I think the team will likely be a year or 2 away from being good.My point to all of that was not that we should feel bad for him. He's getting paid a lot of money here. My point was that he knows this business and how cut-throat it is and how quickly perceptions can change in the span of months. He knows that this bad year is going to shine brighter than the good one he had last year, and that he has to figure it out next year or he may get fired.
And his steps to figure it out for next year have been good so far. He's bringing in a very good recruiting class, he has a transfer sitting out that people are high on, and he's going to have a great opportunity to grab an immediately illegible guy. There are holes on this team in a couple of spots and so far he's filled every single one for next year besides Halliburton's.
If you don't think next year's team is going to be any good and you don't trust Prohm, then fine, you're entitled to your opinion. But don't be one of those fans then that hops back onto the wagon when / if we look promising, because you'll be the first one off of that wagon once adversity hits.
If literally everyone takes a step forward (large step for some of them) we might be decent.
Conditt has shown flashes, but big 12 big men is a man's game, and he is still young.
Young has shown he can be really good against at times, but also isn't consistent.
Bolton has been great this year. Maybe our only really consistent player we likely have coming back.
Grill has been getting major minutes for his defensive efforts, but still needs to make major steps forward to be a consistent contributed.
Tre has been been getting better, but needs to improve if we are going to be a good team. He averages less than 5 points per game
As for the freshmen coming in, it's a crapshoot. Our best recruit is a big man, and it is very hard to be a great big as a freshman. Also a lot to ask of a freshman to run point guard.
So while not impossible, we need players who have never stepped on the floor at ISU to be big 12 quality starters, or need 4 players who don't average 10 points a game currently to all improve. Solo and conditt don't currently combine for 10 rebounds a game this year.
Our transfer who has sat out i can't speak to how his game will transfer to big 12 play, but that certainly is helpful to have a little more experience on this team.
It is possible prohm could get a grad transfer stud pg to help us out, but grad transfers have not been a strong point of his. I would love to be wrong and that next year we return to the NCAA.