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From the University of Iowa student newspaper:

Which of the three Cy-Hawk rivalry losses to Iowa State - football, men's basketball, or women's basketball - was the worst?

point/counterpoint

DI Sports Staff

Women's basketball

For Iowa, it hasn't been pretty in Ames this year, but at least football and men's basketball made it a game at some point during their losses. On the women's side, Bluder's Bunch couldn't hit anything in the first half, scoring 13 points - tying a school record for fewest points in a frame - or roughly a basket every three minutes.

Thirteen points is not basketball. Football teams score 13 - the Cyclones put up almost that many, 12, in the first half against Iowa football in September. Even baseball teams can put up more than that. The Texas Rangers, anyone?

As bad as the Hawkeye offense looked on the gridiron this year, women's basketball looked as if it was part of Tennessee's nonconference schedule against the Cyclones. Shooting 17 percent from the field, the Hawkeyes only had two players score in the first 25 minutes.

The 15-point halftime deficit could have been much worse - Iowa State failed to capitalize on a number of defensive breakdowns. But Iowa couldn't much dent the double-digit lead for the rest of the game, managing to pull within eight, but then trailing by as many as 17.

Although the Hawkeyes outscored the Cyclones by one in the second period, they were dominated in key offensive categories: points in the paint (40-16), points off turnovers (19-5), second-chance points (18-7), bench points (21-2), and turnovers (17-5).

The 58-44 loss was another meltdown in the recent history of failure against Iowa State, which has won nine of the last 11 matchups. Last year, Iowa jumped out to an 11-0 lead before losing, and the Hawkeyes haven't won at Hilton since the current roster was in diapers.

As unexpected and demoralizing as the losses in men's basketball and football were, they weren't blown out. But the women set a mark of futility that will probably stand a long time.

- by Diane Hendrickson


Men's basketball

No loss to an Iowa State team in 2007 is as big as the one suffered four days ago. It was Todd Lickliter's first time with the in-state rivalry as the head coach of Iowa men's basketball.

But it shouldn't have been.

First off, the women's basketball team got mauled by the Cyclones. Lisa Bluder's team wasn't even close to winning. Any time that happens, the passion and fun is taken out of one side of the rivalry. Long before that game was over, Hawkeye fans had no stake left in it.

The football team, yeah, it took a last-second field goal by a team that has missed so many important three-point kicks over the last few years, but that's not enough. Iowa had full health and came in hot off a shutout over Syracuse.

All that loss did was tell everyone in Iowa City two things:

Kirk Ferentz still can't solve the riddle of Cyclone football and that the 2007 Hawkeye football team isn't really that good.

Any arguments for either? Didn't think so.

Lickliter's squad's loss happened because they got gypped. Some Simpson Storm basketball player got in the way of junior Tony Freeman's foot, fracturing it and relegating the much-improved guard to the bench in his street clothes for 10 games.

Losing to Iowa State without your best player only gives Cyclone fans one more year to gloat and do it in a gloriously obnoxious, undeserved way.

Put T-Free on the court at full health - and ISU's Wesley Johnson, who's also on the mend - and I'll guarantee an Iowa "W."

At least the Cyclone football and women's basketball teams got the best look from the Hawkeyes. Those two Iowa State teams *earned* their wins …

Greg McDermott's basketball squad, however, got the help of the Simpson Storm's clumsy footwear.

- by Alex Johnson


Football

Sitting at 2-0 after solid wins over Northern Illinois and Syracuse, the Iowa football team walked into its game against Iowa State poised to take care of business and move on to a showdown with then top-10 ranked Wisconsin.

Instead, the Hawkeyes left Ames after a demoralizing 15-13 loss that sent their season into a tailspin they could never fully overcome. Managing to lose a college football game in which the opponent did not score a single touchdown would've been bad enough.

But to Iowa State? And on five field goals?

Cyclone kicker Bret Culbertson was flimsier than a house of cards before Iowa came to town, but given enough chances in a uninspired performance by Ferentz's Hawkeyes, the senior came through.

The loss was bad at the time, falling to a team that had been defeated by Championship-Subdivison Northern Iowa, 24-13, the week before. The loss looked even worse as the weeks passed. The Cyclones dropped their next six games, including a 36-35 loss to Toledo a week after winning their "Super Bowl."

The debacle at Iowa State began a trend of games in which Iowa came out flat and never recovered (see: Indiana and Western Michigan).

While the losses to Iowa State in men's and women's basketball were bad, there's still time for both teams to bounce back and have productive seasons.

I suppose I have the advantage of hindsight that the others won't while arguing this, but the loss to Iowa State in football derailed a football season that wasn't destined to be spectacular but at least should've included a win in the Cy-Hawk Series.

- by Mike Brownlee