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***2026-27 Mens College Basketball Thread***

Cymark86 said:
Just curious as you seem well connected to UNI. Do you see Jacobsen hanging it up anytime soon? He’s still pretty young, so age would indicate no, but they are just hard to watch. And those mid major jobs aren’t getting any easier (see Drake this yesr)

I just think that despite having Iowa and Iowa state, UNI could be really strong in all sports. Great community and facilities seem good.
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He just got a lifetime contract last spring and he's won 20 games in 16 of his 20 years. He's not going anywhere and he's earned the right to say when. Plus, he's fantastic in the community and the people actually paying him (he's all privately funded) adore him. Style of play certainly can be a slog and tough to watch at times but you've got to play to the talent you can get.

UNI, like Iowa State in many ways, gets killed by the arbitrary rules that the BOR and legislature put on what we can spend on athletics. We're the only one of our peers with a cap on how much general find money we can take so we've got a $19M department budget while the rest of the league operates between $30-35M. We've decided, rightly, to starve football and go all in on MBB simply because Jake is the only thing keeping us from being Evansville or Indiana State.
 
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Based on latest Lunardi 3/6/2026 Bracketology,
03 Seed Iowa State's path to the NC:

14 seed Troy @ OKC
06 seed Kentucky @ OKC

02 seed Michigan State @ DC
01 seed Duke @ DC

01 seed UConn @ Indy
01 seed Arizona @ Indy

Let it be said! Let it be done!

Let's Go State!

www.espn.com

Men's Bracketology: Welcome to the newly expanded 2027 field

Here's what the first 76-team projected field looks like -- with Florida still No. 1 overall.
www.espn.com
 
AlaCyclone said:
Based on latest Lunardi 3/6/2026 Bracketology,
03 Seed Iowa State's path to the NC:

14 seed Troy @ OKC
06 seed Kentucky @ OKC

02 seed Michigan State @ DC
01 seed Duke @ DC

01 seed UConn @ Indy
01 seed Arizona @ Indy

Let it be said! Let it be done!

Let's Go State!

www.espn.com

Men's Bracketology: Welcome to the newly expanded 2027 field

Here's what the first 76-team projected field looks like -- with Florida still No. 1 overall.
www.espn.com
Click to expand...
Please don't ever use Lunardi. Ever.
 
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1UNI2ISU said:
He just got a lifetime contract last spring and he's won 20 games in 16 of his 20 years. He's not going anywhere and he's earned the right to say when. Plus, he's fantastic in the community and the people actually paying him (he's all privately funded) adore him. Style of play certainly can be a slog and tough to watch at times but you've got to play to the talent you can get.

UNI, like Iowa State in many ways, gets killed by the arbitrary rules that the BOR and legislature put on what we can spend on athletics. We're the only one of our peers with a cap on how much general find money we can take so we've got a $19M department budget while the rest of the league operates between $30-35M. We've decided, rightly, to starve football and go all in on MBB simply because Jake is the only thing keeping us from being Evansville or Indiana State.
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Totally makes sense. End of the day, he’s provided UNI with a consistent winner. I’m always interested in the budget things, since I don’t really understand all the under the hood stuff.

UNI is really kind of a hidden gem. Lived in CF in the 90’s but so much has changed. I do think Stepsis will get it turned around. And swapping ISU for NDSU doesn’t hurt.
 
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mullet said:
TJ took a math league team to the second weekend his first year. No comparison.
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Why do we keep doing this? TJ built a squad in year 1 that did not lose to a team outside the Big 12 until it's last game of the season. Brockington STILL might be our best transfer, and we had the Freshman of the Year in the conference. Absolutely elite defensively.

I think people think they are giving a bunch of credit to TJ for getting a "really bad team" to the Sweet 16. That isn't a compliment. The compliment is - he built a damn good team with really good athleticism, 1 certified stud, a stud freshman, and a bunch of guys that were willing to play hard. He built a culture. THAT is what he should get credit for. I hear of lot of "his first team had no business making the Sweet 16". The f*** it didn't. They absolutely earned it. TJ earned it. He created a good team and that good team won a bunch of games.
 
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Cloned4Life said:
Why do we keep doing this? TJ built a squad in year 1 that did not lose to a team outside the Big 12 until it's last game of the season. Brockington STILL might be our best transfer, and we had the Freshman of the Year in the conference. Absolutely elite defensively.

I think people think they are giving a bunch of credit to TJ for getting a "really bad team" to the Sweet 16. That isn't a compliment. The compliment is - he built a damn good team with really good athleticism, 1 certified stud, a stud freshman, and a bunch of guys that were willing to play hard. He built a culture. THAT is what he should get credit for. I hear of lot of "his first team had no business making the Sweet 16". The f*** it didn't. They absolutely earned it. TJ earned it. He created a good team and that good team won a bunch of games.
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Somewhat to the side of yoursummary, but related. It bugs me when I hear/read “Otzelberger took a 2-22 team and made a run to the Sweet 16.” He didn’t take “that roster,” he built one almost entirely from scratch. Only two players from 20-21 played significant minutes in 21-22: Big George and Tre Jackson. For the most part, they performed fine in their roles, but they weren’t major elements.
 
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