Sadly, there have been a few games this year where the thought crossed my mind...
COLUMN: An analysis on the future of Iowa State basketball
- Thread starter ChrisMWilliams
- Start date
I agree, but, the bigs don't have to shoot from 21' to be effective. You can play Hi/Lo, or 2 guys on the blocks/baseline, and our guys are efficient from 15' and in. This doesn't even mention the value on the defensive end where you have another big to help the helper. Big teams like Baylor, Kansas, Iowa, etc. have had way too many 2nd chance points due to our poor rebounding, and I know rebounding is mostly effort, but size does indeed matter.
Solo isnt good enough to play against Big 12 starting bigs. He just isnt. Quite honestly, Solomon Young is barely a Big 12 caliber big. And Conditt is completely lost out there on many possessions at both end. He definitely has the physical tools but he has a long way to go before he is a guy who can play 25 minutes and not be a huge negative +/- guy. Next year he should be more prepared.
Bigs take a long time to develop. McCormack at KU wasn't going to be a good Big 12 until his junior season and he was a McD's AA. Dont expect Conditt to be a good player earlier than next season. He is still getting exposed by bigger, more experienced players. He will have a decent year next year and a solid senior season. With some massive reps this offseason, he could speed up that timeframe. Just has to put in the work.
Solomon Young is not a star big man, and he will probably never be one, but to say he's not good enough to play against Big 12 starting bigs or he's barely a Big 12 caliber big is ridiculous. He's a role player on a team that's not very good but has actually done quite well overall this season. No, he's not on the level of Baylor's, KU's, or WVU's big men, but those are quite honestly some of the most talented front courts in all of college basketball.
After reading your post, I went out and did a little digging on Young's game log this season and you are right. I probably have seen less ISU games this season than in any recent prior season so I probably just havent seen him have one of his better games. But it does look like he is playing much better this season so.I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out.
No problem! His freshman year he was a great compliment to the guys we had (Monte, Matt, Naz, Deonte). The following year he got hurt late in the season and last year he didn't play at all. He's a bit undersized but works incredibly hard and is very level-headed. He's also had a terrific back to the basket game as of late. I think he'll be a key part to our offense next year, as we're starting to lean on him heavy towards the end of this year.
This is just an uniformed take. Not surprising considering who it is coming from.
I'd guess you have seen 2 of our games this year. Maybe you shouldn't comment if so.
I've said it several times but I'll say it again. Solo is the guy I want my 3rd grade basketball team to watch. Effort, positioning and movement, Solo does all this. I love effort guys like this. Some of my boys are Hawk fans, I tell them to watch Garza from Iowa. He doesn't have the most talent (more than Solo) but again he puts in great effort like Solo does to make yourself look so much better. His current season speaks for itself.
I'm talking about all the players that haven't panned out/been productive/worthy of a D1 scholarship to a Big 12 school
I don't think you know what you are talking about. No offense.
You think all 7 of those have panned out? Check our record this year and I would venture to say NO.
I've seen more than that, maybe 6 or 7 this year. Which is fewer than in most seasons. Whoever invented the DVR should win some sort of award if they havent already. I DVR any decent games that are on and watch them when I have a spare few minutes. I can get through a game on DVR in about 1:40 so it goes pretty quick.
I usually watch 10 or so basketball games a week depending on the games. The Big 12 is just so down this year (and some of the games I would normally watch have been on ESPN+)so I havent seen as many as normal.
Why was he only playing less than 20 minutes a game in the first five Big 12 games? Seems like now that he is finally getting high 20+/ low 30s minutes that he is playing well. His usage rate and PER rankings have shot up the last few months, which is encouraging for next season.
Several reasons really. Conditt was showing out coming off the bench early in the season and took the starting spot from him. And early in the season we weren't running through the post so much because our outside shooting was terrible and everybody's defense was packing it in the lane against us. When we finally started making some of our outside shots it opened up the middle and let Solo get to work.
It's confusing. He was struggling the first part of the Big 12. Could be due to competition, could be due to him getting back into the groove of playing a ton, but he wasn't producing close to as much as Conditt was. So, Conditt and Young switched and Young was coming off the bench. At that point, Conditt started not producing and Solo was hard to keep off the floor so Solo was re-entered back as a starter. Now that Solo has been back in the starting lineup he's been pretty darn good.
Honest question, can an assistant coach change the entire culture of the coaching staff?
When I hear how "solid an individual Coach Prohm is" it reminds me of someone trying to sell me on a blind date by telling me how great her personality is.
