Argh, Prohm. You could say he almost completely lost it in the 2017-18 season. It was his third season as coach, all of Hoiberg's guys gone, and nothing! What saved him in his first two years was getting DeAndre Burton! Kid was a stud. [And of course Hoiberg's guys.]
He definitely got a reprieve in 2018-19 with how well Shayok played, and the recruiting of THT, and Tyrese H. Then a healthy Tyrese thru his entire year 2 wouldn't have likely saved 2019-20. True colors showed again last year, 2020-21. Ouch.
I actually didn't think 17-18 was that bad. It was a rebuild and there were signs of really good things including big wins at Hilton. Also LW/Lard had a ying/yang thing.
18-19 was more telling on the ability to run 'his' program imo. There's slumps and then there's dysfunction out front and center.
You guys might be right to a point (in 2017-18). Yeah Wiggington and Lard seemed to be great freshman adds. But there wasn't much beyond that, and T. Lewis turned into a bust.I actually enjoyed that 17-18 season. I had zero expectations with everyone we had lost from the previous year. Wigginton and Lard both looked like studs as true freshman that we could build around for the next couple years, and I knew we had Shayock and THT coming the following year. The future looked bright.
Then the following off season Shayock graduated, THT and Wigginton both left early, Lard was kicked off the team and everything collapsed in about a 2 day span. All the young talent I was counting on was gone outside of Haliburton.
Lard still haunts me. He was a beat as a freshman. I was convinced he was going to shatter Iowa State's all time blocks record and tear up the Big 12 for 3 more years. Biggest waste of talent I've seen at Iowa State.
I was also merely looking at their record that year. It was not good. They only had 4 conference wins and were 10th in the conference!
2017-18 Iowa State Cyclones Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
2017-18 Iowa State Cyclones Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
Don’t fool yourself. Losing by 18 to Milwaukee and putting up a record low 45 points at Hilton against Tennessee in a blowout loss were no accidents. So many other failures that year.