*** Official Iowa State Season Thread ***

[CascadeClone]

I have no idea how you can watch us play and think "that's a well coached team". We do not possess any of the hallmarks of a well coached team. None.

Nailed it. The epitaph of the Steve Prohm era at ISU.

 

[blutarsky]

I don’t disagree but the fact of the matter is he’s all you got right now. He had 6 tos but he still had a heck of a stat line outside of it. ISU is a hellofa lot worse this year without him.

guess 21 pts 8 board and 6 assists isn’t anything to sneeze at.

I'm looking for wins vs box score stuffers. The team would be worse without him but they are 2-18 with him too. I guess two things can be true at once.

 

[blutarsky]

I don't think there's one person that thinks we'd be a bad team if those two players were on the roster this year. But look at last year in how we had Tyrese and by simply taking just him off the team, we went from average to absolutely suck. This year we don't have anyone with the talent level of Tyrese or THT and we're one of the worst teams in CBB.

If we were on the level of TCU this year, which is right above .500, there wouldn't be near as many people calling for Prohm's head. I for one even said at the beginning of the year that going .500 would mean there was drastic improvement and signs that Prohm deserved to stay on. We are not .500 nor even close to .500. We are absolutely awful. Lol

Agree... And Prohm got a taste of life without Haliburton last season as the NBA rumors were in full swing. He knew he needed a PG and failed to bring one in.

 

[mplueg]

I’m tired of hearing how Prohm develops point guards. He doesn’t. He inherited Caanan at Murray State and inherited Monte Morris at ISU. He didn’t develop either one into the players they are. He gets credit for finding Payne and Haliburton but he didn’t develop them either. In Tyreses first game we seen that Prohm hit the jackpot with finding him. He was really good from day one and got better with game experience. He was supposed to develop Wigginton into a point guard and he never got better at the point guard position. He’s been having Bolton run the point off and on for two years and he hasn’t gotten better at the point either. If he was so good at developing point guards, why is no one actually getting better at the point under him? That narrative about him developing point guards is a myth.

Been saying this to buddies for a couple years. Phrom can identify under the radar guard talent but he hasn’t developed any!

Phrom would be a good assistant coach - build relationships (he’s such a great guy ) and recruit, but he’s way over his head as an x and o’s guy!

At Murray State he was successful with under the radar talent - 1 player could win for you - that’s not the case in the big 12

 

[Statefan10]

Agree... And Prohm got a taste of life without Haliburton last season as the NBA rumors were in full swing. He knew he needed a PG and failed to bring one in.

YUP. He brought in a 5'8" combo guard and a true freshman who isn't ready to play at this level. We also have Javan Johnson who was apparently going to help a ton in the PG role, however had a negative ATO at Troy and is barely above 1.0 this year.

 

[Clonefan32]

Agree... And Prohm got a taste of life without Haliburton last season as the NBA rumors were in full swing. He knew he needed a PG and failed to bring one in.

This is, and will continue to be, my biggest Prohm gripe. Just an inability to build a full roster.

As you've mentioned, what were the 3 biggest shortfalls coming into this year? We needed a PG, shooting and rebounding. So what do we get? A 5'8" combo guard, 4 SG/SF types who are marginal shooters, at best, and PF/C who is not known for his rebounding. Just a complete inability to realize and address our weaknesses.

 

[NoCreativity]

Heres a sample from Boston College, who I would argue is competing with us for worst Power 6 team in college basketball. Even they have won 1 conference game but heres some of their other games.

St Johns L 93-97
@Minnesota L 80-85 OT
@ NC State L 76-79
@Duke L 82-83
Wake Forest L 65-69

Vanderbilt might be the next worst after BC

@ Kentucky L 74-77
Miss St L 81-84
@ Georgia L 70-73
Kentucky L 78-82
@ Alabama L 78-82

Fred at Nebraska has been really bad also but they at least won a conference road game.

So even the worst teams in college basketball are competitive on given nights.

 

[Statefan10]

I believe I knew this, but I stumbled upon this fact again.. In the 4 years Steve was at Murray State, he made the tournament once. His first year. With literally the same team that Billy Kennedy left him. After that, he never made one.

Funny enough, Steve's predecessor has made more NCAA tournaments than Steve did (2).

 

[jcisuclones]

Maybe because they are busy earning a living?

 

[CycloneErik]

I believe I knew this, but I stumbled upon this fact again.. In the 4 years Steve was at Murray State, he made the tournament once. His first year. With literally the same team that Billy Kennedy left him. After that, he never made one.

Funny enough, Steve's predecessor has made more NCAA tournaments than Steve did (2).

To that end, his final team should have been selected. That was a classic "screw the small schools, let's take some big schools who had their shot already" situation.
So it should have been twice.
That said, I don't know what happened in the conference tourney game they lost. If it came down to classic Prohm management at the end, then maybe they deserved to miss out.

 

[Tornado man]

Looking back to the team Steve inherited from Fred, I'm not sure ISU could have hired a guy that chewed ass. I think a coach like that would have lost more than just Jameel McKay that year.

That's exactly why Pollard picked Prohm over the other candidates - he wanted someone laid back like Fred, who wouldn't demand things from players that Fred didn't (like 100% effort on defense). He was afraid the returning players like Niang, etc. would rebel and leave.

 

[madguy30]

To that end, his final team should have been selected. That was a classic "screw the small schools, let's take some big schools who had their shot already" situation.
So it should have been twice.
That said, I don't know what happened in the conference tourney game they lost. If it came down to classic Prohm management at the end, then maybe they deserved to miss out.

Yeah rules are rules but they were ranked going into the conference tourney and that's a tough pill to swallow to let one game keep you out when any ranked P6 school wouldn't get the same treatment.

 

[SolarGarlic]

That's exactly why Pollard picked Prohm over the other candidates - he wanted someone laid back like Fred, who wouldn't demand things from players that Fred didn't (like 100% effort on defense). He was afraid the returning players like Niang, etc. would rebel and leave.

Yeah, you've tried this narrative a couple times. It just isn't true. Do you really think there was any way Niang and Co. were leaving Iowa State with what they had coming back? He was looking for an offensive-minded coach with a similar style as Fred, that is true. The rest is your creation. We could've hired the 1999 version of Larry Eustachy, and our roster was going to stay intact. You commonly have no clue what you're talking about.

 

[CycloneErik]

Yeah rules are rules but they were ranked going into the conference tourney and that's a tough pill to swallow to let one game keep you out when any ranked P6 school wouldn't get the same treatment.

Oh, I'm really reaching to open up a rationale for it when we all know the reason is "small school."
So I don't blame Prohm for missing that final year. He and his team did what they needed to do.

 

[cyclones500]

I don't know what happened in the conference tourney game they lost.

You piqued my curiosity. Here a recap.

Belmont 88-87 Murray State (Mar 7, 2015) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the Belmont Bruins vs. Murray State Racers NCAAM game from March 7, 2015 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[blutarsky]

This is, and will continue to be, my biggest Prohm gripe. Just an inability to build a full roster.

As you've mentioned, what were the 3 biggest shortfalls coming into this year? We needed a PG, shooting and rebounding. So what do we get? A 5'8" combo guard, 4 SG/SF types who are marginal shooters, at best, and PF/C who is not known for his rebounding. Just a complete inability to realize and address our weaknesses.

Same roster needs for next season too.

 

[Clonefan32]

Same roster needs for next season too.

We are set on 6'7" wings though!

 

[CycloneErik]

You piqued my curiosity. Here a recap.

Belmont 88-87 Murray State (Mar 7, 2015) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the Belmont Bruins vs. Murray State Racers NCAAM game from March 7, 2015 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

Wow. Just wow.
It seems like researching potential hires should maybe cover things like this. What a red flag (now).

 

[madguy30]

You piqued my curiosity. Here a recap.

Belmont 88-87 Murray State (Mar 7, 2015) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the Belmont Bruins vs. Murray State Racers NCAAM game from March 7, 2015 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

"Racers coach Steve Prohm said he blew it and probably should have called a timeout to set up the final shot."

 

[Clonefan32]

"Racers coach Steve Prohm said he blew it and probably should have called a timeout to set up the final shot."

"...but unfortunately I had used all my timeouts after made shots in the middle of runs"

-- Steve Prohm (probably)