A humble Merrill Holden changes Iowa State's team
- Thread starter JStanz51
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If we see this Holden the rest of the season, we're going to win a lot more games. It's gotta be difficult to change your mindset as a 5th year guy from someone that scores the ball to staunch defender, but man, he's exactly what we've been missing. I literally do not care if he scores a single point going forward. Just need that rim protection.
I think Coach Prohm has shown very clearly in these two seasons that, if you're not doing what we need you to do, even if we need you badly, he has no problem sitting you to gain perspective, for as long as it takes. Part of me wonders if that's the problem with Carter, because he looks like he has size and some skill but just does not get on the floor. Could be totally wrong there, but maybe?
Made this comment in the other thread (the one with CSP's press conference) - that Prohm indicated that Holden was willing to "change". That tells me he understands what he needs to do, and what is expected of him going forward.
Guess that's what you call coaching.
Guess that's what you call coaching.
I'd be pleased if we see that kind of effort out of Holden consistently the rest of the season and hopefully cut down on the fouls which he once again had a problem with. He was our leading rebounder with 7 in 25 minutes before fouling out. Burton, Naz, and Bowie all had 6, only Bowie Burton and Naz had theirs in 40 and 38 minutes while Bowie in just 14 after Holden wound up playing most of his minutes.
Not sure why Holden would think he'd be needed to score more as last year he averaged just 8.1 PPG at LA Tech which was 6th highest on the team. I do like what we've seen and heard about the situation with him not playing though. He knew he needed to adjust and accept a role that we need of him and Prohm made him put in the work to get back into the rotation without it becoming a distraction.
Not sure why Holden would think he'd be needed to score more as last year he averaged just 8.1 PPG at LA Tech which was 6th highest on the team. I do like what we've seen and heard about the situation with him not playing though. He knew he needed to adjust and accept a role that we need of him and Prohm made him put in the work to get back into the rotation without it becoming a distraction.
Props to Holden and Prohm for getting on the same page. Hopefully it means we get more positive contributions going forward.
That said, these conversations need to successfully happened a lot closer to Day 1. As the messenger it's largely on Prohm to have all of his players know what he needs from them and how they can accomplish that.
That said, these conversations need to successfully happened a lot closer to Day 1. As the messenger it's largely on Prohm to have all of his players know what he needs from them and how they can accomplish that.
Great stuff, Jared.
I like Holden's ability to alter shots at the hoop and his aggressiveness on the offensive glass. Prohm will have to keep shuffling Holden/Bowie/Young depending on matchups, but it looks like roles are being solidified. If Holden can do what he did Saturday, it gives us a little more versatility.
Somewhat related note: Bowie's body language and behavior was embarrassing at OU. He sat most of the second half with a towel over his head. During timeouts, he was not in the huddle and would sit before the team broke the huddle. At one point late in the game during a timeout, David Hobbs, the special assistant to Prohm (was head coach at Alabama in the '90s) snatched the towel off Bowie's head and threw it behind the bench. Bowie reacted with words to Hobbs, who didn't respond. I was happy to see Hobbs throw down some old school toughness on Bowie's childish behavior. After the game was over, the seniors celebrated enthusiastically while Bowie and Young immediately walked off the court. I'll be interested to see if Bowie starts tomorrow night or at least has a shorter leash.
I like Holden's ability to alter shots at the hoop and his aggressiveness on the offensive glass. Prohm will have to keep shuffling Holden/Bowie/Young depending on matchups, but it looks like roles are being solidified. If Holden can do what he did Saturday, it gives us a little more versatility.
Somewhat related note: Bowie's body language and behavior was embarrassing at OU. He sat most of the second half with a towel over his head. During timeouts, he was not in the huddle and would sit before the team broke the huddle. At one point late in the game during a timeout, David Hobbs, the special assistant to Prohm (was head coach at Alabama in the '90s) snatched the towel off Bowie's head and threw it behind the bench. Bowie reacted with words to Hobbs, who didn't respond. I was happy to see Hobbs throw down some old school toughness on Bowie's childish behavior. After the game was over, the seniors celebrated enthusiastically while Bowie and Young immediately walked off the court. I'll be interested to see if Bowie starts tomorrow night or at least has a shorter leash.
This is probably the biggest part of the story, IMO:
Holden swallowed his pride and marched into Prohm’s office last week after the loss to the Jayhawks. He wanted to know what he had to do to get back on the floor and how he could help his team.
Holden swallowed his pride and marched into Prohm’s office last week after the loss to the Jayhawks. He wanted to know what he had to do to get back on the floor and how he could help his team.
If we can get 20 productive minutes out of him every game, I really don't care if he fouls out. I'm sure he'll have games where he picks them up faster and is gone, but we do know how to play without him (we'd just rather not have to).
I hope CPS lets Bowie sit on the bench with his towel for a few games. We don't need this kind of crap, especially since he hasn't brought that much to the floor the last five games or so.
Bowie hasn't been great lately, but he can do positive things for us if we use him in the right spots. As I said elsewhere, use Holden and Young at the 5 (with maybe 5-10 minutes there for Bowie) and have him sub for Burton at the 4. Let Babb sub for spots 1-3.
Add Jackson at the 1-3 imo.
We don't the consistent all-conference level performers, but we have some depth.
Agree. Something like this in terms of minutes played at each spot:
Morris/Jackson/Babb
Naz/Jackson/Babb
Thomas/Babb/Jackson
Burton/Bowie/Young
Holden/Young/Bowie
With Jackson/Babb interchangeable depending on match ups, etc.
Major props to Holden for taking it so well. Such a tough situation, because it may go one of two ways. After being on the **** end of the stick with McKay last year its refreshing to see Holden work his way back into the mix.
I love Prohm. Play the way I want, and we need, or sit. Those are your options.
I agree with the sentiment but think fans probably need to not be the ones making judgement. We take one instance and decide a player has a bad attitude. Maybe Bowie was frustrated with himself. Maybe he had a bad week. Maybe the camera caught him at a bad moment.
They are human and are allowed to not be perfect every minute.
We don't know what conversations that Prohm and Holden were having, very likely Prohm was expressing that from day 1 but Holden thought he could do more thus lost some of Prohms trust after the first 10 games.
The story Jared wrote implied that they were talking about Holden's play all along and what the team needed but Prohm wasn't seeing the results on the floor. Credit Prohm for not just rolling Holden out there due to his size if he didn't trust him to produce. It was big of Holden to swallow some pride, have the discussion with CSP and accept his roll and staffs expectations. Hopefully Holden now fully embraces the OU game version of his game and doesn't fall back into some poor habits.
