If I had to guess, I would say defense. Deonte has been much better the last few games on that end. At first, I'm not sure if he knew exactly what to do at all times, and got caught watching a lot. Now, he looks alert and more comfortable out there.
what's wrong with this team?
- Thread starter cyclones12321
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If I had to guess, I would say defense. Deonte has been much better the last few games on that end. At first, I'm not sure if he knew exactly what to do at all times, and got caught watching a lot. Now, he looks alert and more comfortable out there.
It does become really hard to keep perspective, but we really are living in the glory days of Iowa State basketball. I get just as frustrated as anyone, but perspective is important. It wasn't long ago a successful season was measured by a just spot in the NCAA tournament, and now that is all but an assumption coming into the year.
I think one of the biggest signs of how this team stacks up, given all the obvious issues, no Naz, no depth, new coach, is it seems no matter who we play, we not only don't hang on to late game leads, but have not buried anyone. Even the biggest margin wins were very close games. When you get high single, or double digit leads, the great teams put the game away. We have not been able to do that. Why?
It's all going to depend on match-ups. Even if McKay does buy in he and Niang still get pushed around down low and out-rebounded by teams who are bigger and stronger and have more fight in them. That's why UAB was able to hang around and ultimately win. That's probably the same reason they will get knocked out of the tourney this year... they'll meet a team that whoops them on the glass. It's a glaring weakness, and when you add the lack of depth problem it gives opposing coaches an easy strategy to put in place.
They don't want to foul. Get physical with them. Push them around. Force them to respond and possibly foul which could lead to foul trouble or succeed at pushing them around all game because they refuse to foul. It is what it is. If I'm an opposing coach that's exactly what I would do and I'm not half as smart as most of those guys.
Yeah three of those four would be nice to have back for sure. I'll pass BDJ though.
My point was more to this. Even with that great talent they needed coaching and mid game tweaks to the game plan...I don't believe they'd get down 10or 20 points just to build suspence. Those guys were great because of who was coaching them. They could have been great with a lot of coaches besides Fred, but I'm not sure the out come today would be much different if we had any one of the previous years teams back with the new leadership.
Lol...ya, that's definitely the vibe I get after losses.
I get more or an angry, uneducated mob led by some trolls that want to go burn a building down with kids locked inside because we're mad about a basketball game vibe.
Resummarizing your diatribe: Prohm is no Bill Self; no bench after Naz and JM; no Fred real recruiting for 14 months; gassed at end; chaos at end.
People need to quit using our preseason expectations when evaluating last night's game. We were without 2 of our 5 starters at the beginning of the year, and Jordan Ashton was the first player off our bench.
The guys we did have last night played well. Like it or not though, it hurts losing 40% of your starting lineup from an already thin roster.
The guys we did have last night played well. Like it or not though, it hurts losing 40% of your starting lineup from an already thin roster.
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Oh ya the media hype got the plebes all worked up this year...and outside of this site, a guy like T Hines, and Pandy they did it solely for the possibility of playing the "I told you so" and "meltdown/catastrophe" cards.
I mean JFC, did anyone listen to Morning Rush yesterday and today? What a crapfest my grandma has more hours of general CBB watching in than Travis/Heather combined guaranteed. Yet these are the people that shape the opinions of a good portion of the "fans" on this site.
This is what people need to remember, as well as all the bounces that went our way in the furious comebacks last year.
I also think offensively the skills of the players were more complimentary in previous years. This year we are relying on guys that all need to get in the lane to be at their best, with Thomas the lone exception. Morris, Niang, Nader, Burton can score from the perimeter, but that's not their strength, and obviously McKay has to score in the paint. This is just an easier team to defend if for no other reason than that. Naz would've helped or the emergence of Cooke, but this is the team we have. We still have a very good team offensively, but it needs to be great to overcome the defensive inconsistencies to make a run on March.
You nailed it. The local media, kxno, Miller and the mouth are loving it, especially when you throw in the hoks
Back to the original question in this thread, I think they are simply just tired....especially at the end of games when it counts the most. This team has been in every game, and most of the losses have come down to one possession.
Niang, Monte and McKay are all averaging 2-5 more minutes per game over last year. That may not seem like much, but that probably translates into an extra 5 - 10 minutes on the bench to rest, which could be significant. Even Naz was averaging over 4 minutes more per game (recovering from injury) than he played last year.
Thomas' and Nader's minutes have basically doubled. That has to be tough for them to perform well consistently night after night, and isn't that what we have seen?
There is no bench. Burton has been a significant addition, but he is only adding 18 minutes per game so far. That's it.
Who/what to blame? First, the coaching change messed this program up. Lost recruits (Williams) and missed out on what would have been a significant transfer (Bielefeldt). Then transfers out of the program (SDW, Jackson, Custer) and players who did not return (the Greek). Does anyone think those players would not have helped this team?Then of course, there is Naz' injury and McKay's antics that hit this team at the worst possible times.
Finally, I do wish this staff had done more to develop players like Jordan, Hallice and Simeon. I'm not sure what kind of individual work they get in practice, but it would have been nice to see them get some significant minutes with the starters in some of the non-con blow-outs instead of just garbage time with other bench players the last 2-5 minutes of the games.
The biggest problem is, there really is no way to fix this now. All that can be done is play the bench more minutes now, even if they are not ready, and hope that will get you through the ends of games.
Niang, Monte and McKay are all averaging 2-5 more minutes per game over last year. That may not seem like much, but that probably translates into an extra 5 - 10 minutes on the bench to rest, which could be significant. Even Naz was averaging over 4 minutes more per game (recovering from injury) than he played last year.
Thomas' and Nader's minutes have basically doubled. That has to be tough for them to perform well consistently night after night, and isn't that what we have seen?
There is no bench. Burton has been a significant addition, but he is only adding 18 minutes per game so far. That's it.
Who/what to blame? First, the coaching change messed this program up. Lost recruits (Williams) and missed out on what would have been a significant transfer (Bielefeldt). Then transfers out of the program (SDW, Jackson, Custer) and players who did not return (the Greek). Does anyone think those players would not have helped this team?Then of course, there is Naz' injury and McKay's antics that hit this team at the worst possible times.
Finally, I do wish this staff had done more to develop players like Jordan, Hallice and Simeon. I'm not sure what kind of individual work they get in practice, but it would have been nice to see them get some significant minutes with the starters in some of the non-con blow-outs instead of just garbage time with other bench players the last 2-5 minutes of the games.
The biggest problem is, there really is no way to fix this now. All that can be done is play the bench more minutes now, even if they are not ready, and hope that will get you through the ends of games.
It is an interesting look at how we got to our lack of depth. Beyond the transfers out, I would have liked our chances with Diallo, or with a 5th year transfer like Ryan Anderson or Biefeldt had Fred been more committed to staying. Also, you see a guy like one-time commit Elgin Cook averaging 14 and 5 for Oregon.
I think a real problem is when they try to slow the game down too much at the end of games. They try to run clock off when they are a head and it messes up their offensive flow. This team is at is best when they are passing the ball around and guys are trying to get open. When the run clock down their is no flow and they rush up a junk shot.
Agree. Too many possessions being run down to the last couple seconds. Just run the normal offense and get a good shot
Like it or not there is a portion of the ISU fan base that is flat out angry.
Maybe its about having a guy not running the football to the center of the field to set up an easy field goal to win a Division title. The first in football since the Titanic sank
Maybe its about the blarge and having a team that should have been a 1 seed, having to play a 1 seed on their home court.(more or less)
Maybe its about being part of history a 2 losing to a 15 or a 3 to a 14
Maybe its about the fact the rule on a blocking call was changed after ISU should have had an and 1 against OSU, it was the wrong call, but rule changed too late for ISU.
Maybe its about getting an apology letter from the league because the calls were so bad, there was no explanation for it.
Maybe it's about a top player breaking his foot and losing to the eventual national champion in the sweet 16.
Maybe its about having 2 favorite sons abandon ISU on the cusp of greatness.
Maybe its about not taking a knee and giving up 10 points in a minute to lose in an impossible way
Maybe its about having what amounts to an assassin with the 3 ball call it a season with bad hips. Already depleting a main street USA bench. (Empty and abandon)
Maybe its about a player so selfish in his approach, he gave his coach no choice and abandon his brothers on the road as a result.
Maybe its about seeing a player pull a Harlem Globetrotter shot that more or less sinks ISU. (Saw this as KU too a couple of years ago)
Maybe its about sucking at football for so long, that whenever the 1 major sport ISU has respectability in, the losses are magnified.
Only explanation I got for some people to go off the deep end the way the do. Its like being a boxer, after taking so many blows and getting concussions, a person does not always think clearly.
Still think Prohm is doing fine, team has a chance to make a good run. Last year with all the fluke wins, and comebacks is just evening out this year. McKay hopefully will get back to team ball and keep his head up.
Gonna beat Texas by double figures Saturday
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I could be wrong but it seemed like Biefeldt was just waiting for Fred to say he was going to be back to commit to us. He would have been a real nice pick up for this year.