Prohm, Cyclones basketball head into summer with a to-do list

CARROLL — It's safe to say this offseason won't likely be as hectic as the last one for Iowa State men's basketball coach Steve Prohm.

That doesn't mean there aren't a few things Prohm needs to take care of this summer.

After the departure of assistant coach T.J. Otzelberger — who accepted the South Dakota State head-coaching job last month — Prohm has one spot on his staff that remains unfilled. Although he said there isn't a secret as to whom he'd like to fill the spot.

Neill Berry spent last season with the Cyclones as a special assistant to the head coach and has been recruiting for Iowa State since Otzelberger left. Prohm said he has talked a lot with Berry — who played for Prohm at Southeastern Louisiana — and hopes to have something finalized in the next week and no later than June 1.

'There's no hang-up at all (on the hiring process). It's just the business side,' Prohm said while at the first stop of the 2016 Cyclone Tailgate Tour. 'You've got to look at a lot of different factors. Who's out there, players, there are a lot of different things, a lot of different factors.

'But at the end of the day, I talked to Neill when we got here if I had an opportunity, if somebody left, to move him up, I'd probably do that. That's what I'm leaning toward.'

• Fred Hoiberg: Prohm handled first year "very well"

Iowa State is also carrying one open scholarship spot into the summer after JUCO forward Emmanuel Malou opted to remain in the NBA Draft, but isn't in a rush to fill it. Prohm said an ideal scenario would be taking a sit-out transfer — with the Cyclones set to lose six scholarship players in 2017 — that would be able to make an impact in 2017-18.

Monte Morris, Matt Thomas, Naz Mitrou-Long and Deonte Burton are all back this fall with a host of incoming transfers.

'If it just ends up being at 12 (scholarship players), I'm excited about those 12,' Prohm said. 'If there's a 13th guy that becomes available — I heard someone say the other day, it's almost early for transfers there may be a lot more good transfers pop up in the next month. We've got a lot of time [and] we're weighing a lot of options.'

NIANG MAKING MOST OF NBA WORKOUTS

Georges Niang participated in the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago last week where he had 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting in 20 minutes of the 5-on-5 workout. Prohm said Niang worked out for the Chicago Bulls on Monday and spent time with former ISU and current Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg during the weekend.

Prohm added he got good feedback about Niang from several NBA teams during the combine.

• Coaches, analysts break down Niang, Uthoff Paige

'You've got 30 teams and 15 probably are in love with him and 15 may obviously know he's a great player but don't think he fits what they are,' Prohm said. 'But for a team that is about just playing basketball, about passing, dribbling, shooting, IQ, attention to detail, character, work ethic, there are a lot of really great organizations — the Spurs are one that just comes up off the top of my head — he embodies what they're about. I told those guys that when I talked to them.'

SUMMER LEAGUE PLANS; LARD ARRIVING LATE

Iowa State players will play in the YMCA CapCity League at Valley Southwoods this summer, with JUCO signee Donovan Jackson — who suffered a broken wrist this past season — the only player not currently expected to participate. Jackson has been doing on-court workouts that he said will continue through the summer

Naz Mitrou-Long, who was granted a fifth season of eligibility after missing all but the first eight games last season because of hip pain, plans on playing in the summer league games.

'I haven't sat down and really dove into it,' Prohm said. 'Whether they play twice a week, three times a week, once a week I don't really know. But I think the majority of them will play.'

Incoming freshman Cameron Lard, who signed in April, doesn't finish school in Houston for a couple weeks, but the 6-foot-9 forward is on track to be in summer classes in Ames later this summer.

'Whether he's here for first session of summer school or not, that doesn't have any bearing on anything,' Prohm said. 'He finishes up I think May 28 and then if he does a summer session, he does a summer session and our plans are for him to be here in July.'

OPEN SCHOLARSHIP OPTIONS

Morris, Thomas, Mitrou-Long, Burton, and graduate transfers Darrell Bowie (Northern Illinois) and Merrill Holden (Louisiana Tech) are all on track to exhaust their eligibilities after next season, leaving six open scholarships for Iowa State to fill.

Although their departure is a year away, Prohm said his recruiting board is pretty straightforward about how he wants to use those scholarships.

'I'd like to sign a couple high school kids early if we can — two perimeter, one post early — and then maybe two junior college guys fit in,' Prohm said, 'and that sixth scholarship is kind of a wild card for a fifth-year, for a transfer, something like that based on what we need.'

l Comments: montzdylan@gmail.com