If we can't beat BYU and K state at home what makes you think its likely we beat Houston and Tech? . It wouldn't be shocking but the odds of winning those games would be much lower than CU and UCF.
*** Official #23 BYU vs #10 IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
How not? The 2014-15 season wasn’t as off the rails as you think maybe. A lot of similarities to this point. Second half of February saw loss to a bad ksu team on road, loss to good Baylor at home, miracle comeback win against good OU team on senior day. Sounds very similar so far.
Don't rack up another Q2 loss on Saturday and I'd say we're a 3 seed.
Conf Tourney doesn't do much for seeding purposes.
Conf Tourney doesn't do much for seeding purposes.
Don’t disagree with you really. But if just 2/3 of these losses swing the other way and literally no one is ********. Last night. At Arizona. Simple effort at OSU. Two or three (or actually just one) plays go our way and we are sitting at 25-5 and a lock for a 2 seed more than likely. But it’s the same team and same plays with just crucial plays not going our way and we got the L instead of the W. My point is that while we are struggling this is a team literally a handful of plays in a position everyone is still over the moon.
Reasonable assessment.
Conference tournament first game could matter, likely risk a Q2 loss there, too. Advance at least past that, and nothing is going to hurt ... I guess if the 8v9 team reaches semifinal, that's another Q2, but by that point the bulk of bracket is going to be set and it's afterthought.
The 14/15 team reportedly had a toxic culture including guys opting out of practice and needing to be babysat and one apparently threw a chair at half time of the tourney game.
I don't believe assigning babysitters is a part of TJ's program.
There are similar 'this is a wake up call' vibes after weird losses, maybe not having a sole leader, but the similarities end there imo.
It’s similar
Except, having recently watched games from that era, those teams had notably more “talent”
I think this team is playing closer to its upside more often
Perhaps this year, favorably, WE get the "how in the fu*k did Iowa State get ..."
Said by every non ISU fan
If that team had more talent, why weren’t they preseason top 5? Barely even top 20.
But you’re discounting the handful of plays that we DID make. Like @ Iowa. And @ Tech. And @ ASU. And down the stretch against Dayton early.
Hell, what is CuJo wasn’t red hot against Kansas at home?
This team has made a ton of awesome/amazing/clutch plays in our 22 wins. What is those didn’t go our way?
I think this might just be who we are. A 22-8 team.
This is a stat in the TJ era that I tend to watch a lot. We're usually in trouble when we put up too many threes. Seems like we're at our best when it's under 20.
We're saying the same thing lol. We are who we are. I just choose to still think with the injuries and illnesses those plays DO go in our favor I guess.
Because Freddy’s program didn’t value defense at an elite level. The CBB world has seen Iowa State play elite level defense now for 3+ years. True title contenders must be able to play high level defense, and Freddy’s just didn’t. And even with that, Prohm’s first team was Preseason top 5, with several NBA players. Very obviously more talented than this years’ team.
That’s fair. I don’t personally believe we are going to get any “heathier” this year. And it’s pretty clear that our kryptonite = literally any injury or illness of any kind.
And 22-8 isn’t bad. People have to chill with this rollercoaster of emotions. It will end up effecting our ability to keep TJ and the ability to retain parts of this roster. If we finish with 26 wins it would the 4th highest win total in Iowa State history. Let’s get a win on Saturday, get a couple in KC and just see what happens in March.
So I guess the 2014-15 team overachieved and this years team is underachieving based on preseason expectations. Funny how to some this season is such a massive success and these same people think 2014-15 was a total failure.
Season to season poll inertia. Ended last year very highly ranked, returned the most important guards, and we assumed we'd upgraded the frontcourt, so that's a recipe for a massively hyped preseason ranking.
Fred's teams were pretty much always ranked in the teens, and 14/15 lost a fair amount of production in Deandre Kane and a Big XII Player of the Year in Ejim. Based on our rankings at the end of 13/14 and how the tournament played out, top 20 preseason was to be expected.
Good point. As far as final ranking though, 2013-14 finished 11, and 2023-24 was 8, so almost the same.
Nope 22-8 isn’t bad. I don’t think anyone here disagrees with you.
Is 22-8 underperforming after starting 17-2 and being ranked in the Top 5 with all the metrics pointing to the team proving to be a Top 5 team? Yeah, I think so. I think it’s “OK” for fans to think this and be frustrated.
