Iowa State Cyclones

Bring on the season! I'm ready for Iowa State to have multiple ball-handlers on their team again. We went a lot of years with good guard play and a big guy down low and did really well. We really lost our identity with McDermott. Lotta tweeners that were great players, but we didn't have strong ball handlers. Sounds like Fred is trying to bring back the tempo and style of shooting that he played with back in the early 90's. He's being criticized for all of the transfers he's brought on, but I sure like players transferring to Ames versus away from Ames.

Drake - oof. I hope this wakes some of these guys up. I'm getting the feeling they have been hearing how good they were going to be and forgot to show up against Drake last night. White put up some good numbers, but our "shooters" looked pretty pedestrian.

Wow! Welcome Darnell Harris! Coach Hoiberg has a premium crop of recruits lined up for NEXT year, while shaking up the PRESENT line-up to get our Cyclones playing up (closer) to their high expectations! SOME fans have started to get frustrated, but this team IS going to be a lot of fun to watch. Go Cyclones!

CBS writers and/or staff: You're missing Nazareth Long in your list of the Cyclone 2012 recruiting class! LOOKIN' GOOD, Clones!

Their recruiting list is usually pretty shabby daaactor. I wouldn't look for it to change anytime soon. Hoping to actually get to a game this year to see how Hoiberg is progressing as a coach. He seems to love getting shooters, which is fine, but he needs some really good defenders (on-ball and post) to complete this team. Royce White has been the real deal in terms of hype this year. I'm hoping the rest of the team can step up. With Mizzou playing great ball and KU starting to come around, we need someone to keep the other team off the boards (backboard and scoreboard)

Actually, Cool, going back say, a decade, but especially in the past five, it has NOT so much been a recruiting AS a RETENTION problem! Watching NCAA basketball (especially in the NCAA tournament) in recent years, seeing former Cyclones succeeding elsewhere (even going FAR into the tournament) HAD become commonplace and extremely PAINFUL! The reason for MY optimism, is that FINALLY - we have HOMEGROWN head Basketball AND footfall coaches that don't look at Ames as a mere stepping stone to launch a career! This is the MOST exciting time in Cyclone athletics EVER, because now there is at least a level playing field in the struggle for talent! The proof in "in then pudding" as the "Tale of thee Transfers" has FINALLY reversed itself...and that is BECAUSE OF leadership..a quality missing from those team programs for some time!

I actually meant CBS's roster lists and recruiting lists are usually crap.  Last year, we had some players listed on the basketball roster that transferred before the seaon started.

I completely agree with your post,though. Nice to see us get some coaches that should stay put for awhile. I was actually surprised to see them sign Rhoads for 10 years.  His name kept getting brought up by the media whenever a coaching vacancy came open.  I kept saying "Leave our coach alone, dammit!!"  I think Hoiberg will be a good coach eventually.  He's shown he can recruit, but I think he needs some more experience to get us playing solidly on both ends of the floor. 

Some solidity at the coaching position should help us in the long run in both sports.

Son of a gun...wouldn't you know Urban Meyer POACHES Rhoads offensive (Mensa) coordinator, but at least CPR got a deal! Also, is it NOT true that the "game coach" Hoiberg had last year - to help him adjust as a first year coach DURING GAMES - was also hired away? If so, it COULD explain the uncharacteristic offensive lethargy (STANDING AROUND) which seems to have been inextricably "on display during critical periods recently! Either that, or there have some significant challenges for the many disparate "new pieces" adjusting to each other! It is EXCITING to see the overall talent level rising QUICKLY, and I especially wonder WHETHER/IF FH might at some point CONSIDER fielding a FOUR man front line (one guard)...it already appears he's wanting to play Royce and Gibson m ore together, and Ejim seems to have LOST playing time (since last year when he scored well)! At any rate, Booker has NOT been looking very good at all, and I have been very disappointed in the shooting percentages of Babb (and Allen most of the time). It seems to me that Fred might finally be able to create more strategic match-up challenges for Big 12 foes.

I fear this could be a long year in Big 12 conference play for ISU. Defensively, we are not getting it done. Someone needs to provide some help side defense. I thought they might be gelling a lot better at this time in the year, but there are some pretty recognizeable lapses. Here's hoping they can find a little more motivation going into league play. I guarantee there are a lot of opposing coaches that are going to try to get White into foul trouble to get him on the bench early. It was nice to see Ejim looking like the player he was last year. Lotta good pieces, but Fred's gotta get them playing together on both ends. Make a good statement tomorrow, fellas

Very good effort from ISU today! I can't remember the last time I saw an ISU basketball team play that well on the road. These guys are playing with a lot of confidence right now and I hope they can keep it going. Returning home against a Missouri team that just got smacked by K-State will be a big challenge. I hope ISU brings its A game!

That A&M game was probably one of the best overall games I've seen the Clones play in a long time. They looked as good defensively as I've seen them all year.  It looked like their energy level was up.  I'm a lot more optimistic about Wednesday's game against MU than I was before the weekend. My main hesitation with getting too excited is that neither TX or A&M and particularly strong shooting teams (A&M looked really bad).  This week against MU ad KU will give us a little better idea of how much we have improved. 

Royce White looks like one of the best players we've had for awhile. The fact that he's not a scorer first makes that statement even more significant, IMO. Christopherson looked more comfortable, too. He made some nice quick cuts and good decisions. Starting off 2-0 in conference play is a lot better than where I thought we'd be after early losses to UNI and Drake. 

"neither TX or A&M ARE particularly strong" not AND...

DaaactorT, they finally are showing Naz Long. Only took a month after you said something :)

Time to get back on track and win tonight and Saturday. It was good to play against some tougher teams to see what areas need improving as we go along in Big 12 play. Free throw shooting would be a helluva place to start. We played MU and KU tough defensively. We panicked during that 2nd half KU run and didn't execute well offensively. Players started standing around more, making KU's defense a lot more effective than it had been the whole game. They clogged the passing lanes and we ended up with a lot of empty possessions. It doesn't take many bad possessions to turn a game around, especially in Lawrence. Like I said, we have a couple win-able games coming up. We need to get 'em.

Tough loss for OK State. Keiton Page can flat-out shoot the ball. Nash is going to be good for awhile for the Cowboys as well.  A little more support and they would have stolen a road game last night.

The best thing I can say for our Clones is that they didn't play their best game and still won. It was a game they tried really hard to lose. McGee and Christopherson saved the day. White had a quiet 17 points, but he needs to stop getting two fouls before the first ten minutes is gone in the game. 

Babb was silent again last night. I really think his "defensive stopper" role is playing a huge part in his offensive slump. Allen and Booker were not factors either.  I'm glad that someone keeps stepping up when others are down, but it would be great to see everyone shoot like I know they can. 

Oklahoma State's speed and screens gave them trouble last night. That was the first time I could see this team look tired at the end of the game.  Free throws were much better though. 68% isn't stellar, but I'll take it over what they were doing. Get another road win at Lubbock

Already more conference wins than all of last season. Plus, we have won two road games convincingly.  I was expecting an improvement from last year, but I really wasn't sure what to expect in terms of total wins.  Hoiberg is the right man for this school (still).

Pessimism - We still have not defeated a quality opponent this year. We played KU and MU well, but had stretches in the second half where we looked out-coached and scattered. The two conference road wins we have are against some of the worst looking A&M and Tech squads that I've seen in a number of years.  Babb has been fairly irrelevant offensively in the last few games. We haven't played Baylor or KState yet or MU at Columbia.  We still have to travel to OK State and Texas and both played us close at Hilton.

Optismism - We are 4th in the conference and have played quality defense so far. Our passing is improved over the first part of the year.  We are playing well on the road, actually closing out opponents when we have the opportunity.  We are beating teams that we should beat.  We still get to play A&M and Tech at home. Most importantly, the team seems to be playing a little more as a team every game. McGee is fun to watch and has to be one of the best 6th men in the game. White did not get into foul trouble in the first half.

Looking ahead to Texas, I could see the game going either way. Jcovan Brown tore us up last outing before getting hurt. Hoiberg better figure out a way to not let him run rampant on us again.  Also, White and the bigs need to get on the boards more than last meeitng or we will not walk out of there with a win.  P.S.  Ejim, quit taking 3's, drive the lane, man. You are a slasher and a jumper. Use your strengths. Go Clones!

Good analysis.  Only thing I would add (to the optimism part) is that the more games this team plays the better they're going to be--due to getting in sync with all the transfers.  Can already see vast improvements from the team that lost to Drake and UNI just a couple months ago.  I wish they could find a way to get Babb more involved on offense, but he always seems to get a tough defensive assignment, which can't be overlooked.  Very fun team to watch.

Texas showed us what relying on the three-ball can do. When it's not falling, we tend to struggle. Not being able to watch the game, I had to rely on game stats and comments form Longhorn fans that were actually able to watch it.  It sounded like the defenses were both scrappy, but we just couldn't buy a basket.  It also sounded like Royce White returned to his struggles at the line, which is puzzling.  I have a hard time commenting on anything more without having watched a single shot in the game.

My "duh" statement for the day is:  This Saturday's game vs KU is huge for us.  We really need to start strong and, most importantly, withstand KU's runs. We played them toe to toe in Lawrence until that second half run when the wheels just came flying off. I'm looking for a big game from Christopherson. Being the senior that has seen them for four years, he needs to be the leader. Also, White needs to mix it up down low early and try to get some foulson Withey and Robinson.

Ejim and Booker also need to muddy up the lane and try to get some fouls on Withey and Robinson. We have the depth advantage and this is where we need to capitalize. If we can get scrappy down low and then get a couple guys hot from outside the arc, we can win this game.  We cannot allow Taylor and Robinson to get their games going early.

Whoever comes off the bench better come in with energy, though.  If I see some half-a$$ed effort from someone, I hope Hoiberg makes them meet the bench quickly. And for pete's sake, hit some free throws guys. "free" points at the free throw line. Gotta take advantage of it.

Calling you out Scotty, time to get your win versus Kansas before you graduate.

Good win today for the Mayor and ISU. Always been a fan of the mayor when he played ball at ISU and in the pros. Good luck the rest of the season ISU.

Two more wins since last I posted! Tough wins at that.  Both games played out about the way I thought. 

They stayed with KU really well in the first half and were able to withstand their 2nd half run. I was very impressed with how they controlled Thomas Robinson again.  And out-rebounding KU by 13!?!  We need to be like that every game.  Not a great shooting game (KU actually shot better from the field) but it was enough. White's two free throws at the end of the game were HUGE.

I was worried that Kstate may give us troubles with their style of play, and they did. Kstate made us look really bad defensively for most of the game.  To borrow a hockey analogy, the Wildcats just threw the puck at the net on a lot of occasions and relied on their offensive rebounding prowess to clean up any messes. 

I don't think ISU had a "let-down" game after the KU win, but some of their offensive sets weren't as crisp as normal.  I do credit KSU's perimeter defense in keeping our scorers contained for most of the game, though. It will be a tough rematch in Manhattan. 

Three things I have to mention were Royce White's three dunks that started from about 10-15 feet out.  I hit the rewind on all three of them and couldn't stop the smile spreading across my face if I tried. He has to be a nightmare to game plan around.