In reality, what is the ISU Basketball program?

[tigerclone924]

The ISU Men's Basketball program is in the 5th year of a very nice run that started with a rookie coach that went 16-16 in his first season. That coach has amassed 110 wins in that 5 year stretch (with games left to play in the 5th season, pretty nice wins per season average!). They have been to the round of 32 or better the last 3 seasons, going to the Sweet Sixteen last year (the 4th season). They are 20-7 this year with yet another NCAA Tournament berth all but locked up. And have been in the Big 12 title hunt (the best league in the country) for most of the year. Pretty good stuff right there!

I'm sure a lot of you are like "yeah, we know all that". I just wanted to put it in writing so we could see it for reality. As good as the last few years have been we obviously have not arrived as a program. If you say we have, then Sweet Sixteens as the pinnacle is acceptable. In my mind we are on the journey of arriving as a program.

This may just be me but it seems as a fan base we have a air of superiority (trashing other programs, trashing coaches that have achieved more than ours etc.). We laugh at the TTU's and TCU's of the world as if we are a blue blood. We do he same thing to U of I that we hate them doing to us in football or any other sport, suggesting that no matter what successes they reach they are still below us. In my opinion we have work to do before we are the type of fans that can rightfully stand in judgement of other programs. In fact, it was a few short years ago (and for the majority of the program's existence) that we have been a team that the top dogs laughed at. Does a good 4 year stretch with the heights being a Sweet Sixteen warrant a 180 where we are now the ones laughing? So I pose the question...In reality, what is the ISU Basketball program?

P.S. I honestly want people's take here.

 

[IAStubborn]

You are absolutly right. UNI does suck.



Actually, it is just message board and social media crap. You see it with kstate and EMAW too. Message boards bring out the extreme reactionary types and we see them Here (not.nearly as bad as emaw). In person on the whole neither kstate fans or Iowa State fans act half as obnoxiously arrogant as Iowa or KU fans. We are generally a pretty humble bunch.

 

[Mtowncyclone13]

We are so hungry for immediate success. The minute we come close we over-hype ourselves. It gets to a point where any slight setback is a failure to us because we've psyched ourselves up so much. I don't think it has to do with us thinking we are a blue blood but more like a person who came into money really quickly. Yes they are now secure but they still don't know the ins-and-outs of being wealthy. That takes years and years and years of grooming and learning proper decorum.

 

[ISUKyro]

For me - I'm happy for where we are in year 5.

We are hella fun to watch and we are in a position that if we get things rolling in the tourney would could do some damage. I still think an Elite 8 run is possible.

Our D is suspect. I know that BU was insane from beyond the arc last night, but as someone posted earlier, teams do not struggle to fire the three against us. To often we are 10 feet away from the shooter when he starts his motion. By the time we get our hands up, the ball has left.

If we can find a way to up our D while keeping our O style going I think we would have 2 or 3 more wins this year at least.

The best thing about this team is it has potential. They have the ability to do great things and that is always fun.

 

[MartyFine]

Going to NCAA tournament for 4th year in a row. For. The. First. Time. Ever.

That says a lot.

 

[Jer]

We are so hungry for immediate success. The minute we come close we over-hype ourselves. It gets to a point where any slight setback is a failure to us because we've psyched ourselves up so much. I don't think it has to do with us thinking we are a blue blood but more like a person who came into money really quickly. Yes they are now secure but they still don't know the ins-and-outs of being wealthy. That takes years and years and years of grooming and learning proper decorum.

Very well put. We are fans, really eager and excited fans, that come across as bipolar because we don't know how to handle the fact that success doesn't happen overnight or mean there won't be setbacks along the way. As a Cyclone fan, you should know that two steps forward always mean one step backward. We're still marching towards our goals, but that doesn't mean the road won't have some stops that cause euphoria or depression.

 

[Clonefan94]

I think most people have a realistic view of what's going on. You are hearing the vocal minority when good and bad happens and we overhype a win and overdramatize a loss. Is it bad that the first thing I thought of when we lost was how I had to stay away from CF for the rest of the night because of all the idiots who'd be losing their minds on her.

 

[Trice]

We are so hungry for immediate success. The minute we come close we over-hype ourselves. It gets to a point where any slight setback is a failure to us because we've psyched ourselves up so much. I don't think it has to do with us thinking we are a blue blood but more like a person who came into money really quickly. Yes they are now secure but they still don't know the ins-and-outs of being wealthy. That takes years and years and years of grooming and learning proper decorum.

This is basically it. It's a matter of higher expectations. There's a concept called "anchoring" which is basically about managing expectations. If you walk into a car dealership and expect to to pay $20K for a car and get it for $19K, you feel like you've gotten a good deal, even if objectively you got screwed. But because you anchored that $20K number in your mind, even though it wasn't well-informed, you feel good.

Ever since last spring, the expectations have been that we had a team that could compete for a championship. And at Hilton we are supposed to be virtually invincible. We've been hovering around the top 15 all year. That's the new normal, the expectation, the anchor. Last night, we had to pay $22K for the car we thought we'd only have to pay $20K for, and now we're mad about it. The real question is, did we get screwed (or in this case, screw ourselves by losing), or were our expectations misguided to begin with?

Personally based on what I've seen from this team this year, the expectations are mostly on target. We can be that good. So it's that much more infuriating when we aren't, and last night it cost us in a big way. That doesn't excuse the way some people choose to behave about it.

 

[canker2323]

We are so hungry for immediate success. The minute we come close we over-hype ourselves. It gets to a point where any slight setback is a failure to us because we've psyched ourselves up so much. I don't think it has to do with us thinking we are a blue blood but more like a person who came into money really quickly. Yes they are now secure but they still don't know the ins-and-outs of being wealthy. That takes years and years and years of grooming and learning proper decorum.

Some of ISU's fans are deeply scarred by the awfulness of the football program and they put too much emotion and energy into basketball.

 

[Nihawk]

ISU is a bad draw and a bad call from three straight sweet sixteens. Beat big name schools Connecticut and Notre Dame back to back years. I would say things are pretty good. Fred always seems to have the team playing well NCAA tourney time.

 

[tigerclone924]

This is basically it. It's a matter of higher expectations. There's a concept called "anchoring" which is basically about managing expectations. If you walk into a car dealership and expect to to pay $20K for a car and get it for $19K, you feel like you've gotten a good deal, even if objectively you got screwed. But because you anchored that $20K number in your mind, even though it wasn't well-informed, you feel good.

Ever since last spring, the expectations have been that we had a team that could compete for a championship. And at Hilton we are supposed to be virtually invincible. We've been hovering around the top 15 all year. That's the new normal, the expectation, the anchor. Last night, we had to pay $22K for the car we thought we'd only have to pay $20K for, and now we're mad about it. The real question is, did we get screwed (or in this case, screw ourselves by losing), or were our expectations misguided to begin with?

Personally based on what I've seen from this team this year, the expectations are mostly on target. We can be that good. So it's that much more infuriating when we aren't, and last night it cost us in a big way. That doesn't excuse the way some people choose to behave about it.

I agree with everything you said and man is it fun to enjoy the success! It's just there are some folks that act like we are UK or KU.

Above someone point out that we are going to go to the tournament for the 4th straight year for the first time in history. There was a stat floating around recently that said we have 12 (or 11) road wins against Top 25 teams in our program's history! Those are stats that suggest we have a long ways to go before we should be pointing fingers at teams for being bad. I love the Cyclones and I am on cloud 9 about the recent success! Let's just have some humility.

 

[Turn2]

Some fans are completely giddy that we're so much better than we were with the last coach. Some are just starting to see the minor shortcomings, like a nit-picker with a hot new girlfriend. Glass half full, glass half empty. Everyone is always going to wonder "what if?", no matter how good it gets.

 

[Final42b]

Good not great

 

[Prone2Clone]

Personally, I think the ingredients are here to become an elite program for an extended run. Whether the cake comes out of the oven perfectly, who knows, but the ingredients are here (fan support, gameday environment, facilities, coach/playing style/NBA ties, conference affiliation).

I still believe what LE said...ISU is a place you can win a national title.

 

[isuno1fan]

This team has some shortcomings. I think that is an indisputable fact. Haven't thought we were top 10 quality all year. We are a solid top 20 team though. I will take that every single year.

 

[CYdways432]

Hoiberg is the man

 

[aauummm]

We are so hungry for immediate success. The minute we come close we over-hype ourselves. It gets to a point where any slight setback is a failure to us because we've psyched ourselves up so much. I don't think it has to do with us thinking we are a blue blood but more like a person who came into money really quickly. Yes they are now secure but they still don't know the ins-and-outs of being wealthy. That takes years and years and years of grooming and learning proper decorum.

Exactly. Fred's big coaching/teaching challenge is teaching the team how to handle the fact that we are the ones with the target on our backs now. We are the ones who an underdog team's fans storm the court when they beat us. We are the ones that are everyone's "super bowl".

That is a whole different mindset for us. We used to be motivated by always being the underdog, now that that is no longer the case, we have to grow into our new role. We are becoming a KU or Duke or North Carolina and still have to learn how to handle that role.

 

[CTTB78]

...In my mind we are on the journey of arriving as a program.......

This may just be me but it seems as a fan base we have a air of superiority (trashing other programs, trashing coaches that have achieved more than ours etc.). .

I would agree that we are an arriving program. We are the best program in the state, one of the best 3-4 teams in the country's toughest conference, but we still have to work to do to be in the national conversation. I don't think Fred is where he wants the team to be, but is on track in getting there. The Final Four discussions in pre-season were 'Hawk-like" and I never agreed with it. Let's get to the Elite 8 first.
I don't know about the 'air of superiority'. No doubt we have great fans who love the program, but I don't see us going off on legit top teams or their coaches.

 

[Mtowncyclone13]

Haven't thought we were top 10 quality all year. We are a solid top 20 team though. I will take that every single year.

It's like the silver medalist at the Olympics. They stand there upset they didn't try *just a bit* harder to win. And hell, the bronze medalist is just happy to have a medal. We are the silver medalist; close but not happy. Also we're like a lottery winner that complains about taxes. You just got free money and you complain. Enjoy what you have.

 

[tigerclone924]

I would agree that we are an arriving program. We are the best program in the state, one of the best 3-4 teams in the country's toughest conference, but we still have to work to do to be in the national conversation. I don't think Fred is where he wants the team to be, but is on track in getting there. The Final Four discussions in pre-season were 'Hawk-like" and I never agreed with it. Let's get to the Elite 8 first.
I don't know about the 'air of superiority'. No doubt we have great fans who love the program, but I don't see us going off on legit top teams or their coaches.

I haven't heard us trashing "legit top teams" but certainly laughing at teams that are in a spot we were in just a few short years ago. And the Scott Drew bashing is what I was referencing when I said the coaches part. He is accomplished and has done big things with a program that was in shambles when he got there.