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ISU to Keep the Top 25 Streak Going!?

Chitowncy

Chitowncy

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Jan 14, 2009
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I love seeing this kind of love for our team next year. Apparently, ESPN's writer thinks we can keep our long Top 25 streak going and start next year ranked. Me too. Love seeing that TJ is already so respected in the profession and our teams so respected they are placing us in the top 25 (and top 15 at that!!) and giving ISU the benefit of the doubt to start the season even with the loss of probably our top 2 players, and maybe top 3.

I am also high on these returners. Toure could be All Big 12 next year. He's so tenacious and athletic defensively. I think he'll be less deferential next year if needed and will score more. I believe he'll get better and better at shooting, just like Lipsey. Batemon is going to continue to be a threat and has shown he'll contribute a ton, and also Pleta has a real chance to be a much bigger offensive threat. We all know and see Buchanan's contributions. If Milan somehow returns, and we add an impact transfer or two, watch out!! Even if Milan goes, TJ's team building has shown to be elite. Excited for the Cyclones for years to come and also excited to see articles like this where the national media think highly of our program and give us the benefit of the doubt.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...ketball-2026-27-way-too-early-top-25-rankings
 
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If we return Milan, Toure, Batemon, Buchanan, and Pleta we will likely start the season in the 10 to 20 range. If Milan goes pro we would need to bring in a notable transfer to start the year in the top 25.
 
We definitely should get the benefit of the doubt. Every team will be losing players and bringing in unknowns. Based on TJ's history, I don't see how 25 other teams can be picked to come into the season in better shape than us.
 
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Cyclonepride said:
At this point, those votes are guesses based on what might be coming back and overall program strength. It undoubtedly will look quite different once the dust clears on the portal.
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No doubt.

But, it's exciting to see respect for our program and the returning players at the very beginning of this process from national media. That wasn't the case a few years ago. Hope it means we can keep the wonderful Top 25 streak going. Hope we hold onto these players we grow attached to and cheer for, but whatever the roster looks like I have faith Otzelberger and his team will coach them well.
 
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Read that article this morning. Even with that group of players I thought 12 was pretty generous but it's nice to get that kind of respect. I think regardless of Milan's decision we're going to need a scoring guard and stretch 4 to add to the mix from the portal as we lose a lot of offense without Lipsey and Jefferson - especially 2 guys that could create their own shots. The hope is Toure improves his shooting and he and Batemon take a big step forward with a bigger role next year. But bringing in a seasoned guard to the mix would be good insurance if 1 of them hits a sophomore slump/wall. Replacing Jefferson is going to be a bigger task than replacing Lipsey and that's no knock on Lipsey as he was the heart and soul of this team. Jefferson just did so many things well finding a comparable replacement is probably going to be tougher than finding a guard or wing player to replace some of the production and depth we lose there.
 
Chitowncy said:
No doubt.

But, it's exciting to see respect for our program and the returning players at the very beginning of this process from national media. That wasn't the case a few years ago. Hope it means we can keep the wonderful Top 25 streak going. Hope we hold onto these players we grow attached to and cheer for, but whatever the roster looks like I have faith Otzelberger and his team will coach them well.
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Yeah, we might actually start to benefit from the first few polls being complete nonsense.
 
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Everybody has to remember also that college basketball will be down next year. The 6th and 7th year covid stuff is officially over and this freshman class coming in is way down compared to last years. If we had the same team coming back we would be projected final four team. Hopefully we will get Singleton this weekend and another stud and we are right there again.
 
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I don't know how anybody can make predictions for next season before the portal opens.
If we can keep the core of Toure, Batemon, Momcilovic, Buchanan and Pleta together with some solid transfer additions (Singleton would be a great start), top 25 is a lock and we could be looking at a top 10 team again but who knows what the roster will look like. As of now, I believe that only Batemon is a lock to come back so we'll get a much better picture in a few weeks to a month.
 
NYCYFan said:
I don't know how anybody can make predictions for next season before the portal opens.
If we can keep the core of Toure, Batemon, Momcilovic, Buchanan and Pleta together with some solid transfer additions (Singleton would be a great start), top 25 is a lock and we could be looking at a top 10 team again but who knows what the roster will look like. As of now, I believe that only Batemon is a lock to come back so we'll get a much better picture in a few weeks to a month.
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They really can't. But it's something to generate "clicks." There's no real stock in these way too early rankings other than TJ has this program nationally relevant
 
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