Poll: Grade the season

[CyHans]

A - Because I felt like this team without a post presence would be lucky to make the NCAA tournament. We improved as the year went on and peaked at the right time. Winning the Big 12 tourney and being a 5 seed was an over achievement in my humble opinion.

 

[Clonefan94]

I thought about going higher, because of what my expectations were at the beginning of the year. I ended up going with B+ only because, throw out the bad half vs. Purdue and this could have been a special season. Other than that though, I wasn't sure ISU was even going to make the tournament at the beginning of the season and I definitely didn't see them winning the Big 12 tournament either. It took them a bit to get going, but by the end, we got to watch a very good basketball team.

Just a note: I probably would have voted A-, if that were the straight selection, with the option of A also. I just didn't feel like "A- or better" really fit how I felt about the season.

That being said, this is always something I try to tell people as the season goes along. Don't look too far ahead, don't start planning for the end before we get there. Enjoy the ride while it's happening. That win in Kansas, the third Big 12 Tournament Championship in 4 years and the 6th straight trip to the NCAA tournament, that's all part of the ride that we have to remember to stop and enjoy while it's happening. We aren't the players, we don't have to shut it down and focus on the next game. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I'll take this chance to thank the seniors once again. What a great ride it has been, we will definitely miss you.

 

[CycloneErik]

I went with a B+ because of the last half of the season and the Big 12 Tourney run. Rough start stopped me from saying anything higher.

Completely agree on the bolded part. If you aren't a 1 or 2 seed you can't complain about not getting out of the first weekend. The tourney is a brutal madhouse.

I almost went with B+ for that reason, and I probably should have.

 

[im4cyclones]

Who's the guy that gave it a C+?

20 win season
Tied for 2nd in conference
B12 Tournament Title
Win at KU
NCAA Tournament Win

That is a C+ season? Come on, man!

 

[FinalFourCy]

Who's the guy that gave it a C+?

20 win season
Tied for 2nd in conference
B12 Tournament Title
Win at KU
NCAA Tournament Win

That is a C+ season? Come on, man!

Agree. We didn't even have a bad loss imo, although we lost to teams we would beat more often than not.

In terms of a overall program view it may be a B or B+. We've had some slightly better. But in terms of maxing out this team, it was very close to an A. I think playing Young sooner and a couple better bounces and it's a A+ in the max out metric. Young may lead to one or two wins against Iowa, Vandy, UT, or TCU and an upset of @Baylor or Cincy or Gonzaga, which in turn gives us a better seed. Damn if we hang on against Purdue it's an amazing year.

What if we don't totally strike out last spring? Malou and Lard play and Holden is more like Livingston at TT? Imo we're still playing as a one or two seed.

 

[BigBake]

Went B mainly because we didn't make it out of the first round weekend. I do think we got a crappy draw but a sweet 16 would have put it at an A for me. Still happy w results.

Big 12 Tourney title is awesome but taking regular season title or sweet 16 berth would be better.

 

[ajk4st8]

A-
After losing Lard and Malou I really didn't think this team had a chance. Any team that wins that many road games and AT KU deserves a lot of praise.

 

[CycloneGB]

B+ for the season as a whole with the results included. But I will say that I had more fun watching this team in the 2nd half of the season than I've ever had before. I think it was mainly that I just started trusting this team and the coaching (which, as everybody knows, is a recipe for the nut shot) and they delivered time after time. By the end of the year, we would get down, or hit a dry spell, and I always felt like we would figure it out and find a way to win, and they did it.

Even the tourney game, coming out down 13, I always had the feeling they weren't going to go out like this and they were going to pull it off. I even thought to myself how stupid it was to think they could come back from 19 down with 14 minutes left, but for some reason I believed. After it was all said and done, I couldn't have been any happier under the circumstances with how this team finished. Could have folded up camp and went out with their tails between their legs. But instead they went down throwing haymakers.

Absolute blast of a ride.

 

[cytor]

Team: B+ Getting to Elite Eight and they get an A. After losing Niang, Nader, McKay, etc. The round of 32 is what I expected all along. When they caught fire late, sweet 16 was a real possibility and beyond. In the Purdue game, we payed about as bad as we could in the 1st half and still almost won.

Coach: A- Steve seemed to understand his team and push the right buttons at the right times.

Refs: F No explanation necessary

Refs at Morgantown: F- or worse.

 

[BringBackJohnny]

Win the big 12 tourney and you'll get an A from me all day.

There was some bone head stuff early not playing a post player and all. However finished on a real positive. Minus the first 8 min of the Purdue game.

 

[cstrunk]

B+.

Winning a Big 12 Tournament title and one game in the NCAA Tournament sure is fun, but it's not all that we're capable of anymore. Gone are the days of just making the tournament being good enough. And every season is going to be filled with at least one or two "bad" losses, but more than that begins to diminish the season grade.

A's should only be given for winning a regular season conference championship or at least making a Sweet 16 or better.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Win the big 12 tourney and you'll get an A from me all day.

There was some bone head stuff early not playing a post player and all. However finished on a real positive. Minus the first 8 min of the Purdue game.

I'm curious if our post play would have been as good late had Coach Prohm not sat them at various periods due to various reasons? I don't know if we can say that.

 

[Cyclonefan710]

I don't know how I would rate the season but my confidence in Prohm increased greatly. Prohm had these guys firing on all cylinders to end the year. Shame we had an off night against Purdue.

 

[Socalclone1]

24 and 11. Thats a winning percentage of 69%. When i was a student at isu 69% was a D+

 

[19clone91]

1st 2/3 of the season - C at best
Last 12-14 games - A+

If this same exact roster had one more year to play together I wouldnt refrain from hoping for a Final 4 run. It is too bad it took 2/3 of the season to figure it out but I am glad they did, The last 12-14 games were about as fun a stretch to watch that I can remember. Burton completely turned his season and future image of himself from Cyclone fans around in a matter of games. It didnt end how I wanted but the end of the season was so fun to watch.

We were three, bad end of game plays away from winning 3 more games against ranked teams (Cinci, Baylor, and Gonzaga). Sometimes its just that close from a better than average year to a great year.

 

[NENick]

24 and 11. Thats a winning percentage of 69%. When i was a student at isu 69% was a D+

Interesting. So Ted Williams getting a hit only 4 times in 10 at bats is an F. We're gonna need more letters.

 

[Cyforce]

Went w/ B+, should end the season ranked, 5 conference road wins including in Phog plus tourney champs has to be considered well above average.

 

[carvers4math]

After watching Gonzaga beat my sleeper Xavier team and make the FF, I really want to watch our game against them again. I think SY may have been out with injury and bigs hadn't figured out roles. If I remember it right, it was almost Deonte basically getting what he wanted.

Makes me think about Prohm saying something to the effect that Deonte was the X factor that would take us as far as we would go. Gonna miss him.

 

[jsb]

I'd go an A- or a B+. The last 6 weeks of the season were as good as any stretch in my memory. The first half of the season was a little rough.

We got to witness a player set the NCAA assist to turnover ratio. We got to witness a player who broke the assists and steals record at Iowa State. That's pretty cool!

 

[chuckd4735]

I went with B. My expectations were a C+ type season, but we finished strong to exceed those. Losing three home games sucked, and getting p'owned by Purdue leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but winning in Lawrence, winning the Big 12 tourney, and getting a 5 seed all exceeded my expectations.