We had our house tested for radon when we moved in in the fall of 2014. It tested very low, but I was wondering if I should have it tested again just to make sure. How often should I have it tested? I am also wondering if one of those home tests that you send in is OK, or if I need to have it professionally tested.

Spring training wraps up today and rosters are mostly set so let's kick off the 2019 season.

What surprises/disappointments for your squad?

My Yankees open with Severino, Sabathia, Betances, Ellsbury (aka Glassbury) and Hicks on the DL. Of course Tommy John **** already caught Didi Gregorius and starting pitcher Jordon Montgomery last season.

Clint Frazier was such as bust in spring training that he couldn’t make the roster when they needed an outfielder and Yanks had to trade for a minor league journeyman can of corn from the Rockies with inflated PCL stats, Mike Tauchman (who dat?). Guessing they are trying to catch lightning in a jar again like they did with Luke Voit. Not thinking much of this move or the outfield depth. Did add veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez to a minor league contract which I like as pitching insurance. Mission is to survive April and get to May with more healthy bodies. Boxster’s prerequisite to a good season, stay healthy, ain’t starting well.

Thoughts?

My annual season-assessment poll for ISU men's basketball. Elaborate as you wish.

Looking at what the fellow Big 12 teams lose due to graduation, possible NBA, or otherwise

Texas Tech - Guaranteed loss of 101 game starts, possibly 135
Matt Mooney - 34 games started. 30.4 mpg. 10.0 ppg
Tariq Owens - 33 games started. 25.2 mpg. 8.9 ppg
Brandone Francis - 1 game started. 13.5 mpg. 6.2 ppg
Norense Odiase - 33 games started. 17.3 mpg. 4.3 ppg
Jarrett Culver (possibly NBA early - mock lottery pick) - 34 games started. 32.1 mpg. 18.8 ppg

Kansas State - Guaranteed loss of 91 game starts, possibly 124
Barry Brown - 34 games started. 35 mpg. 14.6 ppg
Kamau Stokes - 32 games started. 32.3 mg. 11.0 ppg
Dean Wade - 25 games started. 30.4 mpg. 12.9 ppg
Xavier Sneed (possibly NBA early) - 33 games started. 30.7 mpg. 10.6 ppg

Oklahoma - Guaranteed loss of 86 game starts
Christian James - 34 games started. 33.1 mpg. 14.6 ppg
Rashard Odomes - 15 games started. 17.4 mpg. 6.9 ppg
Miles Reynolds - 7 games started. 20.2 mpg. 6.7 ppg
Aaron Calixte - 19 games started. 21.1 mpg. 6.6 ppg
Jamuni McNeace - 11 games started. 15.2 mpg. 4.7 ppg

TCU - Guaranteed loss of 70 game starts
Alex Robinson - 35 games started. 34.8 mpg. 12.6 ppg
JD Miller - 35 games started. 30.9 mpg. 10.9 ppg

Iowa State - Guaranteed loss of 69 game starts, possibly 105
Marial Shayok - 34 games started. 32.9 mpg. 18.7 ppg
Nick Weiler-Babb - 35 games started. 34.4 mpg. 9.1 ppg
Talen Horton-Tucker (possibly NBA early - mock 1st round pick) - 34 games started. 27.2 mpg. 11.8 ppg
Lindell Wigginton (possibly NBA early) - 2 games started. 26.0 mpg. 13.4 ppg

Baylor - Guaranteed loss of 68 game starts
Makai Mason - 28 games started. 32.1 mpg. 14.9 ppg
King McCulre - 26 games started. 27.9 mpg. 9.0 ppg
Jake Lindsey - 14 games started. 23.4 mpg. 4.5 ppg

Texas - Guaranteed loss of 56 game starts, possibly 77
Kerwin Roach - 23 games started. 29.4 mpg. 14.3 ppg
Dylan Osetkowski - 33 games started. 28.7 mpg. 10.7 ppg
Jaxson Hayes (possibly NBA early - mock 1st round pick) - 21 games started. 23.3 mpg. 10.0 ppg

West Virgina - Guaranteed loss of 39 game starts, possibly 46
Esa Ahmad - 22 games started. 28.1 mpg. 12.0 ppg
Wesley Harris (kicked off team) - 17 games started. 25.2 mpg. 7.9 ppg
Sagaba Konate (possibly NBA early - mock 2nd round pick) - 7 games started. 24.1 mpg. 13.6 ppg

Kansas - Guaranteed loss of 20 game starts, possibly 65
Lagerald Vick - 20 games started. 33.0 mpg. 14.1 ppg
Udoka Azubuike (possibly NBA early - mock 2nd round pick) - 9 games started. 20.4 mpg. 13.4 ppg
Dedric Lawson (possibly NBA early - mock 2nd round pick) - 36 games started. 32.6 mpg. 19.4 ppg
Silvo De Sousa (suspended)

Oklahoma State - Guaranteed loss of 0 game starts
Mike Cunningham - 0 games started. 18.3 mpg. 8.0 ppg
Kentrevious Jones (kicked off team) - 0 games started. 6.9 mpg. 1.3 ppg
Maurice Calloo (kicked off team) - 0 games started. 10.8 mpg. 2.5 ppg
Michael Weathers (kicked off team) - 0 games started. 20.5 mpg. 9.2 ppg

credit: opcat

Also on Dish but I don't know the channel. Saw a tweet about this earlier but now cannot find it.

Note: for DirecTV customers this game does not show up when you search 'Iowa State'. If I hadn't seen the tweet I would not have known.

Much better than the wrap around crapola that ESPN2 has tonight that seems to just wrap around the Twister Sisters.

Pack Hilton if you are close but 788 for those of us in Texas to far to be there.

Perhaps it's because I have grown so weary of Bilas preaching, Dickie V's yell, and Fran's smugness. The pro guys in between are refreshing as well. But I have always liked Barkley's humor and self-deprecating approach in that role. For you youngsters, Charles was a hell of a baller.

From Michael Avenatti, no less, but still I'll be interersted to see what he means by, "This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball..."

I just got a letter that the assessed value of my house went up $38,000 dollars from last year! I live in Waukee and my taxes are already high. I would try to dispute this, but I finished my basement a few years ago and the assessor doesn't know it is finished so my value would go even higher. I am not suprised my value went up, but that is a huge increase. Has anyone else noticed their taxes going up so much?

Was in Tulsa watching the men play on Friday, so missed the first game for the twister sisters. Anyone know if Johnny's will be open tonight?
It was my understanding that it was going to be open for the Saturday game, just wondered about this evening.

Next year we have

Prohm as head coach
Lard stays
Wiggs Stays
THT stays
Add Nixon
Add three incoming recruits
George finds the weight room

We add a grad transfer. I want some positives. Sick of seeing the negatives that everyone is leaving including our coach. I think everyone stays except maybe Zion or Lewis. Which would suck but we could add someone more ready to step in.

Look for Michigan to beat TxT taking the B12 out completely. I was surprised that ISU didn't get by the first weekend but consistency has been an issue, hasn't it. Ku lost to the FBI and injuries. K-State without Dean Wade was an average team. OU and BU were not tournament worthy. Thankfully, TCU and Texas went to the NIT. Maybe one of them will win that. At least the streak is dead.

Some of these shots he's hitting are just ridiculous.

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I appreciate that college basketball officiating is difficult and kind of a no win situation. My question is, is there any way that we could have better officiating with a different kind of officiating?

I have watched a LOT of basketball in my years, I started rewinding calls I would make that officials would miss right around 1998. On those calls that I dispute I am right most of the time on travels, double dribbles and out of bounds. I can't definitively argue with block/charges and fouls on shots and blocks as I think they are a matter of opinion.

If you watch officials, they have a really tough job they have to run a lot, move according to the lead official and try to be in the right location to make a call, which, in certain situations is impossible. Not to mention that during the game the officials will rotate through the positions and hopefully they can be consistent with each other AND more importantly end to end, which in short spurts is difficult as two different people are calling the baselines and then the center and trail officials are calling certain things and areas based on where the lead is positioned. Consistency and what you can and can't do depends so much on the individual who is calling what and at what time.

With the advent of hi-def cameras and electronics being the way they are, why not have 4 or 5 people with the ability to switch their own consistent pre-positioned camera angles that specialize in certain areas of the floor, that call the same area of the floor for both teams for the entire game or maybe each person specializes in a certain area of officiating like out of bounds, block / charge, traveling / double dribble / palming, How about one person that watches dead ball stuff like killing the ball or coaches outside the box. you get the point. In this case, you may not like their calling, but hopefully it would be consistent (bad or good.) end to end and throughout the game. Consistency is key and with the way that officials have to call a game, it is difficult for three people to do.

Now, we likely still need on court officials to maintain control of the personal aspects of the game, coaches and players swearing, etc.

One advantage would be that the Bill Self could not play the refs, because they would be in a room somewhere with monitors, not sharing the floor with them.

You could actually even keep the officials totally anonymous, heck, why tell people who they are, they're not held accountable for anything anyway. However, they could be ridiculously tracked with analytics based on what they see, you could really get to the best of the best and they could practice all the time.

So, can it be done? What's your idea. Why should we stick with the status quo? You know you do a better job sitting at home than those guys on the floor do, right?

Of the four assigned officials in Tulsa tonight, none are Roger Ayers.

Ayers called the phantom out-of-bounds on Mariel and the "kicked ball" on TH.

Either he was kicked to the curb or he went straight to the next round after his first round assignment.

Best type of evergreens to plant in Iowa climate!!

I think that this is an important question we need to ask ourselves. I think it is part of what is causing a lot of the vitriol between certain groups. As some others said I think we just have groups who have different views of what our program status is.

My breakdown of the groups are as follows so hopefully we are on the same page.

• Top 10: Blue Blood
• 10-25: consistent tourney team with occasional runs
• 25-35: regular tourney team who regularly wins one game
• 35-50: semi regular tourney team
• 50-70: occasional tourney team
• 70+: doormat

EDIT: More clarification

“Today, past seasons or future seasons? This makes no sense if its just what you WANT it to be.”

Apparently I wasn’t clear. The question is what type of program are we. AKA where are our expectations for a program.

Wigginton has the ability to dominate games. He needs to work on his jump shot to be more consistent. He can slash to the basket better than 99% of all college players, but he doesn't make the opposition pay when they sag to stop his penetration. Wigginton should be a dominant jump shooter something like Stephon Curry. I'm not saying Wigginton is as good as Curry, but
Wigginton's abilities can be nearly as dominant at this level. Wigginton needed to just take over the game against OSU, but wasn't able to because his jump shot wasn't as consistent as it needed to be. Just my two cents. If I were a NBA scout, I wouldn't recommend Wigginton as a high round pick right now.

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?

Obviously we all know that at times our offense this season got stagnant and we had some scoring droughts this year. I wonder if having someone else run the point could help our transition game and our offense. NWB was good, but he was forced into the PG last year and he stabilized our team once inserted into the lineup. We didn't have many options but he did a good job and was a little more aggressive last year due to our limitations on available players who could score. However, he isn't a true point guard he was more of a off guard playing point.

Haliburton seems to have better court vision and wonder if him taking over for NWB will be a positive for our team next season. I do not think Lindell is a point guard and that is fine with me, he is our scoring option who can drive and kick but isn't the guy who can find guys in certain spots. I just wondered what some of you thought regarding our point guard position next season.

What a pleasure this team is to watch. I’ve touted so many characteristics of this team that make it a joy to watch. First and foremost...they are a team in every sense of the word. They care about each other and I mean care about every member of the team. They are selfless. Sharing. Hard nosed. Supremely talented. They find joy in the game. If you haven’t seen them yet, you have one more chance at Hilton.


Today's game started out with both teams showing they could hit the three. Right out of the blocks it was one team offsetting the other with a basket and suddenly it was 8-8. That was the last time the game was close. From there the Sisters would clamp down on defense and continue scoring and the lead was 8 before you knew what happened. Early on it was done with limited contribution by Carlton. Middleton was putting on a clinic of ball handling and slicing to the hoop. One move out did the next all night long. The threes were falling as Joens would connect...heck...nearly everyone was connecting. I could go on about each player (EVERY player on the team scored), but this was a team win. The extra passes, the rebounding, the offensive boards, everything just took the spirit out of NMSU. The team literally ran them to death. By the end of the first half NMSU looked gassed. It showed on the scoreboard as well as the ladies led 50-26.


The third quarter was more of the same. Shut down defense, steals, break away baskets, crisp passing, it was all too much for NMSU as they led 80-44 when the bench started to see the court. I have to mention one player right off the bat. Nez was a monster out there today. She was like a magnet on the boards pulling down FOURTEEN of them. She was strong and aggressive. She helped on double teams. She had assists. She scored half a dozen points. She was inspiring to watch and received a standing ovation when she left the floor. Though Kristen wasn’t connecting from deep she had post moves that would make Shaq jealous. She made the NMSU players look pedestrian. Middleton not only hit for 15 points, but dished out 9 of ISU's 22...yes...22 assists on 34 made shots. Carlton was all over the floor. Not perfect, but the awesome senior leader doing her thing. Her 23 points were very workmanlike and we saw her end up on the floor many times.


One of my favorite stats is always free throw shooting. How does 87% sound? And on 23 attempts? Yep, these ladies just swished one after another hitting 20 of them. If fouls would have been called that were obvious we probably would have shot close to 40. The strength of this game was illustrated when Coach Fen substituted out all the starters with nearly nine minutes left in the game. While the subs didn’t score a lot, they still played salty defense against the NMSU starters. Every time a sub would score, the team on the bench would jump and clap. The crowd would go nuts. Especially fun was seeing A D Camber hit her first two treys. The smile on Coach Fen's face spoke volumes. When Mills scored the last points of the game, the team rushed her like she had set a record. What a fun group.


Monday will bring a much bigger challenge. Missouri State has some really good three point shooters. They play aggressive defense and can take you out of your flow. If the officials let them get away with their physical play it could be a close game. Of utmost importance is not leaving their shooters open on the perimeter. Are they as good as ISU? No. But they beat a higher seeded team and smacked Drake around twice this year. They are a very real threat. If we get the effort we had today and continue to hit our shots the Sisters will be ok. Defense will be critical. Let’s really pack the Hilton. Let’s get the men's team fans and the students in Hilton to make the place rock and roll. See you there!

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Please allow me to remind you:

“I did not see anywhere, nor do I believe, that we were thought of to be anything other than a victim”

Always,

Bill Self

Hayseeds complaining about the officials; I'm sure that's why they're down 21.

At least they have football to look forward to.

not sure Chris posted this on here but he had posted it on Twitter. Good insight into the players and this team. I’m just exhausted from the negativity here so it’s good to get perspective and be excited about the future.

https://cyclonefanatic.com/podcasts/podcast-putting-a-bow-on-2018-19-iowa-state-hoops/