Feb 6, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger observes the first half against the Texas Longhorns at Moody Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
AMES — The NCAA Tournament selection committee insists that it never looks at potential storylines when it’s determining first-round matchups.
But shortly after Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger saw his team had been tabbed as a No. 2 seed, a plot twist popped up.
The Cyclones (27-7) will face the program that gave Otzelberger his first college head coaching job — South Dakota State — in Thursday’s first-round tournament game in Omaha. And suffice it to say, Otzelberger’s ties to the 15th-seeded Jackrabbits (22-12) and head coach Eric Henderson still run deep.
“They won the (Summit) League outright, they won the tournament,” said Otzelberger, who served as South Dakota State’s head coach from 2017-19. “To do that you’ve got to have a really good group and I’ve watched them a fair amount this season, just because of, obviously, my relationship with coach Henderson and their coaching staff in my time there.”
Henderson served as Otzelberger’s associate head coach in the 2018-19 season and was elevated to the top spot when Otzelberger left to lead UNLV’s program the following season. Several members of his staff previously coached under Otzelberger there, as well, so there are myriad connections linking the two programs together.
“Those relationships and things, those matter a lot, but at the same time, we know when you get to this time of the year there are only so many options (where) things are gonna go a certain way, so you just take it as it comes like we do everything,” Otzelberger said. “Just get ready for what’s next and prepare to be at our best to go win the game.”
ISU showed throughout the season it can narrow its focus onto itself and not allow any added intrigue to seep into its habit-based approach to achieving success. The Cyclones have also been extremely balanced offensively, which helped them record three straight double-digit wins at the Big 12 Tournament to win the crown for the first time since 2019. ISU has won six of its last seven games — and each of those games featured a different leading scorer.
“This is a whole new ball game for everybody,” said ISU senior forward Tre King, who is one of those seven players to lead the team in scoring in the past seven games. “There’s different ways you’ve got to prepare for scouting and I think the one advantage that we have with different leading scorers every night is teams don’t know who to really key in on because it really could be anybody on any given night. I think that’s just a credit to how much we share the ball and care for each other and really just make the simple plays and stuff like that.”
That’s what the seventh-ranked Cyclones did in Saturday’s 69-41 rout of top-ranked Houston in the Big 12 Tournament title game. And that’s what prevents early exits from happening. King played in last year’s first-round tournament loss to 11th-seeded Pitt — a deflating upset-based storyline he’s convinced won’t receive a sequel.
“In all these big moments, we’ve all showed up and shown out, and done what we needed to do,” King said. “So I have no doubt that we’re gonna do that again.”
