Williams & Blum: Massive week looms for men’s hoops; How good can football be?

[Aiden Wyatt]

Chris Williams & Brent Blum discuss Iowa State men’s basketball’s 16-0 start. The Cyclones are about to be the No. 2 team in the country, traveling to play an unranked Kansas squad that will be desperate. The women lose Addy Brown for a substantial amount of time. What does that mean? Finally, with a seemingly great start to portal season, how good can the Cyclones be in 2026? We cover it all, courtesy of Mechdyne.

Enjoy!

Williams & Blum: Massive week looms for men’s hoops; How good can football be? - Cyclone Fanatic

Chris Williams & Brent Blum discuss Iowa State men’s basketball’s 16-0 start. The Cyclones are about to be the No. 2 team in the country, traveling to play an unranked Kansas squad that will be desperate. The women lose Addy Brown for a substantial amount of time. What does that mean? Finally...

cyclonefanatic.com

 

[Cycsk]

Didn't have "get excited for the football season based on a favorable schedule" on my bingo card for this podcast.

 

[Marcelason78]

Was surprised to hear CW refer to CJR as ‘this Rogers’. I wonder if they have any conversation as of yet as things seem a little distant.

 

[Die4Cy]

Was surprised to hear CW refer to CJR as ‘this Rogers’. I wonder if they have any conversation as of yet as things seem a little distant.

There will be time for that I imagine, after the roster is set in the next month or so. I bet most of the info coming is from the press pool at this point.

 

[Cardinal2001]

ONE vote for #1? Just keep flying under the radar, clones. If we win at the Phog by 30+ we might get 2 votes.

 

[RoseClone]

Was surprised to hear CW refer to CJR as ‘this Rogers’. I wonder if they have any conversation as of yet as things seem a little distant.

Coach has been busy.

 

[clonedude]

Btw... CW's eyes watering up again and voice crackling a little bit when talking about CMC, Mouser, and some of the players that left again today in the Two Guys podcast. C'mon CW... move on already... they're gone.

And no... you did not "know this was coming" when CMC left. Go back and watch the day or two leading up to it... you were shocked.

Also CW... you need to learn what "shotgunning" a beer is.... Mouser does not shotgun a beer in the video of him and CMC at the PSU hockey game. He slams one... but does not shotgun one.

Just giving CW some crap... but honestly... time to move on. CMC left ALL of us, you too buddy... get over it.

 

[Dannynoonan]

I’m glad the guys brought up that they weren’t impressed with how ISU played this past week because I felt that way too. I encourage everyone to enjoy the season without putting a huge goal out there - something I am trying to do. With Fizer, Tinsely, Shirley etc I thought they would win every game they played I was so confident in them. I don’t feel that way with these guys yet, I know it sounds crazy!
I want these guys healthy for March, not fatigued and burnt out, but to still play with a fire in their bellies because that’s when they look unbeatable.

 

[NorthCyd]

Was surprised to hear CW refer to CJR as ‘this Rogers’. I wonder if they have any conversation as of yet as things seem a little distant.

Seems like CW uses that phrase a lot even with people he knows. I wouldn't read too much into it IMO. Pretty sure I've heard him refer to other ISU coaches that way as well.

 

[clonedude]

I’m glad the guys brought up that they weren’t impressed with how ISU played this past week because I felt that way too. I encourage everyone to enjoy the season without putting a huge goal out there - something I am trying to do. With Fizer, Tinsely, Shirley etc I thought they would win every game they played I was so confident in them. I don’t feel that way with these guys yet, I know it sounds crazy!
I want these guys healthy for March, not fatigued and burnt out, but to still play with a fire in their bellies because that’s when they look unbeatable.

Totally agree.

I can't argue with the success that TJ has had here... and I know nothing.... but I've always wondered why we still have starters in virtually to the very end of games even when we are up double digits with a few minutes to go. Or why we don't find more rest for them during the season at times too?

You can't argue with TJ's success.... but it is a fact that playing how he demands has also worn his teams out come March too. CW even admits that. I think it's an interesting discussion to have for the fans.

 

[madguy30]

I’m glad the guys brought up that they weren’t impressed with how ISU played this past week because I felt that way too. I encourage everyone to enjoy the season without putting a huge goal out there - something I am trying to do. With Fizer, Tinsely, Shirley etc I thought they would win every game they played I was so confident in them. I don’t feel that way with these guys yet, I know it sounds crazy!
I want these guys healthy for March, not fatigued and burnt out, but to still play with a fire in their bellies because that’s when they look unbeatable.

The 99-00 team had quite a few games that were close until they closed them out or pulled away in the 2nd half.

CF would be all over the 'no effort, they don't care, what happened to the team from December' narrative if it were around then.

 

[madguy30]

Totally agree.

I can't argue with the success that TJ has had here... and I know nothing.... but I've always wondered why we still have starters in virtually to the very end of games even when we are up double digits with a few minutes to go. Or why we don't find more rest for them during the season at times too?

You can't argue with TJ's success.... but it is a fact that playing how he demands has also worn his teams out come March too. CW even admits that. I think it's an interesting discussion to have for the fans.

Go check out other teams' starters' minutes from early season games and you'll find the minutes to be very similar. And ISU's players' minutes are much more spread out to not really accumulate that much.

Are you saying ISU should have rested their starters the last three games? They had decent leads but the games were clearly not over since it just takes a couple of possessions to make things interesting.

 

[jsb]

Btw... CW's eyes watering up again and voice crackling a little bit when talking about CMC, Mouser, and some of the players that left again today in the Two Guys podcast. C'mon CW... move on already... they're gone.

And no... you did not "know this was coming" when CMC left. Go back and watch the day or two leading up to it... you were shocked.

Also CW... you need to learn what "shotgunning" a beer is.... Mouser does not shotgun a beer in the video of him and CMC at the PSU hockey game. He slams one... but does not shotgun one.

Just giving CW some crap... but honestly... time to move on. CMC left ALL of us, you too buddy... get over it.

Why are we even talking about Penn State football on an Iowa podcast? Should any of us give a **** what their coaches are doing at a hockey game?

 

[cyclones122]

Why are we even talking about Penn State football on an Iowa podcast? Should any of us give a **** what their coaches are doing at a hockey game?

I tend to agree. They are gone. I don't care what any of the folks that went to PSU are doing. Do. Not. Care. Please stop talking about them. We have a new coach, a new staff that seem to be nailing it in the portal, and a whole bunch of new players. Let's talk about all that.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Seems like CW uses that phrase a lot even with people he knows. I wouldn't read too much into it IMO. Pretty sure I've heard him refer to other ISU coaches that way as well.

"this Campbell"
"this Oztelberger"

Never heard or seen anyone refer to those two in that manner.

 

[NorthCyd]

"this Campbell"
"this Oztelberger"

Never heard or seen anyone refer to those two in that manner.

I'm pretty sure I have actually heard him use those exact phrases.

 

[cyclones500]

You can't argue with TJ's success.... but it is a fact that playing how he demands has also worn his teams out come March too. CW even admits that.

Are you referring to "This Williams"?

 

[Nader_uggghhh]

Btw... CW's eyes watering up again and voice crackling a little bit when talking about CMC, Mouser, and some of the players that left again today in the Two Guys podcast. C'mon CW... move on already... they're gone.

And no... you did not "know this was coming" when CMC left. Go back and watch the day or two leading up to it... you were shocked.

Also CW... you need to learn what "shotgunning" a beer is.... Mouser does not shotgun a beer in the video of him and CMC at the PSU hockey game. He slams one... but does not shotgun one.

Just giving CW some crap... but honestly... time to move on. CMC left ALL of us, you too buddy... get over it.

This is the second time you've outright lied about this. You said the same thing about CW crying over Brezina. You're either lying, don't listen to the pods yourself, or have no EQ. Only responding so the people who don't listen to the pods know that your opinion isn't reliable. Sorry, but you're being incredibly disingenuous here.

 

[deadeyededric]

Totally agree.

I can't argue with the success that TJ has had here... and I know nothing.... but I've always wondered why we still have starters in virtually to the very end of games even when we are up double digits with a few minutes to go. Or why we don't find more rest for them during the season at times too?

You can't argue with TJ's success.... but it is a fact that playing how he demands has also worn his teams out come March too. CW even admits that. I think it's an interesting discussion to have for the fans.

I just figure you're going to have stretches of good and bad play throughout the season. The fact that we were still winning games by double digits when we weren't playing up to par is pretty encouraging. That's assuming we start pealing again.

 

[Billups06]

I just figure you're going to have stretches of good and bad play throughout the season. The fact that we were still winning games by double digits when we weren't playing up to par is pretty encouraging. That's assuming we start pealing again.

Minor room for improvement; I'm hoping we can start a game without giving the opposing team wide open three's and/or layups. Feels like we're spotting opponents 6-8 points in the first couple minutes.

Can't do that with some of the teams on our schedule and likely Kansas.