Cyclone Roundup: Hoops, football hand out offers

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisMWilliams

Today’s big news is the Board of Regents approving a $20.6 million football facility to be up in Ames by the fall of 2012. For the entire release on this project from Iowa State, CLICK HERE. I will write more about this in the coming days.

NEW HOOPS OFFER: Newly appointed Iowa State men’s basketball coach Matt Abdelmassih had a busy day on Tuesday. According to Travis Hines of the Marshalltown Times-Republican, Iowa State has extended an offer to Marcus Bell, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound forward out of Marshalltown Community College.

Bell attended Lower Columbia College in 2009-10, where he averaged 16 points and 13 rebounds per game. Bell sat out last season for Modesto Junior College.

From the sound of things, Bell will have plenty of options as to where he’ll play his ball beyond junior college. In fact, I’m hearing that one or two other Big 12 schools are already sniffing around. I’ll try to get in touch with Bell sometime this week for a complete report.

FOOTBALL EXTENDS TWO OFFERS: Iowa State football program has reportedly extended two new scholarships in the state of Florida.

Chris Nee of Rivals.com recently reported that Schyler Miles, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker out of Berkley Prep in Tampa held a Cyclone offer. According to Miles’ Rivals.com profile, he has additional offers from West Virginia, Ball State and Ohio.

In addition to Miles, the St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Iowa State recently offered Sean Culkin, a 6-foot-6, 215-pound wide receiver/tight end out of Indian Rocks Christian School in Largo, Fla. The article suggests that Culkin is projected as a tight end at the college level. According to Culkin’s Rivals.com profile, he has additional offers from Liberty, Samford and Florida International.

TROUBLE IN TEXAS? Colt McCoy’s wife is a chatterbox.

Rachel, Colt’s wife, called into ESPN Radio’s "The Herd" with Collin Cowherd yesterday. She wasn’t a guest on the show. This was a unprompted phone call.

Anyway, she hinted at a few possible violations at Texas during the time that her husband was the starting quarterback in Austin. Who knows if anything will actually come of this…

CLICK HERE for a good breakdown of the conversation by Blair Kerkhoff from the Kansas City Star.

LINKS GALORE

— Jeff Goodman, now of CBSSports.com, reports that Cyclone hoopster Royce Whiteis not crazy. Worth a read.

— My Monday Musings column, on Wednesday this week. Some Cyclone football thoughts are included, along with randoms as well.

— Like quarterbacks? Like highlight videos? If so, you’ll like this.

— Iowa State wrapped up its annual Tailgate Tour yesterday in western Iowa. Multimedia from the events can be found here.

— The Omaha World Herald caught up with Paul Rhoads and Jamie Pollard yesterday. The two men comment on the end of Iowa State’s rivalry with Nebraska.