A few thoughts after having a night to cool down:
1) I don't mean to go all Jon Miller on you, but it's entirely possible we were too optimistic about this team. Georges was an all-time great. He was the heart and soul of this team for the last 3 years. If you really think back, he made so many incredible end-of-game plays, and always seemed to come through when we needed a bucket. We are often guilty of downplaying the importance of graduating seniors, while glorifying our returning guys. But Georges, and Nader and McKay for that matter, were very, very important, and it will take a while to adjust to that, if it happens at all this year.
2) Monte is a heck of a PG and I'd take him over just about anyone. However, you can tell he is being asked to do something he isn't comfortable with. He may never be a "we need a bucket, go get us a bucket" type scorer. he strives off of flow and pace and having a well balanced offense around him. Having him sit up top and go through screen/re-screen a few times before the shot clock hits 5 and he has to take a tough 15 footer isn't his thing. It isn't offense. Prohm has to figure out a way to get him into a better flow.
Naz is a great kid and a great leader. He still has a place on this team. But he needs to be our spark guy off the bench. His best years came as our spark guy off the bench, and he's perfectly suited for that role. This team needs Babb's steadiness in the starting lineup.
Matt is Matt. He's made great strides, and I love his defense and his ability the work he's done to be able to be multi-dimensional. But he has to take that next step to being a guy you just can't leave open. For this offense to work, he has to make open, spot-up threes.
Burton is confounding. So talented, but sometimes he just disappears. It doesn't look like a conditioning issue, but he will go stretches where he just doesn't look engaged. He has to bring it every game.
One way or another, this is alot of inconsistency that has to come together and come together quickly.
3) This is Prohm's baby now. He wanted to win with defense, and go on record saying we haven't practiced offense much, and that's fine. But that's not what's happening. I think he has the ability to be a fine coach, but for now he's sucked the life out of Iowa State basketball. The offense is completely misguided, and Prohm doesn't appear to have any thoughts on how to fix it.
Lots of potential with this team, and I'm not giving up quite yet, but it's time for Coach to earn his paycheck.