LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 20: John Cena gestures during his Undisputed WWE Championship match against Cody Rhodes during WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium on April 20, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The college sports world has calmed down (except for the portal, of course), recruiting has ramped up, and Iowa State Softball is still keeping us entertained.
Let’s muse.
Iowa State continues to build recruiting success in Nebraska
It took another step forward when the Cyclones earned their latest commitment out of four-star quarterback Jett Thomalla.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound quarterback from Omaha was rated as the top prospect in the state, which this Iowa State staff has had a plethora of success in for the 2026 class.
Of the top nine prospects in the state, Iowa State has gained commitments from six and is targeting three others (see below).
Isaac Jensen – tight end (teammate to Thomalla and fellow commit Amarion Jackson at Millard South). No visit scheduled for June yet, but more in the story linked above.
Darion Jones – cornerback visiting June 13-15
Leighton Burbach – offensive tackle visiting June 6-8
It’s riled up Nebraska fans online who will do nothing but bring up the past and that’s been blissful.
Iowa State picked up a commitment from Dylan Barrett’s brother, Austin, this weekend as well, a nice 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive lineman who can play anywhere on the line. Call the weekend a win.
Christian Wiggins commits
Iowa State men’s basketball got its second four-star commitment in 24 hours to go along with football’s addition of Thomalla.
Christian Wiggins, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound guard out of Wayzata, Minnesota announced his commitment Saturday.
He’s going to be around a top 50 recruit when it’s all said and done – these things change so frequently, sometimes without any reason – and currently sits at No. 52 in the 247 Sports list.
There’s more on Wiggins inside this article, but I wanted to point how Iowa State’s consistent recruiting strategy – and the success that’s followed – has kept the program ahead of the 8-ball.
If you look up the program’s class rankings in each of the next two classes (2026 & 2027), Iowa State is No. 2 and No. 1, respectively.
Each of the prospects is rated inside or right around the top 150 nationally and no matter what the state of the sport is moving forward, having three players wrapped up in the next two classes in April is going to be a big advantage.
Iowa State Softball still riding the hot hand
The Cyclones started off things off by taking down Iowa in their midweek game, followed it up with two out of three against Kansas, and swept a doubleheader against South Dakota State on Monday to finish things off.
Both Reagan Bartholomew and Karlee Ford had walk-off hits and it seems like all this team knows how to do lately is win.
Big 12 Softball Standings
1. Texas Tech 16-2 (36-10)
2. Arizona 14-7 (37-9)
3. Arizona State 13-8 (33-16)
4. Iowa State 11-7 (25-19)
5. BYU 11-7 (29-12)
6. Oklahoma State 8-8 (27-15)
7. Baylor 8-10 (22-23)
8. UCF 7-11 (26-20-1)
9. Kansas 5-13 (19-22)
10. Utah 4-14 (12-34)
11. Houston 3-13 (20-19)
They’ve got nine games to go – and they will probably need to win a majority of them to be in a good spot for the NCAA Tournament, but all signs are pointing up.
Here’s the remaining slate:
Iowa State Softball remaining schedule
Tues. April 22 | @ UNI (5 p.m. ESPN+)
Fri. April 25 | @ Utah (6 p.m. ESPN+)
Sat. April 26 | @ Utah (1 p.m. ESPN+)
Sun. April 27 | @ Utah (1 p.m. ESPN+)
Tues. April 29 | @ Iowa (5:30 p.m. BTN+)
Wed. April 30 | Drake (4 p.m. ESPN+)
Fri. May 2 | Baylor (4 p.m. ESPN+)
Sat. May 3 | Baylor (1 p.m. ESPN+)
Sun. May 4 | Baylor (Noon, ESPN+)
Wed. May 7-Sun. May 10 | Big 12 Tournament
Here’s a look at one of the walk-offs with a phenomenal call from my friend, Noah Wolf.
we LOVE walk-off winners 🫶 pic.twitter.com/DsFIXy9cEI
— Iowa State Softball (@CycloneSB) April 18, 2025
Quick Hits
A CFB report with an odd possibility mentioned…
There was a recent article from Heather Dinich of ESPN that mentioned there variables that could be added to the College Football Playoff’s criteria, and it got a lot of traction Monday.
The article included a stipulation, stating, “A model in which each Power 4 league can earn guaranteed spots through a combination of its teams’ overall records — and maybe even TV ratings, according to a source — could be presented.“
The phrasing certainly got people’s attention – enough that I’m including it here. I don’t think that it has a lot of bearing, but the fact it was pointed out means it is being thrown around as a possibility.
I do think that there is already some of that mixed in there just based on the interests of those in power – the SEC and Big 10. That conversation will culminate sometime in June, according to the article.
We’ll know the new format – I believe going forward – on December 1, 2025 for future seasons, and if anything is changed this year, it will be how teams are seeded.
John Cena walked out of WrestleMania 41 with his 17th title and it was one of the worst WWE matches I’ve ever watched.
It’s what I expected to happen ever since Cena announced his retirement tour, and I mulled over what I’d write on it – long enough to delay this column a day – and it probably makes less sense now.
I think wrestling fans have all seen it and those that aren’t will want this explanation short, but rapper Travis Scott came in to distract Cody Rhodes, Cody kicked his ass, and then they did a moral thing where Rhodes refused to hit Cena with the title belt and John walked out with the title.
Cena tried to do the Marshawn Lynch at the press conference and we sat there and watched, hoping there was something – anything – that justified the disappointment of the main event to what otherwise was a stellar night & weekend. Shoutout Joe Hendry.
The lone thread of the entire storyline in Cena turning heel (bad guy) was the Rock, who couldn’t bother enough to show up to the biggest day of the company he’s supposed to be heavily involved in. I never understood Rock fans in my childhood and I don’t think I ever will after that.
I figured that this was all a part of Cena’s promise when he turned heel – to ruin wrestling for everybody, the way that only he can – or so I thought. But Cena made no mention of that on Raw – which was as good of an episode as they’ve put on since the move to Netflix. It’s supposed to be good, that’s what the Raw after ‘Mania has always been because they’re setting up new storylines and all that, but the build-up and everything to that main event fell absolutely flat, and it fell flat for no reason.
I just about love everything that WWE is doing, aside from this Cena angle. It feels like he – or the WWE – is just throwing more and more crap out there to try and get people to actually hate this guy, who is really, really bad at being unlikeable.
The NHL Playoffs are underway, and I wanted to give y’all who might be on the fence about watching playoff hockey some things to follow in each series. It’s one of, if not the best, products on the planet.
Winnipeg vs. St. Louis – The Blues ended the year on a heater after making a coaching change to a guy named Jim Montgomery. He coached the Stars and the Bruins to tremendous regular seasons, but did go into the NHL’s rehab program for reasons unclear to the public – take your guesses. Anyways, they had a 12-game win-streak late and take on the Jets – who have looked unstoppable this year. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck is at the top of his game and if the Blues win this thing it will be considered a massive upset. Jets won the first two games in front of their home crowd – which is one of the best atmospheres in the league come playoff time. Jets are up 2-0.
Dallas vs. Colorado – It’s no secret I’m a huge Stars fan. Dallas’ front office staff has consistently been the only one out of my ‘big 4’ teams that hasn’t disappointed me in the last eight years. The Stars got Mikko Rantanen, who used to be a huge face in Colorado, in a trade with Carolina and promptly signed him to an 8-year deal – the max that’s allowed in the NHL. Dallas has beaten Colorado with overtime heroics in each of the last two playoff series they’ve had and this one will be as intense as any series all playoffs. I wrote all of these before & during the games Monday, and Dallas tied up the series with a gritty goal from fourth-liner Colin Blackwell.
COLIN BLACKWELL CALLED GAME IN OVERTIME.
THE @DALLASSTARS EVEN THE SERIES 🍿#TEXASHOCKEY pic.twitter.com/lTckK45g0j
— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) April 22, 2025
Vegas – Minnesota – A majority of the NHL fans hate Vegas. They’re true villains in the league because of their immediate success as an expansion team. They’ve got dogs and Minnesota is notorious for it’s early playoff exits – the Wild have never even won a conference finals game. It would take the biggest upset in the playoffs for the Wild to get by Vegas, but the Knights don’t look as powerful as they were in recent years. Vegas leads 1-0.
Los Angeles – Edmonton – Because of this playoff system that pits teams from the same division against one another in the opening rounds, LA and Edmonton are facing off for the fourth-straight year in round one. Each year, LA has pushed Edmonton one game further than in years past and the Kings hope this is the year they take them out. I’d still pick Edmonton, but these teams know each other well and got in quite a bit of scuffles in their last regular season meeting. LA had a 4-0 lead, and was up 5-3 with 2:30 to go, but Edmonton still tied things up. Somehow, the momentum didn’t carry over to take this to overtime and the Kings escaped with a win they needed to have life in this series.
THE KINGS TAKE THE LEAD BACK! 👑 pic.twitter.com/0vw8ZfDVjn
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 22, 2025
Toronto – Ottawa – The Senators strategy was clear in game 1 – they want to out-tough and hit their way to a series win. Toronto has lost in game 7 of their first round series in five of the last seven years. The Leafs will be the better team but anything can happen in these things.
Tampa – Florida – The battle for Florida will be as intense of a series as you can find outside of Dallas – Colorado. Brad Marchand, the league’s pest, was traded to Florida at the deadline and gives them an extra piece to go to battle. If you haven’t followed hockey, Steven Stamkos moved on and is in Nashville, who still missed the playoffs in signature fashion, and the Lightning aren’t what they once were. This should be fun.
Washington – Montreal – Obviously, Alex Ovechkin was at the forefront of the sports world a couple of weeks ago while breaking the NHL goal scoring record. He’s trying to lead his Capitals to another Cup and was the hero in game 1 with a nice OT goal that sealed the deal. Meanwhile, Montreal has a fifth overall draft pick named Ivan Demidov, who wowed in the KHL (the Russian professional league that is very much as close to the NHL level as it gets outside of it – yes, far closer than the AHL), coming into the swing. He’s as impressive as it gets and could be an X-factor.
OVI GETS IT DONE! 💪
Alex Ovechkin’s FIRST EVER #StanleyCup Playoffs @Energizer overtime winner gives the @Capitals the victory in Game 1! pic.twitter.com/4TQEtvZLjD
— NHL (@NHL) April 22, 2025
Carolina – New Jersey – Part of that Stars trade included a youngster in Logan Stankoven, who had two goals in game 1 of this series. I don’t know how much fight the Devils have in them – Jack Hughes is out for the rest of the year with an injury and his brother Luke Hughes appeared to be hurt in the opening game. Regardless, Carolina brings it offensively. The ‘Canes are the closest thing in hockey the last decade to Hoiball. It’s a product.
