roster, as it currently is, just isn't good enough at doing the things that allow the team to score more than their opponent and prevent themselves from being scored upon. Now, we did have some really significant losses from last season that can't be understated as a reason for our struggles, but most of these guys just haven't improved much or enough for us to compete in the Big 12, and some of them, like Jacobson, have downright regressed. Again, that falls on CSP and the staff.
A part of me hopes that TH struggles enough against the elite teams to cause his stock to drop enough to where it is in his best interest to come back next season (and yes, that is really selfish of me) because with him back and guys like Bolton and Conditt hopefully stepping it up to the next level I think we could be competitive again, but this program needs to have more than 9 wins in early February when it's 5 years into the tenure of the coach.