It’s based on one person saying they heard it 3rd hand. And it wasn’t even about shutting it down. Just that players might not return.
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What to do with Coach Prohm Poll..
- Thread starter ClonesTwenty1
- Start date
It’s based on one person saying they heard it 3rd hand. And it wasn’t even about shutting it down. Just that players might not return.
I was more disappointed by all of these (the first tournament I remember was the 1997 one)...
1997 against #3 UCLA (in OT by 1)
2000 against #1 Michigan State (needs no explanation)
2001 against #15 Hampton (way more of an upset than was Ohio State)
2013 against #2 Ohio State (******* Aaron Craft)
2015 against #14 UAB (oh look at that golden boy Fred had a way worse upset loss)
2016 against #1 UVA (only because it was such a good team with a higher ceiling)
2017 against #4 Purdue (same)
I left off 2014 because I had no expectations once Georges went down.
The game against UConn did not upset me; the injury did.
I would have much rather won any of those games because of the quality/ceiling of the teams, the closeness of the games, or the increase in the likelihood of a deep run that any of them would provide over the 2018 team. I imagine, even if they beat Ohio State, they just lose to #3 Houston two nights later in Tulsa. Not much was lost.
If not them, then #2 Kentucky in Kansas City, though a Sweet Sixteen would have been an accomplishment.
Your list and my list have some similarities; for me it depends on my level of expectations versus actual performance. For that reason I cannot put the Michigan State loss up there as a "disappointing" loss; while it would have been beyond fantastic to make a Final Four, we played up to our #2 seed, and most people came to regard that game as being the true national championship when it was all said and done.
For me;
#5) UCLA in '97 (had a 16-point second half lead at one point)
#4) Purdue in '17 (that team had such potential, even though Purdue was the slightly higher seed. I cried like a baby after that game, and I was 42 at the time)
#3) UCONN in '14 (Yes, UCONN went on to win it all, and Georges was injured. But, we were the higher seed and had beaten a very talented UNC team without Georges, which looking back on it is one of my all-time favorite wins. But, UCONN really controlled that game from start to finish, and I remember us just not playing very well at all.
#2) UAB in '15 (Enough said. I couldn't watch any more basketball for the rest of that day)
#1) F*ckin' Hampton in '01 (Honest to God, for at least a few years after that game, I couldn't physiologically watch the "One Shining Moment" montage when they showed the Hampton coach being carried around the court. My body would physically shake in anguish, true story).
My disappointment over these losses is a function of four things...
(1.) How big of a choke job was this individual game? Giving up the huge lead against UCLA, the decent lead against Michigan State, and the last few possessions against Hampton and Aaron Craft count.
(2.) How far under expectations (loosely defined by their seeds, but not entirely) did the team perform? The big upsets... Hampton, UAB... are the ones that linger in my mind here. Those teams should have done so much more. I feel the same way about talented, experienced, and senior-heavy teams that probably could have played better than their seeds, the primary examples of these being Georges' and then Monté's senior years.
(3.) What would it have accomplished had we won. Sure, #1 Michigan State was a great team and losing to them in the Elite Eight as a #2 is playing up to our seed. But if we won that game, we're in the Final Four, and our opponents would have been #8 Wisconsin (8-8 in the Big Ten) and then #5 Florida (12-4 in the SEC). I would not guarantee a national championship under those circumstances, but we would have been heavily favored in both games.
So the path to a Natty was wide open if we could have gotten past Michigan State. We just didn't. That is always going to be the most disappointing loss in program history until another opportunity like that presents itself. Michigan State took care of both of them pretty easily. I would imagine we would have, too, but alas.
(4.) Just how likeable the team was. The 2019 team was not all that likeable, and the 2017 team was.
Based on those criteria, I would probably say...
#5 1997 against UCLA
#4 2001 against Hampton
#3 2016 against UAB
#2 2017 against Purdue
#1 2000 against Michigan State
I literally didn't watch any basketball the rest of the tournament. I switched over to the NCAA wrestling tournament that weekend and never went back and just didn't tune any others.
I never denied this, had nothing to do with him personally, just didn't think his qualifications at the time warranted a Power 5 job at one of the top programs in college basketball. It would have been one thing if he had multiple deep tourney runs like other mid major coaches have before moving up, but he had 1 tourney appearance and won 1 tourney game in 4 years.
Hoiberg left us in a tough spot with the timing, but I jsut didn't think he was ready or a good fit to be taking over a Top 10 program from the Midwest.
Well if that's what we should expect out of men full of value and integrity......then GMAC owes ISU a refund and then the next coach, say T.J., should have no problem doing work pro bono considering how much he values this university while being full of integrity, right? I mean, why stop with buy outs?
I wasn't saying anything about expecting him to do it. Just making an observation that if one coach can do it, why not Prohm? He's a stand up guy, and I know nothing about the Utah state coach, but anyone willing to sacrifice literally millions because it didn't sit well with him must be a pretty decent human being.
That’s always been obvious.
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That tournament was a good case in why it's helpful (to me at least) to be a dual fan. UNI had a first round game the day after against Wyoming that they ended up winning by a fairly comfortable 17-point margin. Had they lost in the ole' 12 over 5 upset special, I might have joined you in not watching any more basketball for the rest of the tournament.
I might be wrong, and if I am I apologize, but I feel like towards the start you were pretty cagey about your early and obvious dislike of Prohm (as a coach), and only recently have been much more open about your initial misgivings about him.
Prohm was my first choice out of the list of finalists in large part because he had won a game in the NCAA tournament (and had a good chance to win a 2nd; I was at the Murray State versus Marquette game in Louisville right before the ISU vs. Kentucky game back in 2012. That was a really good and close game that also featured some pretty crappy officiating that hurt Murray State), and winning at least one game was something that Bryce Drew (another finalist) had not done yet. I would have been perfectly okay with Brad Underwood as well, as he had led SFAU to an upset win over #5 seed VCU in '14 (although seeing how he left the Cowboys after only one season made me glad we didn't hire him).
I wonder, looking back on it, if JP felt that maybe he could have struck gold twice with another relatively inexperienced head coach the same way he had with Hoiberg. You are right about the timing of Hoiberg's leaving us in a tight spot, no argument there.
Agree. The non-stop adoration for Pollard is too much. The local Des Moines media seems to think he is the second coming also.
I don't understand the Pollard criticism. The financial strength of our AD is better than ever. Look at the infrastructure projects that have taken place during Pollard's term. Jamie has also brought integrity to our athletic department as well. He is widely respected by his peers as evidenced by being named to the NCAA selection committee.
Sure he has had some misses in hiring of FB and MBB coaches, but hiring coaches is the most inexact responsibility an Athletic Director has. Look around at the best Athletic Directors in the country and I don't believe you will find one AD with a 15 year track record that has done much better than 50% in hiring new coaches. Some schools are easier because they have the money or built-in in-state recruiting base. Iowa State has neither- we are bottom half Big 12 in revenue and the state of Iowa produces a limited number of D1 athletes in FB and MBB.
Hiring coaches is tough- Rhoads and Prohm are his only misses in evaluating coaching ability. And I can't be too tough on Rhoads, he had some solid early years, but just couldn't sustain things.
Chizek and McDermott weren't good hires for ISU, but obviously they were decent coaches. Chizek won a National Championship at Auburn and McDermott made Creighton a top 10-15 program over a 10 year period. Go figure, how can McDermott thrive at Creighton but struggle at ISU?
Pollard has been incredible. GMac and Prohm didn't work out, it happens.
I’m sold on Drakes coach. Guy is getting it done and even lost one of his best players in a transfer to Minnesota. They will make the tourney this year. No way Drake should ever be better than us. Plus, the future looks bright for them also.
Won again tonight. Their covid break didn't result in a 20 point loss. (yeah I know they restarted last wk my point still stands.) They are the most fun team to watch in the state IMO.
Watching Drake knock the hoks out in the round of 32 will be the best part of this basketball season.
