Williams Blog: Big weekend ahead for ISU

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher

It’s Friday Fanatics! Congratulations for making it through another work week. The weekend is here and it is a big one for Iowa State athletics in general.

It all starts tomorrow morning when the women’s basketball team will play host to the 11th ranked Baylor Bears. I can’t put into words how excited I am to be able to go and cover this game. With my men’s basketball post-game show on KXNO, I always have to be in Des Moines when the women play at home. Finally, there is finally a date that the two teams aren’t playing at the same time.

Baylor produces another opportunity for Bill Fennelly’s team to improve their tournament stock with a win over a very quality opponent that is known, nation wide. At this point, they are a lock to get in the NCAA Tournament. ESPN.com is projecting the Big 12 to land eight teams in the dance. There is no way that this team falls off that much, that fast. Games like these are what move you from being a 4-seed to a 3-seed. Beating Baylor at home isn’t that crazy of a task either. I think what makes this game the biggest is the fact that the Cyclones have the challenge of traveling to third-ranked Nebraska on Wednesday. This would be a huge momentum boost for the team heading into that hornet’s nest.

Remember to wear pink if you’re going to the game. Same deal as the men’s game last week.

Chance at an upset

The men’s basketball team will get another monumental challenge thrown their way tomorrow. They have to go to Lawrence to take on the top-ranked Jayhawks. The good news is that LaRon Dendy will be back to provide a little more depth in the frontcourt for Iowa State. Having said that, I highly doubt that Dendy’s presence will dictate the outcome of this one but who knows right?

Regardless of how big of an underdog the Clones are, it is still cool to have your team going head-to-head with number one. In my opinion, that makes this a big one.

Looking for 1,001

The Iowa State wrestling team will cap off the weekend on Valentines Day, when 17th-ranked Missouri comes to town. Everything will get underway at 2 p.m. Nothing says “I love you” to that special someone in your life like taking them to a college wrestling match. If you love the Cyclones and despise Mizzou, you really should consider going to this. Iowa State leads the all-time series with the Tigers 43-5. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that the Clones will notch another one in the win column on Sunday.

My start to the weekend

I had a great start to the weekend last night when I attended Runt of the Litter at the Temple Theater in Des Moines. I’m not writing this because they advertise with us. I’m writing this because I mean it.

Sports fans, family men, theater goers, whatever…go see this show. All of the reviews that I read about it beforehand were dead on when they used the word “powerful” to describe it.

This show is based around the sport of football and one man’s dream to succeed, but it is about so much more. If you attend this show, you’ll walk out of the theater as motivated as every to tackle whatever you do in every day life. That’s what I took from it at least.

It reminded me of my favorite quote of all-time.

“Hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard.”

If I had a kid, I’d take him or her to see Runt of the Litter. That’s the type of show it is. It is a mind-changing script and Bo Eason is simply awesome in it.

If you want discounted tickets to the show, CLICK HERE and enter the promo code CYCLONES.