If every major news outlet reporting that ISU MBB is soft doesn't motivate this team, I don't know what will. As an athlete, you have pride, you like to be looked at as a winner, tough, strong. These guys are being called out in a way no athlete wants. We'll see how they respond but I'm hoping they now play with a major chip on their shoulder. This is the ultimate insult in my opinion.
Motivation
- Thread starter oldwiseman
- Start date
I think many are still too young and inexperienced to know what consistent hard work and focus really is. That's whats great about next year - these guys will all be older and more experienced.
They may be motivated, but we still struggle like hell with full court pressure. I'm not looking forward to Wednesday at all, especially if Babb is hurt.
Yep, it could get ugly against WVU. They won't have any sympathy for us and will be happy to take advantage of whatever internal strife there is within the Cyclones squad. Prohm has a tough challenge ahead of him to get the ship righted.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Sounds like an invitation to install more motivational posters at Sukup.
Still more active than our halfcourt offense. They might take it as an encouragement to stay the course (which also sounds like our halfcourt offense).
If players don't like the coach ,then can't stay motivated
I’ve never heard anything about the players not liking the coach. The exact opposite.
Does the team not like Prohm? I honestly don't know. I do know the former players speak glowingly about him.
YOu can be really motivated and work really hard.....but if you are 4 inches shorter than you need to be, you can't make that up some games. The book is out there on that for how to prep. for us.
This is not unique to this team. Even Georges, Naz, Matt, and Monte had some stinkers. I remember Georges in multiple post game press conferences talking about how the team just wasn't ready to play. No one could understand how that could happen.
Well, these are college kids. Lots of stuff going on. Lots of distractions. This particular group is very inexperienced and our two best players are freshman. I think the effort will be better Wednesday, but it may not matter against WVU.
Well, these are college kids. Lots of stuff going on. Lots of distractions. This particular group is very inexperienced and our two best players are freshman. I think the effort will be better Wednesday, but it may not matter against WVU.
And hopefully one of the incoming studs has the moxie to take charge on the court & in the locker room when necessary.
That’s optimistic. We have the horses that can’t stay within 10 of UW-Milwaukee, but can beat Tech.
That inconsistency is past the normal variation in play. We’ve had a culture of taking possessions off, but now we have terrible shot selection and less talent. We’ve become stagnate on offense as we rely on tough shots from failed ISO’s and our defense is as mediocre as ever. Of course, when the step back 3Ps and the long fadeaway 2Ps are falling we can stay with teams.
Will our offense be more efficient next year if we keep taking tough shots after dribbling aimlessly, while also losing our best shooter?
I forget which announcer said it vs. Tenn but they said that the Cyclones don't believe they are as good as Prohm believes they are. I think this is the central issue. In the last few years when the shots didn't fall, the team believed it could still win (and we saw many times where they showed this with a phenomenal comeback). This year, when the shots don't fall, the heads do. Too many times our guys simply look like they are beat. We REALLY miss guys like Naz. Not because of his three point shooting but because of his ability to keep a team positive. I simply do not see such a guy on this roster. Hopefully one emerges. As noted earlier, this team does have the talent.
I think you just summed up one of the main issues there Allikat. Something I was just thinking this weekend is which player do you feel is the leader of this team right now? Honestly I couldn't tell you because you don't see anyone truly standing out that has taken on that role both on and off the court IMO. Jackson may be the closest thing to it as he did call out the team's softness after the game but when things get tough in a game I haven't really seen anyone consistently pulling his teammates together and getting their heads in the game like we did in the past with Georges, Naz, and Monte who were all clearly the leaders of the team throughout the year. Hoping someone steps up and takes that role soon, it may even have to be a Freshman like Wigginton but hopefully these guys have done some soul searching this past week and we see an inspired effort against WVU.
We've seen what this team is capable of doing by knocking off TTU, playing KU to the wire at the Phog, even played Texas tough the 1st time around so they have the talent to compete if they stay focused and don't fold under adversity. Everyone expected there to be some bumps in the road during a rebuilding season but how this team responds and finishes out the reason of this season will say a lot about their mental toughness. I can endure some losing when the games are competitive and the team is putting their best effort forward because the experience they are gaining and lessons they are learning should help them grow for next season. But the lack of effort and heads hung low in the 2nd half of Saturday's game is unacceptable and these guys will have to choose what path they want to go down now, do they pout in their misery and throw in the towel or do they come back pissed off and play with the effort they have shown us they can play with at times this season and try to end the season on a positive note going into next year.
We've seen what this team is capable of doing by knocking off TTU, playing KU to the wire at the Phog, even played Texas tough the 1st time around so they have the talent to compete if they stay focused and don't fold under adversity. Everyone expected there to be some bumps in the road during a rebuilding season but how this team responds and finishes out the reason of this season will say a lot about their mental toughness. I can endure some losing when the games are competitive and the team is putting their best effort forward because the experience they are gaining and lessons they are learning should help them grow for next season. But the lack of effort and heads hung low in the 2nd half of Saturday's game is unacceptable and these guys will have to choose what path they want to go down now, do they pout in their misery and throw in the towel or do they come back pissed off and play with the effort they have shown us they can play with at times this season and try to end the season on a positive note going into next year.
Nice Post Boz...any team that doesnt have a great point guard...see Monte Morris...will struggle against west virginia and their constant pressure and pressing defense.......
Shot selection will improve as soon as floor spacing improves. All of the Cyclones' offensive woes stem from spacing, and the talent-experience quotient. Most of our talent is young, while most of our experience is fighting injuries past or present, or just isn't the level we're used to in the roles being asked of them. Our primary ballhandler hasn't played that role in three years, and never at the college level.
Defense is in the same boat. NWB, when healthy, would probably be our lockdown defender. Lard leaves the weak side too often to chase blocks. Rotations could be better, but how many five on five practices has this team had all year?
I just wouldn't expect the same things next year. As long as two (preferably more) of Lewis, Shayok, THT, Griffin, Haliburton, Solomon, and Jacobson can shoot a three next year, ISU should be in really good shape.
Will people occasionally still jack up bad shots and iso a few too many possessions? Yeah. But remember that the greats that just graduated shared those issues early on. A few extra isos is a byproduct of Coach Prohm's freeform philosophy, not the goal. I don't think Prohm looks at how we use our possessions and thinks, "That iso 25 footer is exactly what we wanted there, it just didn't go in." Give it time. If they continue to listen to Prohm they'll fill the big shoes of their predecessors.
Seems they got the message. This was NOT a soft team tonight. Good game, fun to watch. Now let's see how they play when the shots aren't dropping.