And maybe all this is true. But I just don't think you can absolve Steve on Zion's lack of development. He's the coach.
It just seems like certain people have zero expectations for Steve. Nothing is his fault. Players don't develop? Well that's the players fault. We lose 20 games? Well he lost a lot of talent. Consistently gets out-coached? Time for new assistants. What exactly is it we pay him 2 million dollars a year for?
He deserves another year and I can concede there are some things outside of his control. But I just find it absurd that some people refuse to have expectations for him...
I know guys like Zion, Jakolby Long and Terrence Lewis have come in and underwhelmed and it's been frustrating, given the fact that all 3 had decent offers and ranked fairly high coming out of HS. But this happens everywhere in college basketball. Guys just don't always pan out.
One doesn't even have to look very far to find it. It happens to Bill Self almost on a yearly basis, granted he has a much wider margin for error. Just taking a look at his 2015-16 team, he had a couple guys in his rotation that were both highly ranked and underachieving. Brannen Greene and Carlton Bragg combined to average 8 points and 4 rebounds per game. These are both guys that were 4 star recruits and in the top 40 of their respective classes. This is not isolated to Steve, it is just indicative of how sometimes guys are busts.
I understand Steve is the one bringing in these 'busts', so still his fault. But what is he supposed to do, not recruit highly ranked players? When guys with high potential like Zion, Terrence, and Jakolby want to commit to ISU, you usually take them no questions asked. Just remember too, for every one of those 3, we also have a Lindell, THT, and Tyrese who were not busts.