*** Official Iowa State Season Thread ***

CySmurf

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Jul 14, 2011
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If Steve Prohm was a complete jackass of a coach personality wise (like Mad Fran) I could understand the vitriol thrown at the guy when losses started mounting up...but, because he wasn't like that...and for all intents and purposes represented the university with respect and dignity...I will appreciate the good things he did as a coach. When we start trash talking other Big12 schools on the number of Big12 tourney titles we have, we certainly are not leaving out the ones Prohm won because "they under achieved" as a team or "those were Fred's players".
We have enough other things in our world to hate today than to add Steve Prohm to the list. If and when he's gone, I'll appreciate the good things and leave the bad in my rear view mirror and move forward.
 

Sigmapolis

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I don't think the 2014 team beats KU with a healthy Embiid, considering they couldn't when he was healthy in the regular season. That guy was an absolute force.

Yeah, he was one of the few guys who could reliably guard Georges, and we had no answer for him defensibly. Of course, that one still counts for Fred for the peanut gallery, but no Dean Wade invalidates 2019.
 

AuH2O

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Sep 7, 2013
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I think with regard to the 2019 season, it is about so much more than just looking at the raw numbers. That year, while from a raw record stand point, may have been better than the net average for ISU, was much more about emotions, both high and low, and perceived ability in my opinion.

While there were surely some fun moments that year like beating KU by 17, winning the B12 tourney (seemingly out of nowhere), and making it to the NCAAs, they were offset with lows like losing to the TOE by 14, WVU by 15, losing 6 of 8 leading up to the B12 tourney, and that pathetic loss to tOSU in the NCAAs.

I think a few other VERY important things occurred that year too. This was the year Prohm showed that even with his “good” teams, the home court advantage in Hilton that fans had come to know and love, was not going to be what it used to be. Additionally, Prohm absolutely lost control of the locker room situation, and it became toxic for the players. There were fights, Mike J injured his foot from kicking a door.

I was fully on board with Prohm’s coaching until that season. He showed he simply could not put players in the right positions to succeed, and couldn’t deal with the fallout of those on-court failures in the locker room.

This was a team that had the talent to do so much, if they were provided with the proper coaching and leadership. We ended up with a mediocre record and I believe the damage done in the locker room still haunts our team today

No doubt that season was an emotional roller coaster! I just don't see the need to try to trash that season as some disappointing mess because a 17 year old Freshman was wildly inconsistent, a 200+ ranked true freshman role player that turned out to be a lottery pick was... a freshman role player, and we had an NBA cup of coffee and a G league guy.

But there was lots of entertainment value, and the good outweighed the bad for sure. Otherwise that wouldn't have been a 6 seed.

It's clear Prohm is not getting it done at ISU, and I don't see anyone saying otherwise. But if people didn't get more enjoyment than frustration out of the three tournament seasons while Prohm was coach, you are probably destined to be disappointed as an ISU fan. The run under Hoiberg was incredible, but is also unprecedented in terms of consistent performance, and is going to be tough to replicate. That run also had the ups and downs you expect from college basketball, but because we were coming out of the dark ages, and the overall trajectory looked so good, it was easy to brush off the down times. Hell, the 2011-12 season was full of disasters and inconsistency, but just getting into the tournament was so awesome after missing for so many years, that is still one of the most fun seasons as a fan I can remember.
 

jcisuclones

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Nov 23, 2011
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Four letters explains why it is not: F------------------R-----------------------E-----------------------D

Also, wasn't Perry Ellis injured in a tourney game against us? I can't remember the year, maybe 15'.
Ellis was coming off of a knee injury, and returned in their previous game. Played 30 minutes, but was just ice cold from the field in the championship game.
 

awd4cy

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Dec 29, 2010
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Four letters explains why it is not: F------------------R-----------------------E-----------------------D

Also, wasn't Perry Ellis injured in a tourney game against us? I can't remember the year, maybe 15'.
Or it just wasn’t the only thing won all year.
 

CYEATHAWK

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Ellis was coming off of a knee injury, and returned in their previous game. Played 30 minutes, but was just ice cold from the field in the championship game.

Yeah, I sort of remember him limping around not really wanting to be out on the court....but Self kept putting him back in. That wasn't the same year Embiid went down?
 

jcisuclones

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Yeah, he was one of the few guys who could reliably guard Georges, and we had no answer for him defensibly. Of course, that one still counts for Fred for the peanut gallery, but no Dean Wade invalidates 2019.
Nobody is invalidating any win. It was still a very hard fought game down the stretch. K state was a solid team that season, and it's not like Dean Wade was their Luka Garza, and without him, the team is very average.
 
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Sigmapolis

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Ellis was coming off of a knee injury, and returned in their previous game. Played 30 minutes, but was just ice cold from the field in the championship game.

1613405694358.png

1/8 from 2PT and 1/2 from three -- ouch there, Perry Ellis. Only scored 7 in 30 minutes.

He did pretty well on the boards, though, so he was at least contributing something.

Or it just wasn’t the only thing won all year.

They had impressive road wins over ranked Texas Tech, Kansas State, and Mississippi.

They beat the hated Kansas in Hilton.

Yes, those three games were the "only thing" they won all year.

You all act like they went 4-14 in the conference before pulling off a miracle in Kansas City or something.

Hyperbolic nonsense like this is exactly why you guys have zero credibility -- your bias against that team (and Prohm) for the accomplishments they/he did have is manifest. It's ridiculous.
 

AuH2O

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Well maybe we would have won the national championship if Georges hadn't broken his foot. Injuries are a part of sports to discredit a win because of a injury on the other team gets to be old hat.

We all pretty much agree Prohm is a dead man walking regarding his tenure at ISU, but to try to discredit every win or good thing that happened in his time here is tiresome.

Maybe it's just a coping mechanism as a fan, but I don't think with a healthy Georges that season ends much differently. UConn handled ISU pretty much throughout the game and responded every time ISU would get within striking distance. Also, a direct result of Georges being out was thrusting Hogue into a prominent role offensively. All that BAMF did was go for 34.
Now the MSU game in 2000 - there's no coping mechanism there. There's no doubt in both games in the final four ISU would've been significant favorites in both remaining games.
 

Halincandenza

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Maybe it's just a coping mechanism as a fan, but I don't think with a healthy Georges that season ends much differently. UConn handled ISU pretty much throughout the game and responded every time ISU would get within striking distance. Also, a direct result of Georges being out was thrusting Hogue into a prominent role offensively. All that BAMF did was go for 34.
Now the MSU game in 2000 - there's no coping mechanism there. There's no doubt in both games in the final four ISU would've been significant favorites in both remaining games.
It is too hard to say what would have happened. Heck, you never know, they may have lost to UNC.
 
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Urbandale2013

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I have posted previously that ISU knows TJ pretty damn well from his previous time at ISU. So I wouldn't be too upset if TJ is hired and I believe TJ is a better coach than Steve Prohm. But if I am Jamie Pollard, I would want to make sure TJ has a great staff to support him.

But based on his success at UNLV, should TJ even be considered for the ISU job?

This year UNLV is 5-6 in the MW Conference and 4 of those wins are over Air Force and New Mexico which are a combined 3-25 in MW play. Honestly, would any other P6 school hire TJ if they had an opening this coming off season? IMO no.

People have posted that he is in a rebuilding year, but he is returning 3 starters from last year's team (Hamilton, Diong and Coleman). Plus he added his stud player from SDSU (Jenkins) and Grill (ISU). So he has a pretty experienced roster this season. If the argument is this team hasn't had the opportunity to mesh because of Covid. That is the same argument some folks have proposed for keeping Steve Prohm.

Getting back to your question, who are better candidates? I would say in the Mountain West alone, there are 2 coaches with Midwest ties, have great teams and play tough: Smith (USU) and Medvid (CSU). I also like Kyle Keller at Stephen F Austin. He has a solid Big 12 pedigree. I also think Jerome Tang from Baylor would be a good option.
I don’t get why people don't seem to look at the whole picture with TJ. I think it is probably more a reaction to his previous connection but it is incredibly annoying.

I will first say that while my current favorite is TJ he should have to go through a vigorous interview process and shouldn’t just be handed the job.

If we actually look at TJs record as a coach t is actually really good. This year is his worst year by far. TJ gets the benefit of the doubt and can use Covid as an excuse because he had a good track record before hand. Prohm doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt because he needed to not just survive but show improvement this year.

Now if we actually look at TJ he has made the NCAA tournament 2/3 years at SDSU. The year they didn’t make it they still made the NIT. At UNLV last year he got them to 2nd place in the conference. He looks to be building them up and should succeed after this year being a bad year.

That is only looking at his success as a head coach. TJ also has extensive P5 assistant experience. His recruiting grounds are our normal ones.

Do I think he would be hired by another team this year no probably not. Do I think he will have opportunities within the next three years yes.

Whatever coach we hire is going to have flaws. Older coaches are going to cost more and may not coach for a lot longer. Other mid major coaches have some of the same question marks that TJ has. Some have the same question marks that Prohm had when he was hired.

There are multiple coaches that I’d like to look at. TJ, DeVries, and Smith are my top choices. Whoever it is needs to have a solid staff and commitment to work hard.
 

AuH2O

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I don’t get why people don't seem to look at the whole picture with TJ. I think it is probably more a reaction to his previous connection but it is incredibly annoying.

I will first say that while my current favorite is TJ he should have to go through a vigorous interview process and shouldn’t just be handed the job.

If we actually look at TJs record as a coach t is actually really good. This year is his worst year by far. TJ gets the benefit of the doubt and can use Covid as an excuse because he had a good track record before hand. Prohm doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt because he needed to not just survive but show improvement this year.

Now if we actually look at TJ he has made the NCAA tournament 2/3 years at SDSU. The year they didn’t make it they still made the NIT. At UNLV last year he got them to 2nd place in the conference. He looks to be building them up and should succeed after this year being a bad year.

That is only looking at his success as a head coach. TJ also has extensive P5 assistant experience. His recruiting grounds are our normal ones.

Do I think he would be hired by another team this year no probably not. Do I think he will have opportunities within the next three years yes.

Whatever coach we hire is going to have flaws. Older coaches are going to cost more and may not coach for a lot longer. Other mid major coaches have some of the same question marks that TJ has. Some have the same question marks that Prohm had when he was hired.

There are multiple coaches that I’d like to look at. TJ, DeVries, and Smith are my top choices. Whoever it is needs to have a solid staff and commitment to work hard.

I'm definitely not opposed to TJ, but I think people also have to keep in mind at SDSU he inherited one of the best players in the history of the Summit League. Now, does he deserve some credit for helping that happen, absolutely. But the years prior to TJ at SDSU were:
- NCAA Round of 32
- NCAA Round of 32
- CBI
- NIT
- NCAA Round of 64

And since he's left they are 19-5 in the conference.

Also, in terms of UNLV, he has not really improved on what Menzies did there.
 
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