Norm Peterson

And then he did Kevin Cross for comparison's sake:

The nice Michigan fan did an Yvan chart for me:

The range of finishing percents is 41 to 79. The mean is 65. I found a standard deviation calculator on-line and it says the standard deviation is 9.7 and, if I understand how this works, that puts Yvan roughly 2 1/2 standard deviations from the mean. He is > 1 standard deviation worse than the next worst finisher. Not saying this to call Yvan out, although it sort of does that. But it's something we all can see and have seen, and it's something he really REALLY has to work on. He got pulled at the end of the Iowa game because Kevin was finishing plays and getting buckets that Yvan was getting stuffed on. Yvan absolutely MUST become a better weapon on the offensive end.

Maybe someone smart like @HuskerActuary could plot a bell curve of the finishing percentage of each of these Big Ten Bigs and let us know how many standard deviations from the mean Yvan is. (You don't need a graph to figure it out; there's a formula; but a graph helps visualize it.)

This hurts my eyes:

Source: https://dylanburkhardt.substack.com/p/the-big-debate

Ouch.

I remember watching a deal where they had Ron Darling hooked up to some electrodes on his scalp to see where the brain waves were coming from when he'd pitch the ball. There's a part of your brain that deals with conscious thought, the deliberative part that deals with higher functions. When he would throw the ball, that part would hardly be active at all. The part of the brain that deals with motor function, though, was lit up. To add to your golf analogy, it's why it's so much more difficult to hit a 3 foot putt when there's a lot riding on it.

OK, then how do they account for the loss?

Little tidbit: I think I read that, after his first season, Fred's ISU teams never lost more than 3 homes games in a season. Prohm's squad has already lost 3 and they have 8 conference home games remaining, 3 of which are against teams that are currently ranked and a 4th against an Oklahoma Sooner team that just won at Texas. Why do I care about Iowa State? I don't. Really. Except there's a small amount of buzz that they'd like to dump Prohm and bring back McDermott. And I wouldn't mind seeing that at all.

The Cyclowns are really pissed about this. We lost a buy game, but we, of course, have an excuse. Fred deployed a completely revamped roster in Year 1 with 13 scholarship guys who had never played together before and were assembled over the course of about 30 days in April and May. Lose a buy game or two under those circumstances, and you can kinda understand it. But this is Prohm's Year 5, and he reached the Sweet 16 his first season with a roster Hoiberg assembled. So, he started out with a table that was pretty well set for him. So, to lose a buy game halfway through his 5th season to a team in the bottom 50 is NOT going to sit very well with anyone who cares about Iowa State Basketball.

Ouch.

Yeah, he doesn't even stop to think about it. WHICH IS KEY! It needs to be reaction and muscle memory. That's why guys who have a wide open shot and take a second to think about it often miss. There's a reason they call good shooters "unconscious." There's a place in your brain you tap into when you're allowing muscle memory to work and not thinking too much. Thor isn't thinking about these shots; he's just taking them. If he keeps that up, the results should continue. It's all about feel.

How could he possibly have growing up to do? The kid's like 40.

Here's the highlight vid and it has all three of Thor's made treys. You'll find them at the 1:25 mark, 4:30 and 4:37. He's catching and shooting from a long way off and getting the ball out of his hands fast. (You'll also see Yvan getting stuffed at the rim and Kevin throwing it down on the same basic plays.)

Re: Thor and shooting. I don't think this is smoke and mirrors anymore. I was assuming there would be some regression to the mean. But he shot 50% from three against Iowa on 3-6 shooting, and did you see where his attempts came from? He shot some of those balls from downtown Waverly.

This is no longer a small sample size. I'm struck by the difference defensively. Sometimes you can't help being in a shooting slump and the shots just aren't falling. But you can control what kind of defense you play. And the numbers on defense are basically better across the board when he's not in the game. That's shocking to me.

Probably inadvertence as much as anything. I was trying to limit myself to only three additional players. Shamiel might make that cut, he might not.

I was thinking he seems like a Max Murrell clone. Hope he chooses us over the team with a tree for a mascot.

I saw that video. The team he plays for might be pretty terrible. That point guard looks like he's 4'10. In shoes. But man that kid, Tibet, can shoot the ball. And it would be a beautiful thing for us to have a couple of kids who can shoot the ball like that.

I think Mack is a no-brainer. Banton is getting too much buzz to ignore (coming especially from inside Hendricks.) The rest is pretty wide open. I think Cross, Stevenson and Allen are all about 6'6 and 230#, give or take. They may be listed differently, but I really think they're all pretty much the same size. Moreover, I think they all have a pretty similar skill set. Cross might lean more inside and Allen more outside, but similar tool bags and similar sizes. It's very possible we see just one of those three guys starting, at the "4" position if you will. That would open another guard spot for either Thor, who can shoot FTs and makes Mack a better PG, or Burke, who is quick as hell but misses too many freebies. With Walker being eligible, you'd have a battle at the proverbial 5 among Walker, Ouedraogo and Mayen. Until I see more from either of the new guys, I'm going to assume Yvan holds the starting job. But his inability to finish around the rim like last night could mean he has a short leash. The additions of Mayen and Walker allow Cross to shift to his (more natural?) wing/stretch 4 spot. So, Cross, Shamiel, Teddy. I think maybe Teddy Allen is the favorite to win that job because he's just quicker and a better shooter than the other two. Just from what I've seen. So, that's kinda the long-winded way of saying: Starters: PG Mack SG Burke/Thor SF Banton SF Allen PF Yvan Bench: Thor/Burke Green or Easley Walker We have to have a backup PG. I think Green is more naturally suited to that role, but things will have to change, including his willingness to accept a diminished role. Otherwise, Easley? I mean, who's your backup point?

Easley. Had another fantastic box-out and rebound. It's like he puts on a clinic for everyone else. "Here, stick your butt right into their side and walk them out of the damn way."

Next year, we'll have 3 seniors, 5 juniors and 4 sophomores, plus two spots that could be filled by anyone. Three seniors would be Thor, Dachon and Jervay. @GoBigFred is predicting none of them would start, and that's possibly true. As to the starters, he says "if they are all here." I'm going to suggest I think it would be highly unlikely that any of his projected starters would be anywhere but here. I mean, Banton, Stevenson and Walker have already sat out a year. Very little incentive to burn another year of eligibility and transfer somewhere else. Teddy Allen just has to sign his LOI but I strongly believe he will. And Mack is in a really good position to play basically the exact role he wants to play, will probably get pre-season all-conference chatter, and would have precious little incentive to start over somewhere else. So, if the above 5 are, in fact, the best 5, I think it's highly likely that group will be here intact next season. And those may very well be your starters.

So you're figuring only 1 returning active player in the starting lineup next year. Hmmm. That would be interesting if it happens. Not saying it won't. But definitely interesting if it does. Probably some degree of good news in terms of our prospects for the season if the three guys sitting out and one of the recruits are all able to bypass current roster players for spots in the starting lineup. That would mean three of next year's seniors, who would all have starting experience, would either be coming off the bench of not playing much at all.