Former ISU assistant Matt Abdelmassih will have a heavy heart as a leaves one dream job for another later today. His full comments in my story here: http://cyclonefanatic.com/basketbal...-be-tears-abdelmassih-flies-home-later-today/

Roundup of picks, split into separate posts, due to CF length contraints.

@1UNI2ISU
ACC: Virginia
America East: Stony Brook
American: Houston
Atlantic 10: Davidson
Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb
Big 12: Kansas
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Northern Colorado
Big South: Campbell
Big Ten: Michigan
Big West: UC Irvine
Colonial: Hofstra
Conference USA: Old Dominion
Horizon: Northern Kentucky
Ivy: Princeton
MAAC: Qunnipiac
MEAC: Norfolk State
Mid-American: Buffalo
Missouri Valley: UNI
Mountain West: Nevada
Northeast: St Francis (PA)
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: Oregon State
Patriot: Colgate
SEC: Tennessee
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Abilene Christian
Summit: South Dakota State
Sun Belt: UT-Arlington
SWAC: Texas Southern
West Coast: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico State

@CoKane
ACC: North Carolina
America East: Vermont
American: Houston
Atlantic 10: Davidson
Atlantic Sun: Liberty
Big 12: Iowa State
Big East: Marquette
Big Sky: Montana
Big South: Campbell
Big Ten: Michigan State
Big West: UC Irvine
Colonial: Hofstra
Conference USA: Western Kentucky
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Yale
MAAC: Iona
MEAC: Norfolk State
Mid-American: Buffalo
Missouri Valley: Drake
Mountain West: Nevada
Northeast: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: Arizona State
Patriot: Bucknell
SEC: Tennessee
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Sam Houston State
Summit: South Dakota State
Sun Belt: Georgia State
SWAC: Texas Southern
West Coast: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico State

@coolerifyoudid
ACC: Virginia
America East: Stony Brook
American: Houston
Atlantic 10: St Bonaventure
Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb
Big 12: Iowa State
Big East: Nova
Big Sky: Northern Colorado
Big South: Radford
Big Ten: Purdue
Big West: UC Irvine
Colonial: Northeastern
Conference USA: ODU
Horizon: Oakland
Ivy: Harvard
MAAC: Iona
MEAC: North Carolina A&T
Mid-American: Buffalo
Missouri Valley: Loyola
Mountain West: Nevada
Northeast: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley: Murray State
Pac-12: Washington
Patriot: Colgate
SEC: LSU
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Sam Houston St.
Summit: The Fighting Otzes
Sun Belt: Georgia Southern
SWAC: Prairie View A&M
West Coast: Zags
WAC: New Mexico St.

@Cy$:
ACC: Virginia
America East: UMBC
American: Houston
Atlantic 10: Davidson
Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb
Big 12: Kansas St.
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Montana
Big South: Radford
Big Ten: Michigan St.
Big West: UC Irvine
Colonial: Hofstra
Conference USA: Western Kentucky
Horizon: N Kentucky
Ivy: Yale
MAAC: Iona
MEAC: NC A&T
Mid-American: Buffalo
Missouri Valley: Loyola
Mountain West: San Diego St.
Northeast: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: Arizona
Patriot: Bucknell
SEC: LSU
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Sam Houston St.
Summit: SD St.
Sun Belt: Georgia St.
SWAC: Texas Southern
West Coast: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico St.

@cykee05
ACC: North Carolina
America East: Vermont
American: Cincinnati
Atlantic 10: VCU
Atlantic Sun: Liberty
Big 12: Kansas State
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Montana
Big South: Campbell
Big Ten: Michigan
Big West: UC Irvine
Colonial: Hofstra
Conference USA: Old Dominion
Horizon: Northern Kentucky
Ivy: Yale
MAAC: Siena
MEAC: Howard
Mid-American: Buffalo
Missouri Valley: Southern Ill.
Mountain West: Nevada
Northeast: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley: Murray State
Pac-12: Washington
Patriot: Colgate
SEC: Kentucky
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Abilene Christian
Summit: South Dakota State
Sun Belt: Ga Southern
SWAC: Texas Southern
West Coast: Gonzaga
WAC: NM State

@cyclones500
ACC: North Carolina
America East: Vermont
American: Houston
Atlantic 10: VCU
Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb
Big 12: Kansas State
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Weber State
Big South: Winthrop
Big Ten: Michigan
Big West: UC Irvine
Colonial: Charleston
Conference USA: Western Kentucky
Horizon: Northern Kentucky
Ivy: Harvard
MAAC: Siena
MEAC: Norfolk State
Mid-American: Buffalo
Missouri Valley: Loyola (Chi.)
Mountain West: Fresno State
Northeast: Robert Morris
Ohio Valley: Belmont
Pac-12: Washington
Patriot: Bucknell
SEC: LSU
Southern: UNC Greensboro
Southland: Abilene Christian
Summit: South Dakota State
Sun Belt: Texas State
SWAC: Texas Southern
West Coast: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico State

@gipper2001
ACC: Duke
America East: Vermont
American: Houston
Atlantic 10: Davidson
Atlantic Sun: Lipscomb
Big 12: Texas Tech
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Northern Colorado
Big South: Radford
Big Ten: Michigan
Big West: UC Irvine
Colonial: Hofstra
Conference USA: Western Kentucky
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Yale
MAAC: Quinnipiac
MEAC: NC Central
Mid-American: Buffalo
Missouri Valley: Drake
Mountain West: Nevada
Northeast: Fairleigh Dickinson
Ohio Valley: Murray State
Pac-12: Washington
Patriot: Lehigh
SEC: Kentucky
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Sam Houston St.
Summit: South Dakota St
Sun Belt: UT-Arlington
SWAC: Texas Southern
West Coast: Gonzaga
WAC: New Mexico State

Old school Williams/Blum pod! Enjoy.

https://cyclonefanatic.com/podcasts...ck-on-the-2018-19-hoops-season-ahead-to-next/

quite the show on Netflix. Not sure what to think, but it certainly gets the headline of most gory and sexual thing I’ve seen on Netflix.

Anyone else watched it?

Anyone else following this, Lil Nas X (I had never heard of him before this) has a song that originally debuted at 19 on the Billboard Top 100 Chart was pulled for not being country enough. If you ask me, that song isn't country at all, much like most of the Billboard Top 100 Country, but I digress.

Billboard says it was pulled for not being country enough, but those backing the song say it is just as country as, say, Florida Georgia Line (Vomit on my chest), and it was pulled because he is black. Here is a Twitter Thread on it:

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Now, does country music need to support more black artists? Yes they do, I think that Charlie Crockett is one of the best country singers out there today, but no one knows who he is because he plays real country. What bothers me about this dudes Tweets are that he ignores the fact that Charley Pride is one of the most successful Country Artists in history when he mentations AA's who have had #1 Country Songs (Pride had like 30 of them).

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Country Radio still pretty much sucks, Nashville is basically trash, and it is an interesting story. I still stand by what Steve Earle says about modern country radio music:

"They’re just doing hip-hop for people who are afraid of black people"

Congratulations, Jack!

Is this a typo or did Isaac switch commitments from Ohio St. to Iowa St.? Below is part of a USA TheMat article "In battles between two Division I commits, Iowa State commit Isaac Wilcox of Utah beat Oklahoma State commit Luke Surber of Oklahoma 4-1 in the Junior 152 lbs. finals".

Isaac is a Senior and is ranked 7th at 160 by InterMat & 6th by Flo and he did not sign early.

Another Ames staple is ending.

"It must have been love, but it's over now..."--Roxette

Although disappointed and disturbed, the Sunday Des Moines Register didn't have a single thing on the the ISU women's game at KU. I took and second and third look - but nothing. Again on Monday - not a mention.
This paper continues to shrink and become meaningless - it's their own fault.

If the owner of handguns dies, what does one need to do to legally transfer them to heirs, if anything?

Tymar Sutton said he was told by Campbell that we would be going to a 4-2-5 defense. That would explain the number of DB's that we've been going after.

Wonder who will play along side Harris this upcoming year. Hopefully find a spot for Northrup. Really high on that kid.

Dear Fred,

It is with great sadness that your title as ”The Mayor of Ames” is gone, effective immediately. Please return your key to the city, and do not try to talk us out of this decision. It is with great regret that our relationship has to come to this moment, but you really left us with no other option here. You obviously have made a choice that has no way in resulting in positive light for Iowa State University, Ames, or the fans. So what do you expect us to do?

At one time, we thought you were the one. The Savior, someone who puts good in front of evil. You put ISU at the top, treated us like the most beautiful girl in the room, never cheated or strayed from us, said all the right things. But it seems money and power corrupts all. And this is just another reminder of how everyone’s integrity has a price, and loyalty no longer exists.

Let’s think or a moment how this decision could work out for you.

1. You have unprecedented success at NU – take them to Elite Eights/Final Fours. How can you expect us to support that? This is the same University that won’t shut up about 90’s football? The same fans that become Creighton Basketball fans most winters. There is zero way we could support this outcome. We can’t go on with you becoming their version of Dan Gable, or Cael Sanderson.
   
   
2. You Fail at NU and Prohm Fails at ISU – we all wallow in our own pity together. ISU fans are sick of failure, there is no way we can support this.
   
   
3. You Succeed at NU and Prohm fails at ISU – You come back to Ames Johnny Orr style. How can you expect us to root against Prohm’s and ISU’s success? This would be a dysfunctional relationship. And you would have the challenge of repeating your NU success again at ISU, This isn’t a healthy outlook for anyone.
   
   
4. You are moderately successful at NU and take the first NBA job available. Maybe the best option – but what is the point of tarnishing your legacy in this way. This doesn’t lead you back into our arms, so how can we be happy with this outcome? We must still look for that person that can take ISU to the promise land.
   
   
5. Steve Prohm goes to the Final Four, makes ISU a national power year in year out– and you never reach that level at NU. Again good for ISU, but Steve becomes the new “Mayor of Ames” if this happens.
   

So as you can see there really is just no way you can keep “The Mayor” title – so it’s best we all move on. As hard as it is, it’s time to say “Goodbye”. Maybe someday we will look back at this and remember some good times, but our future lies apart from one another.


Sincerely,

City of Ames & Iowa State University & BloodyBuddy

USAW Folkstyle Nationals in Cedar Falls (On trackwrestling)
https://www.trackwrestling.com/open...?newSession=false&TIM=1553952336643&pageName=

NHSCA High School Nationals out east somewhere (On Flo & Flo Arena)
https://arena.flowrestling.org/event/20367089-cd4a-4da0-87e5-490a661375c5

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that in 4 years or so Fred Hoiberg is regularly getting beyond the first round in the NCAA tournament and Steve Prohm is not. Should Hoiberg's success at Nebraska be used as a standard for what we should expect from Steve Prohm here? Would it be reasonable to expect Prohm to do at least as well here as Hoiberg does at Nebraska?

I think so. Iowa State has a DEEP tradition and history in basketball. For all the years that we sucked in football, we regarded ISU as a "basketball school". I don't care who is coaching at Nebraska, we should be able to do as well as a school with next to no history in the sport, and which as of right now still has NO NCAA tournament wins.

I think Pollard giving Prohm a contract extension is going to haunt him.

Too bad we couldn't have gotten them: https://columbustelegram.com/sports...10f2-46b3-50ea-a6c6-acecf0451584.html?src=rss

Why are these threads in the IOWA STATE basketball forum? Fred no longer has anything to do with this basketball program. You can have whatever opinion on Fred’s decision but personally I don’t give a damn. When I come to this forum I want to see information on OUR team and OUR program, please.

This year was amazing. The team exceeded expectations in every way possible. The coaches really have this program on the rise. So, is it too early to speculate about next year?


125: Mackall is back. He’s a tough wrestler. A borderline top 20 guy. Not sure if he can make the improvements to be a big point scorer at nationals. Reeves is coming in and it will be interesting to see where he is at relative to Mackall.

133: Gomez is a stud. This weight will be absolutely loaded again next year, but he will be in the AA hunt. You can be sure he’ll be working his butt off this spring and summer. I can see a slight improvement at this weight. Ceiling being probably a 5-6 finish.

141: Parker is a blue collar hard nosed guy. He’s good enough to beat almost anyone at the weight, but I think lacks the variety of attacks to string enough good wins in a row to AA. I wonder if Anderson could take the spot as a true fresh. If he’s consistently beating Parker, than why not?

149: Degen really improved this year. I think he can place even higher next year and possibly get 4-6.

157: Carr will be a big upgrade. This is a huge price to ISU improving on this year’s performance. He has the talent/potential to hang with anyone. I could see top 4, or possibly not even AA. An AA here would be huge to replace Miklus lost points.

165: ?? Straw ?? Transfer?? Without a transfer I think ISU is looking at a borderline NQ here and not much in points.

174: hope Coleman can improve. He has some talent, but it didn’t appear the mental toughness was there when facing the top level of competiton.

184: I think the biggest question for ISU is the 84/97 situation. I’m think Colbray goes up to 97 and Shapiro slides in here. If that’s the case, probably minimal points at nationals.

197: I think Colbray mans this weight next year. He really turned things around this year and made great strides. 97 is a weaker weight than 84, so if he stays on the path I can see a mid-low AA 6-8.

Hvy: have to think this is Gremmel again and don’t see much more than a couple of points at nationals.

For ISU to improve upon this year’s nationals performance, I think depends on, in order:
1. Carr being a high AA
2. Gomez getting a little more consistent and getting on the podium
3. Colbray continuing to improve and get it done wit a low AA
4. The potential of Anderson making an immediate impact.

What do some others think?

I'm guessing approximately 10% of you will agree with me and 90% will say I'm dumb and continue to denounce Fred Hoiberg since that's how message boards work, but here is the TL;DR version of my thoughts on Fred to Nebraska.

https://cyclonefanatic.com/2019/03/...he-mayors-decision-and-iowa-state-basketball/

Meanwhile, in non-Hoiberg news, our track gals had a good first day at Stanford.

Cailie Logue showed she is going to be one of the top distance runners in the country during the outdoor season, as she came home in fifth of the invitational 5,000-metre run in 15:40.33, dropping over 19 seconds off her personal best from last season. Logue is now No. 3 in ISU history for the event, with only the all-time greats of Lisa Koll and Betsy Saina ahead of her.

Setting third at ISU behind only Lisa and Betsy ain't to shabby!

https://cyclones.com/news/2019/3/29/track-and-field-cyclone-women-shine-at-stanford.aspx

1. You got to start like you're taking it in stride and giving them best wishes, and insert a subtle insult like this...

"Congrats guys. Hey look at the Mayor as a player! This was so awesome. You guys never had anyone do that. Listen to that crowd! Maybe you'll get that now."
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2. Then you give a subtle nod to their greats while profiling Fred's superiority.
"Man he can never be your Eric Piatkowski but he was an All American candidate. Check out some more highlights."
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3. Now show some appreciation of their history while sharing more of ours.
"Didn't you guys win the conference tournament once? We've done that some too. Sure hope he's as great as Danny Nee."
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4. Next step is to make it seem like this is a cordial moment of reminiscing of the good old days.
"Wow all this Iowa State and Nebraska talk really got me thinking about some of the great finishes we've had when we played each other in hoops."
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5. Now bring a little football into it so we can set ourselves up for the finale.
"Check out this class! You guys have only had reunions like this on the football field."
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6A. (This one is optional. You might need to go to this earlier. When they shoot back at you, like a trade with Michael Jacobsen joke, for example, throw this one out and say, "Oh that's nothing. There was that one time you guys gave to us eight times in one day and all you got in that trade was a loss."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyzCw6y1yYU

6B. By this time your Husker buddy is pretty irked. It's time to make amends and move on with life and just remind them at the end of the day they're the greatest football school ever. "Let's get a beer and Runza friend. I'll buy but I bet you can't run to the bar as fast as Marv Seiler!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSIe6SgzHs

He was a pretty fat guy...but so was Cecil Fielder and he hit quite a few.

I started to say I re-watched the game but that would have been a lie. I was at the Ferrel Center watching the Cal - BU game while the MST - ISU game was going on. I walked out , got in the truck and heard that the Cyclones had lost. I really couldn't believe my ears. But now that I've watched it I can understand why it went the way it did.

To me it appeared from the very beginning that MST was just more poised and ready for the moment. You could just see it in their body language that they came to Ames believing they could pull it off. To the contrary the Sisters just looked dis-jointed and unprepared. Where was the team that I saw in OKC? That team would have easily won this game. Middleton seemed to be more content to just dish it off and let the others do their thing. Can't blame Carleton with 31 points but you sure have to ask about the mindset of the rest of them. I really thought when Bridgette hit the three at the 5:47 mark that brought it within one that it was comeback time like they did at Lubbock. And then a few minutes later Scott gets a layup and a foul to bring it back to one again but of course missed the free throw. Over all the Lady Bears just played like champions and refused to be knocked out.

I suspect a lot of the Grit that that ream showed had to do with their coach who was a three time NC winner at Tennessee. She's doing a great job. There's a ton of people on Vol Nation who are begging for UT to hire her as Hollys replacement. For the moment though it's looking more like Jeff will be given the opportunity to do the Tennessee Waltz. For all I know though they may just let Holly bury the program in oblivion. I used to keep up with them religiously when Pat was there but now I just mainly tune in to hear her post game comments. Saddest thing in the world. Her answer to every question is "I don really know what happened".

Any way, pardon me for digressing there. Sorry about the loss. that was a heart breaker.