Iowa State Cyclones

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Hopefully, Royce stays another season.

If he does, ISU will be a dangerous team next year. I don't know that he was the best player on the floor tonight like he said, but I would put him at a close 2nd. ISU is a class act, Allen and White helping Wiltjer and Davis up after hard falls isn't something you see very often these days. Congrats on your season, great game and a fun team to watch.

Well, we ran into a Kentucky buzzsaw on Saturday. If they hit their 3-point shots like they did against ISU, I don't see who beats them. Outside of White, Kentucky looked better than us at every position. Not a LOT, mind you, but the sum of all parts definitely translated to what we all witnessed.  I was very impressed with how well Kentucky played as a team.  Calipari has to get credit for getting that many talented young players to gel like that.

Scotty, you have been a great Cyclone and will sorely be missed.  Chris Allen, we only had you for a year, but it's safe to say that you put this team on your back a couple games this year and your experience will also be missed. 

Great year fellas, great year

It's never too early to look into next year, right?  My not-so-bold prediction: If White stays, we will be picked 2nd in the Big 12 (ahead of Baylor) next year. KU is still the team to beat and have some great young talent that didn't suit up for them this year.

White's return/non-return will make next year very different.  I'm hoping he stays of course, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go pro either.  One nice thing is that we have Lucious coming aboard, and this team at least has a point guard to distribute the ball if White does leave. Hoiberg did a wonderful job this year without a true point guard.  White made Hoiberg look better, but there were still alot of offensive sets that essentially had three #2 guards and 2 forwards.

We return most of our team, minus Scotty and Allen.  Niang and Clyburn and Lucious are the three newcomers I'm intrigued about most.  For the returning player, I like Gibson and Ejim to take the biggest steps forward next year.  Booker confuses me. He seems like he plays with a ton of energy, but he just gets out of position enough so his raw abilities get overshadowed.  McGee is likely coming off the bench and should provide the same spark we saw out of him this year.  

One player I was very happy with was Palo.  Bubu played very efficiently this year and his defense really stepped up.  He did a good job staying with a fast player and was fairly secure with the ball.  I can't mention defense without Babb.  That guy can flat-out stay on top of a player.  

If nothing else, we should have depth with every postion except center, but Hoiberg really doesn't use a true center-based offense very much.  The exposure in the Big Dance is going to help with recruiting in the future. We need to make sure we keep dusting off our dancing shoes every year. 

Good show, Clones. Sorry to see you lose, I was hoping you could Cinderella your way into the Elite 8 at least. Good team. Hats off to Iowa State.

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Royce is going pro. Gotta wish him nothing but the best. It was fun to watch him play.

It's gonna sting, but we still have many good pieces in place as I mentioned earlier. It essentially is gonna make our offense run through the point guard like most everyone else does.  My main concern is going to be rebounding. Gibson, Ejim, Booker are all going to need to get themselves in better position and crash the boards to make up for what White is taking with him.

Offensively, we will just be a different team than this year, but Fred's not going to forget how to coach in the offseason. Sometimes, when a star leaves a team, the other players respond by stepping up their games.  I'm guessing we still be picked in the top half of the league next year and we'll be dancing again in March.

Again, good luck in the NBA, Royce White.  You may actually get me to watch some NBA games

Hey coolerifyoudid,

It would have been coolerifyoudid beat Kentucky. Congrats to you and the rest of the ISU fans on a great season. Things are definitely looking up in Cyclone land, Royce or no Royce. With the Mayor handling business in Ames, I expect your team to be a regular in the tourney and a pain in the ass for my Jayhawks.

Good luck next year.

With Railey and Sledge transferring out, that leaves a couple open schollys. Hoping they can land another big body. There are a lot of big names still out there. I'm hoping Fred can use White's NBA jump as a case to bring in some more top-notch talent. We know Hoiberg loves a shooter, but with the length that Baylor, Kstate and KU have, we need some bench help down in the blocks next year. 

About the transfers: I was rooting for Sledge, I really was. He seemed like a high energy guy with a tough attitude. He played a little too much street ball to fit into the offense this year, but I did hope he'd come around next year.  I wish him well at his next stop.

As far as Railey goes, I can't say that I will miss him much. He seemed like he just never wanted to battle hard enough. He instigated countless head-slaps and sighs from me as I watched him constantly out of position for rebounds and consistently missing easy put-backs. Couple that with his off-court issues and we ended up with a player that just wasn't doing the team much good. 

Despite all of that, I hope Railey does find success somewhere else. It drives me nuts to hear people that root for another person to fail based on sports.

Still waiting to see who gets our last 2 scholarships for next year. Pelle is reportedly down to us and San Diego State. He'd be a great addition to next year. He would be another big body for us. I understand he may have some academic issues as well, though.  If anyone else has any news, I'd love to be kept up to date.

Cut from the Cyclones.com website:

AMES, Iowa- Iowa State's success in the classroom under head men's basketball coach Fred Hoiberg has continued to stay the course. For the second time in the program's history, the Iowa State men's basketball team achieved a spring semester cumulative GPA of over a 3.0.

Six of the 13 scholarship athletes totaled a 3.0 GPA or higher, including three players with a 3.65 GPA or above. The Cyclones also ended the season with a Big 12-best four members on the league's all-academic team.

In Hoiberg's two years as the head coach at Iowa State, the Cyclones have achieved a 2.75 GPA or above in all four semesters.


Nice to see academics still mean something in college.....keep up the good work fellas