what's wrong with this team?

[swarthmoreCY]

Usually I just prefer to lurk, but the bipolarism of this board is killing me.....

What if I told you....(last April)
1. We would lose Fred
2. We would lose 2+ games in Hilton
3. McKay would be on the brink of quitting
4. We finish in the bottom half of the Big12
5. We go into the tournament as an 8 seed

None of us would have believed this (maybe other than Fred leaving). This was supposed to be a can't miss season. It was supposed to be THE year. While I don't believe in attacking players personally, I think being disappointed and frustrated in the way this has played out is perfectly normal and acceptable. There seem to be a lot who put on the cardinal colored glasses and analyze who is a true cyclone fan, and that their support will never waiver, but any Cyclone fan should be upset, angry, frustrated. I've gotten to the point where the only way this is a successful season is if we make a deep run as somewhat of a cinderella, which is unlikely. I feel bad for Niang, I hope Prohm has a vision moving forward that will provide more success, but lets face it, circumstances happen, but as a fan, this season has been a trainwreck.

When was this suppose to be a can't miss season? 2014? That is way too soon for this season to have been anything.

This season has been as expected- a good, but not great team having a good but not great season. We lose in the first round to UAB and had more subtractions than gains.

 

[Balls]

Missing that hard nosed, not gunna fuking lose this one, kind of player.

If you honestly look at this roster, it really hasn't upgraded since Kane and Ejim graduated. No doubt there's talent, but it's not better than that year, and its not better than last year.

So that puts us back to Clyburn's year, and they were middle of the Big 12 and a 10 seed.

nailed it, hard nosed player that is under control and gets the team to play mentally tough.

At at the end of the game, missed 1&1, other misses at the line, missed rebounds, intentional foul, numerous 3 point plays given up on defense. Now there was also the missed goal tend and the banked in 3.

 

[ISUCY23]

Niang is soft and finesse? I am just going by that that poster's criteria.

No but Niang is in a different way. Those guys bullied people. Niang uses skill. There is no doubt in my mind that Niang is one of the most fierce competitors we've had at ISU. It's just in a different way.

 

[ISUCY23]

Missing that hard nosed, not gunna fuking lose this one, kind of player.

If you honestly look at this roster, it really hasn't upgraded since Kane and Ejim graduated. No doubt there's talent, but it's not better than that year, and its not better than last year.

So that puts us back to Clyburn's year, and they were middle of the Big 12 and a 10 seed.

Last year's team should have been so much. Really disappointing looking back at it. A lot of talent.

 

[bosco]

Iowa State has to be the only team in the conference that lacks a guard coming of the bench that is a true threat to score.

We had one, his name was Matt Thomas.

 

[mattyice]

No but Niang is in a different way. Those guys bullied people. Niang uses skill. There is no doubt in my mind that Niang is one of the most fierce competitors we've had at ISU. It's just in a different way.

Yes...thank you. That was what i was trying to convey.

THIS years team needs more bullies. IMO thats been part of our toughness issues down the stretch of games.

 

[Klubber]

This team really Misses Naz Long and the coaching of Fred Hoiberg..................I will say it again This Team Peaked Last Year in Kansas City.....

Really missing a lot of easy transition baskets that we had last year...This Coach and Team need to look in the mirror...And then look at Tapes of last years team...................

<
Yes. Thank you for saying this. All you hear on this board after losses it seems are fans trotting out excuse after excuse for Prohm.

How many more times do we need to hear the Naz Long excuse? Or people blaming Freddie.

Funny how you don't here Texas fans blaming Cam Ridley after a loss, because Shaka is doing a phenomenal job down there. Prohm has been an average coach thusfar, and tonight was yet another example.

Where we are right now has as much to do with him being subpar as anything else. But hey, at least he finally gave Burton some minutes tonight...

 

[acgclone]

We have the same players and their respective strengths and weaknesses that we've had the past few years where we did the exact same things. I think the biggest issue is fans haven't taken that into consideration when setting expectations.

We basically go 3 deep, have a skilled player that couldn't make a good decision to save his life (Nader), another that requires more ego stroking and medication than any player I've ever seen (McKay) and have no other legit Big XII caliber options.

Thank Fred, he shouldn't just get credit for the good things he accomplished without any mention of the bare cupboard he left us with.

I get this and don't necessarily disagree but this is the last year for Prohm to get that excuse IMO.

He will probably have brought in 7-8 of the players on next year's roster. Matt Thomas is playing his best ball of his career. Burton and Babb never played for Fred. Naz is tough enough regardless of who his coach is.

If Cooke can't play Prohm's style of ball or make the commitment that is asked of him, Prohm should push him out.

The B12 will be down and our entire schedule will be easier with Drake instead of UNI, Iowa will lose a lot, we should be seeded low enough in the B12 that our SEC matchup will be easier. Cincy comes to Ames.

This is the last year he can blame the players IMO.

 

[Balls]

Can't figure it out. Are we great and play bad against terrible teams. Or are we bad and play good against great teams.

Either way, I've watched enough ball over the years to know this is one, if not the most, frustrating tams to watch. Just ******* brutal.

 

[atlantacyclone]

I don't see how you can say that Prohm isn't responsible for our losses. Our team is good enough to be up in every game... when we have that lead with a few to go we always get soft and the gap closes. Sure the opposing teams seem to shoot 150% from 3 in the last three minutes of every game. But we shouldn't be in a position for that to beat us.

 

[sigh]

We play to our competition. We can beat anyone and obviously lose to anyone. They kind of remind of the 2014 Uconn team, we just need a Napier type player to step up. Hopefully they'll find that.

 

[cyclones500]

Reiterating some posts, in some ways.


After the A&M & WVU losses, I decided I will go “sports-fan-insane” if I don’t accept that Iowa State is closer to 5-seed area*, not top-10 material. Not because it’s a bad team, or going negative on these players, it’s how attainable the success rate is.


Good news: 5 seeds occasionally make a run to Final Four. Not-as-good: As we know, there’s the Classic 12-5 upset line.


*It’s also possible to be 5 seed in Big 12 tournament, too, but that’s another topic.

 

[dukeebear]

The depth argument seriously has to stop. Our best teams ever have gone 7 deep. Drop that stupid argument now. Bad luck has cost us a couple of games. The fact that most of this board thought we were a shoe in for the final four was ******** also. Quit being that type of fan. This team can compete with any team in college basketball this year. Be happy with that. We are not a basketball school. We are a school that has been good at basketball a few years, we are a school that has amazing fans. We are a school that expects 19 year olds to be something special every night. Everything will be ok, step off the ledge and stop being dumb

 

[LincolnWay187]

I say shot selection. I hated see Monte bomb a 3 at regulation WITH TIME LEFT. If that play was designed, poor choice and poor execution. We are not making the clutch plays we need like Georges making the front end of his free throws at the end also.

 

[jsb]

I get this and don't necessarily disagree but this is the last year for Prohm to get that excuse IMO.

He will probably have brought in 7-8 of the players on next year's roster. Matt Thomas is playing his best ball of his career. Burton and Babb never played for Fred. Naz is tough enough regardless of who his coach is.

If Cooke can't play Prohm's style of ball or make the commitment that is asked of him, Prohm should push him out.

The B12 will be down and our entire schedule will be easier with Drake instead of UNI, Iowa will lose a lot, we should be seeded low enough in the B12 that our SEC matchup will be easier. Cincy comes to Ames.

This is the last year he can blame the players IMO.

prohm won't use it as an excuse but I sure as hell will excuse him next year.

He may have brought in a big chunk of next years team, but because our previous coach failed to do his ******* job for 2 years, prohms guys will have to contribute sooner than expected. Think about this....Fred didn't recruit a god dsmned freshman after the sweet 16 run that stayed. Those guys should be contributing next year. But they won't be because Fred found his dream and ****ed us over.

Prohm will likely fail here like most coaches do. It won't be his fault.

 

[acgclone]

prohm won't use it as an excuse but I sure as hell will excuse him next year.

He may have brought in a big chunk of next years team, but because our previous coach failed to do his ******* job for 2 years, prohms guys will have to contribute sooner than expected. Think about this....Fred didn't recruit a god dsmned freshman after the sweet 16 run that stayed. Those guys should be contributing next year. But they won't be because Fred found his dream and ****ed us over.

Prohm will likely fail here like most coaches do. It won't be his fault.

We all know that Fred didn't leave the roster in an ideal condition but that's history now. My point is we are hearing lots of stuff about Prohm needing to get his guys and these players need to buy into his program.

Well, next year he won't have the problem of too many Fred holdovers.

It will be time to put away the "blame the players" approach and it will be his team.

This isn't like taking over a crappy football program where you have to build a foundation and get players into their JR or SR year before they can contribute.

You can find FR that can play in basketball and the cupboard is not bare next year with who is returning. Our schedule is relatively easier than this year.

If we lose more than a couple of home games next year or miss the tourney, I don't think its fair to keep blaming Fred.

That has to end after this season.

 

[jsb]

We all know that Fred didn't leave the roster in an ideal condition but that's history now. My point is we are hearing lots of stuff about Prohm needing to get his guys and these players need to buy into his program.

Well, next year he won't have the problem of too many Fred holdovers.

It will be time to put away the "blame the players" approach and it will be his team.

This isn't like taking over a crappy football program where you have to build a foundation and get players into their JR or SR year before they can contribute.

You can find FR that can play in basketball and the cupboard is not bare next year with who is returning. Our schedule is relatively easier than this year.

If we lose more than a couple of home games next year or miss the tourney, I don't think its fair to keep blaming Fred.

That has to end after this season.

most years Iowa state loses several home games. If we are going to fire coaches for that we will never keep one.

and prohm isn't blaming the players. The fans are doing that.

 

[cstrunk]

Fred taking the last two years off from recruiting is what is really killing us now

This.

When was this suppose to be a can't miss season? 2014? That is way too soon for this season to have been anything.

This season has been as expected- a good, but not great team having a good but not great season. We lose in the first round to UAB and had more subtractions than gains.

Right up until the time that the Hoiberg rumors began in earnest last year and he ultimately decided to leave (and even after that we were a consensus Top 10 preseason team!). We whiffed on bringing in Diallo and possibly (probably?) others that would have given us the depth we need day in and day out.

The depth argument seriously has to stop. Our best teams ever have gone 7 deep. Drop that stupid argument now. Bad luck has cost us a couple of games. The fact that most of this board thought we were a shoe in for the final four was ******** also. Quit being that type of fan. This team can compete with any team in college basketball this year. Be happy with that. We are not a basketball school. We are a school that has been good at basketball a few years, we are a school that has amazing fans. We are a school that expects 19 year olds to be something special every night. Everything will be ok, step off the ledge and stop being dumb

Please. Of course every team has their top level of players. But ours has a significant drop off after our top tier. We lack depth. It's well known. It's well documented. It's been well discussed. Anyone can catch lightning in a bottle and go on a run during a tournament, even with a lack of depth, sure. But if you have a bench full of Big 12-caliber starters, you'll end up winning consistent regular season titles and have more success in March/April. You can go to your bench and sit a starter who is having an off night. ISU can't even do this. It's a glaring problem. It's the difference between winning a few tight games and losing a few tight games.

 

[CyInDFW]

Need more aggressive play from Ashton and Cooke because they are just ball passers when on the court. They need to make more plays when they are on the court.

It would really help if Ashton wasn't a defensive liability when on the court. How many times did he stray away from his guy tonight? Uses his body too much for a guard instead of his feet.

It all boils down to depth and we all know it. Losing Naz and Ernst (basically a body, but one that could soak up some minutes when needed) hurt, but then losing McKay because he's a headcase for a couple games kills us. We are already have a non existent bench when it comes to big men, then to lose the one guy in the paint that we do have was the nail in the coffin.

Someone else said it above also...we don't have that killer instinct guy...win at all costs guy...get in the opponents face as well his own teammates faces guy.

 

[CyFan03]

They don't have a killer instinct. Period. They play to the level of their competition, and occasionally it bites them in the ars.

These guys haven't had a killer instinct for the past 3 years, so no reason to think they would this year. Not saying they don't battle back, because they do. But just once, I would like to see them take a 10 point lead, turn it into 20, then HOLD it.

Won't be holding my breath for that one.