If there is one school in the Northern Hemisphere that ISU should have nothing to do with, ever, it's Hampton.
Just typing the word Hampton puts a knot in my belly.
To see Fennelly's crew paying the Pirates to come to Ames just sickens me.
They
got their perpetual moment in the sun (replayed every damn year by CBS)
courtesy the Cyclones. Do we need to be writing checks, too? Really?
Tennessee Tech was busy?
This will be the one and only time I am boycotting a WBB game. No watching, no writing, no listening, nothing.
I know it won't matter, but I will feel better for not contributing to the process.
Peterclone
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Bama loss from the other side
It's always interesting to get the opinion of the opponent, and this blog
has an interesting take. Some excerpts:
- While disappointed they didn't get to play Purdue for RPI reasons, they thought ISU gave them a good game.
- In their eyes, the second half was Bama's best half of hoops this season.
- Thought ISU had good size, but Bama's bigs had too much muscle. Same song, different verse.
- Was surprised at how many ISU
fans were there. I'm surprised there even is a blog about Alabama
basketball, and that more than 17 fans made the trip. They did know it
was for a basketball game, and not a football scrimmage, right?
Alabama is a quality team- #50 in the Sagarin
at the moment- and it would have been a nice win. Given the issues the
team has at the moment, returning from Vegas 1-1 is an achievement.
Keep up the improvement.
Peterclone
has an interesting take. Some excerpts:
- While disappointed they didn't get to play Purdue for RPI reasons, they thought ISU gave them a good game.
- In their eyes, the second half was Bama's best half of hoops this season.
- Thought ISU had good size, but Bama's bigs had too much muscle. Same song, different verse.
- Was surprised at how many ISU
fans were there. I'm surprised there even is a blog about Alabama
basketball, and that more than 17 fans made the trip. They did know it
was for a basketball game, and not a football scrimmage, right?
Alabama is a quality team- #50 in the Sagarin
at the moment- and it would have been a nice win. Given the issues the
team has at the moment, returning from Vegas 1-1 is an achievement.
Keep up the improvement.
Peterclone
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Bold Gold
I'm the odd fan- I like ISU in gold unis.
Leave white hom ejerseys to Nebraska. We've got a second color- use it!
Oh- I like beating teams you are supposed to beat, and by a comfortable margin.
Peterclone
Leave white hom ejerseys to Nebraska. We've got a second color- use it!
Oh- I like beating teams you are supposed to beat, and by a comfortable margin.
Peterclone
Friday, December 14, 2007
Pssssst- Wanna Hear A Secret?
Former Iowa State QB Sage Rosenfels is 3-0 as a starter for the Texans.
If you read the DSM Rag, you would never know it, unless you are a box score junkie.
Sage looked solid Thursday against the Broncos. Nothing flashy, but he was almost always on the mark and he made some throws that are harder than they look. He managed the game, including a strong 4th when the Texans put it away.
Not a mention in the Rag, since they were busy writing up the pregame for Drake SUI, and finsing space for a wire story about Kyle Orton. True, Kyle and Sage stopped playing footbal in Iowa around the same time, but I gur-run-teee that if Brad Banks makes a practice squad, the Rag will find 6 column inches to write him up.
Then again, if the Rag is ignoring Sage, perhaps the rest of the NFL is too. Finishing the season 6-0 should help get a pay raise, no?
Peterclone
If you read the DSM Rag, you would never know it, unless you are a box score junkie.
Sage looked solid Thursday against the Broncos. Nothing flashy, but he was almost always on the mark and he made some throws that are harder than they look. He managed the game, including a strong 4th when the Texans put it away.
Not a mention in the Rag, since they were busy writing up the pregame for Drake SUI, and finsing space for a wire story about Kyle Orton. True, Kyle and Sage stopped playing footbal in Iowa around the same time, but I gur-run-teee that if Brad Banks makes a practice squad, the Rag will find 6 column inches to write him up.
Then again, if the Rag is ignoring Sage, perhaps the rest of the NFL is too. Finishing the season 6-0 should help get a pay raise, no?
Peterclone
Monday, December 10, 2007
Superbad
Cruise over to Sagarin right now, and take a gander at the Big TenEleven.
SUI
is not only ranked lowest in their league- behind even Northwestern and
Penn State- they have earned that ranking while playing the weakest
schedule in their league, and byalot.
That's an impressive double dip.
Normally, the Sag is distorted this time of the year by teams with weak schedules running out to a 7-1 record or something. But not SUI, they do it the hard, er, easy way.
On the bright side, Drake will bring up their strength of schedule in a way that ISU couldn't. They're #58.
There but for the grace of God....
Peterclone
SUI
is not only ranked lowest in their league- behind even Northwestern and
Penn State- they have earned that ranking while playing the weakest
schedule in their league, and byalot.
That's an impressive double dip.
Normally, the Sag is distorted this time of the year by teams with weak schedules running out to a 7-1 record or something. But not SUI, they do it the hard, er, easy way.
On the bright side, Drake will bring up their strength of schedule in a way that ISU couldn't. They're #58.
There but for the grace of God....
Peterclone
Big Picture
While Sunday's dual loss to SUI was a disappointment, especially in the lighter weights, we are taking the big picture view.
In
business a valuable metric is to compare how one is doing, all things
the same, to the previous year. Compared to the '07 dual,ISU was vastly better. The Cyclones were far less hesitant
, took chances when they had an opening, went for the big win when they
had a mismatch, and had every opportunity to win compared to their
visit to Iowa City last year. That is great news.
Last season's Cyclones were far different in March than in December, winning the B12 and falling a takedown shy of a National Championship, while SUI, which looked so intimidating against the Cyclones, finished a distant 8th. If Cael
can engineer another strong finish from this starting point- a win over
#1 and a loss to #3- there will be plenty of wins to celebrate, all
more important than a potential December win over SUI.
Besides, had ISU swept SUI this weekend, the Iowa river would have been filled with Black and Gold icebergs, jumped from the Burlington Street bridge. Nothing is worse than a sweep at the hands of Silo Tech.
Peterclone
In
business a valuable metric is to compare how one is doing, all things
the same, to the previous year. Compared to the '07 dual,ISU was vastly better. The Cyclones were far less hesitant
, took chances when they had an opening, went for the big win when they
had a mismatch, and had every opportunity to win compared to their
visit to Iowa City last year. That is great news.
Last season's Cyclones were far different in March than in December, winning the B12 and falling a takedown shy of a National Championship, while SUI, which looked so intimidating against the Cyclones, finished a distant 8th. If Cael
can engineer another strong finish from this starting point- a win over
#1 and a loss to #3- there will be plenty of wins to celebrate, all
more important than a potential December win over SUI.
Besides, had ISU swept SUI this weekend, the Iowa river would have been filled with Black and Gold icebergs, jumped from the Burlington Street bridge. Nothing is worse than a sweep at the hands of Silo Tech.
Peterclone
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Locked
The Trophy ISU Should Never Win will return to Ames.
Hopefully SUI can find the janitor that knows which supply closet they keep it in. It's not exactly the kind of trophy they are proud of.
Beautiful.
Peterclone
Hopefully SUI can find the janitor that knows which supply closet they keep it in. It's not exactly the kind of trophy they are proud of.
Beautiful.
Peterclone
Weak
SUI athletics actually played the
won the second half" card in their writeup of their beat-down
inAmes.
For a school that looks down on Moo U., they sure know how to put out quality BS.
Peterclone
won the second half" card in their writeup of their beat-down
inAmes.
For a school that looks down on Moo U., they sure know how to put out quality BS.
Peterclone
Confession
I snuck into the Lafester game back in '87.
That ISU-SUI game was the Saturday after Finals, meaning it was a break game, which allowed anybody with a horn to show up and play in the Pep Band. Show up we did. The Band may have pushed 100 pieces that night, which is the size of some college marching bands. In those days the band sat just off the right shoulder of the visiting bench, so when a trainer went to get a cup of water he would bump into the backside of the band conductor. We were that close, and absolutely deafening.
One of the biggest differences since that night Rhodes entered Cyclone lore is the dramatic drop in talent on both ISU's and SUI's squads. '87 was a matchup of monster teams. Today was a matchup of mid-majors.
ISU won for the same reasons it lost at Drake- hustle, defense, turnovers. It was fun watching SUI's guards fumble around trying to start the offense, Cyclone defenders guarding them at the timeline without fear. Rashon shutting down SUI's best player. Juri scoring down low, drawing fouls, making trouble.
Defense like that won't win every game, but it will let you hang around until your offense gets on track.
SUI has some talented freshmen, and ISU will be in better shape next year than this. Perhaps the next couple of ISU-SUI tilts in Hilton will return to Epic status.
Peterclone
That ISU-SUI game was the Saturday after Finals, meaning it was a break game, which allowed anybody with a horn to show up and play in the Pep Band. Show up we did. The Band may have pushed 100 pieces that night, which is the size of some college marching bands. In those days the band sat just off the right shoulder of the visiting bench, so when a trainer went to get a cup of water he would bump into the backside of the band conductor. We were that close, and absolutely deafening.
One of the biggest differences since that night Rhodes entered Cyclone lore is the dramatic drop in talent on both ISU's and SUI's squads. '87 was a matchup of monster teams. Today was a matchup of mid-majors.
ISU won for the same reasons it lost at Drake- hustle, defense, turnovers. It was fun watching SUI's guards fumble around trying to start the offense, Cyclone defenders guarding them at the timeline without fear. Rashon shutting down SUI's best player. Juri scoring down low, drawing fouls, making trouble.
Defense like that won't win every game, but it will let you hang around until your offense gets on track.
SUI has some talented freshmen, and ISU will be in better shape next year than this. Perhaps the next couple of ISU-SUI tilts in Hilton will return to Epic status.
Peterclone
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Textbook
BF's defensive gameplan is to always take away the other team's best player offensively, try to slow the second best, and make somebody else beat you.
ISU shut down Kristi Smith, and Ausdensmore wasn't enough.
Game over.
Going in, if you knew ISU would only shoot 32% and make only 2 threes, you might have though SUI had a good shot. But when SUI could only muster 13 first half points their goose was cooked. Credit ISU's defense.
Effort like that will win a lot of games this winter.
Sure, SUI will claim some lame "we won the second half" BS, but they got their head handed to them. They got outrebounded despite being giants.
The funniest part- ISU had more bodies in Hilton tonight than SUI might draw for their B1011 home schedule. That speaks volumes about both programs.
Peterclone
ISU shut down Kristi Smith, and Ausdensmore wasn't enough.
Game over.
Going in, if you knew ISU would only shoot 32% and make only 2 threes, you might have though SUI had a good shot. But when SUI could only muster 13 first half points their goose was cooked. Credit ISU's defense.
Effort like that will win a lot of games this winter.
Sure, SUI will claim some lame "we won the second half" BS, but they got their head handed to them. They got outrebounded despite being giants.
The funniest part- ISU had more bodies in Hilton tonight than SUI might draw for their B1011 home schedule. That speaks volumes about both programs.
Peterclone
Fugley
If ISU is going to beat the SUI men, even though the SUI men are pretty weak based on reports, it will require a much, much, much better effort than what was thrown out at Drake tonight.
No kidding, eh?
We ISU fans are a forgiving bunch if you work your tail off, especially in the building stage of a program.
You aren't working hard if you lose by 35 to a Valley team. Just because Drake wears blue doesn't make them Kansas.
Win Saturday and much will be forgiven.
Peterclone
No kidding, eh?
We ISU fans are a forgiving bunch if you work your tail off, especially in the building stage of a program.
You aren't working hard if you lose by 35 to a Valley team. Just because Drake wears blue doesn't make them Kansas.
Win Saturday and much will be forgiven.
Peterclone
Odd
Three basketball games tonight, but one isn't on TV. Can you guess which one?
ISU at Drake, Men
SUI at UNI, men
SUI at ISU, women
Wrong.
The FauxHawks are the team not on TV. Not even the B1011 Network picked up that game, which I find just amazing.
I'm curious what kept that game off TV- it can't be for a lack of interest.
Peterclone
Editor- Disregard the above post. I watched SUI-UNI on the telly myself. The above is what happens when one depends on The Paper Dillards Depends On for information. Trust but verify.
ISU at Drake, Men
SUI at UNI, men
SUI at ISU, women
Wrong.
The FauxHawks are the team not on TV. Not even the B1011 Network picked up that game, which I find just amazing.
I'm curious what kept that game off TV- it can't be for a lack of interest.
Peterclone
Editor- Disregard the above post. I watched SUI-UNI on the telly myself. The above is what happens when one depends on The Paper Dillards Depends On for information. Trust but verify.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
A Weekend Clinch?
ISU only needs 4 points to clinch The Trophy ISU Should Never Win.
With four events between now and Sunday, I like ISU's odds of sealing it up before gymnastics gets theeir chance.
If memory serves, the school with home field/court/mat/water has won the thing every year. Then again, the winner of the football game has won each year, too. Could there be some kind psychological carryover? Could football set the tone for the remainder of the school year?
Seal the deal, Cyclones.
Peterclone
With four events between now and Sunday, I like ISU's odds of sealing it up before gymnastics gets theeir chance.
If memory serves, the school with home field/court/mat/water has won the thing every year. Then again, the winner of the football game has won each year, too. Could there be some kind psychological carryover? Could football set the tone for the remainder of the school year?
Seal the deal, Cyclones.
Peterclone
Sunday, December 02, 2007
AT?
It only took 36 hours for The Newspaper Dillard's Depends On to inform me that Alex Thompson, the player nobody missed in Iowa City, was the hero of ISU's OT win at Oregon State.
30 minutes? 12 points? 2 fouls? Where the heck has he been hiding?
Perhaps it was one of those machup situations where AT's defensive style fit whoever he was guarding, and whateveer OSU player was assigned him couldn't stop AT's offensive prowess (that was an odd phrase to write). Perhaps we won't see it again this season.
But 20 minutes, 10 points and 5 reounds every night from Alex would really change how opponents plan for our Cyclones.
C'mon, AT, keep that up!
Peterclone
30 minutes? 12 points? 2 fouls? Where the heck has he been hiding?
Perhaps it was one of those machup situations where AT's defensive style fit whoever he was guarding, and whateveer OSU player was assigned him couldn't stop AT's offensive prowess (that was an odd phrase to write). Perhaps we won't see it again this season.
But 20 minutes, 10 points and 5 reounds every night from Alex would really change how opponents plan for our Cyclones.
C'mon, AT, keep that up!
Peterclone
Head scratcher
I'm still not used to the idea of ISU having a vollyball team that isn't a joke.
Sweeping the high seed on their floor says something about your squad- things like "underated" and "peaking at the right time".
Fun.
Peterclone
Sweeping the high seed on their floor says something about your squad- things like "underated" and "peaking at the right time".
Fun.
Peterclone
Statement
Not very subtle, guys, falling behind to the defending champs on their mat, crowd going crazy, looking for the kill shot.
How
do respond?
out by scores of 4-0, 3-0 and 7-2. Way to take the air out of the building.
That win won't raise expectations for next Sunday's home meet against you-know-who at all.
Nice work. Keep improving.
Peterclone
How
do respond?
out by scores of 4-0, 3-0 and 7-2. Way to take the air out of the building.
That win won't raise expectations for next Sunday's home meet against you-know-who at all.
Nice work. Keep improving.
Peterclone
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