Bear with me, years ago (2016, to be specific), I remember being at dinner with my wife. It was maybe early July, like it is now. I said to her, "I really think this might be the year. I have a really good feeling about it." If you were a Cubs fan from way back, you know the line. We all said it many times. But that year was different.

I've watched the practice tapes of Pleta. Also, did you notice, he is listed as 235 pounds at 6' 11"? Did you also notice he is listed as a FORWARD?? They guy crashes the boards! I think, maybe (just maybe), this is the year! I think we might be better than last year, by quite a bit, too. This might be the year we hang a Final Four banner, and I'm not just being a homer.

Training camps right around the corner:

Fun interview with some cool insights.

Hi All,

I recently had a company address an issue with rotting OSB board (not flashed the begin with) under my deck, they put in new OSB, flashed above the deck and below it and put new siding up with drip edges. After this hard rain today, I see once again there is water behind the siding and dripping beneath the drip edge and on the top of the concreate foundation. They are at a loss. Any handymen here?

The first close up picture below is under the drip edge laying on the foundation where water is under it.

The second picture is the drippings on the foundation. Some of this is just dripping off the metal drip edge, others its under it.

This will settle a debate that could lead me into making $5, obviously this makes it incredibly important.

July 11 is a big anniversary for the WBB program.

New season kicked off last night. Thoughts on the cast and theme for this season? I would get Rachel out of there ASAP.

The Minnesota thread had me thinking - what musician would you like to have seen in their prime?

Prince or Bowie for me.

This week we are looking for following words in the title or lyrics: fail, failure, decline, breakdown, backslide, fizzle, flop, flounder, collapse and crumble.

"On That Note” is presented weekly by @MeanDean, @cyclones500 and myself.

Last Week: Open Grill

With Williams and Blum putting out a CF Preseason Ranking, I figured I would start putting together a conference record modeler. Obviously this is just for fun and I don't really think this is indicative of how the season will go. I started with their rankings, O/U from CBS, and the conference schedule. I used that information to create the distribution parameters from which I drew the random numbers that represent how well a team plays in a particular game. Whichever team gets the higher number "wins" the game, and the result of that game updates the distribution parameters. When you win, your random numbers skew higher and when you lose your random numbers skew lower. For everyone's first game, I equally weighted the preseason information. As games were played, I phased out the impact of preseason information. Then I simulated 5k seasons and plotted histograms of conference winning percentage. This way the unbalanced schedule gets modeled - who you play and when you play them matters.

I ran several different versions where the preseason-phase-out-period set to 1, 3, 6, and 9 games. Basically that means that by the end of the season only the records count, but how quickly the record overtakes the preseason information changes. I also ran one version with a "12 game phase out" which practically means even at the end of the season the preseason gets a 25% weight.

There wasn't much difference between the 6, 9 and 12 game phase outs - ASU, KSU, ISU and Tech were consistently towards the top. West Virginia and Arizona were at the bottom. As expected, phasing out the preseason information faster resulted in more variation.



With only 3 games of preseason influence, the impact of unbalanced schedules started to appear more strongly. Suddenly Kansas and BYU, who's first three games are against the bottom teams, are in the top 3 of the league. As they win those early games and their preseason ranking influence goes to 0, they look like great teams. Conversely, ISU, KSU and Tech take pretty big hits as ISU and KSU play each other in a toss-up and Tech plays three top-half teams. When the preseason information goes away so quickly, a single early loss can lead to a spiral.


And for you guys who think only results matter, here is the version where preseason info is only used for the first game. After that, it's all 100% driven by game results. Total chaos, with nearly every team capable of finishing almost anywhere. Again you can see the impact of schedule on Kansas and BYU, as well as Colorado and OSU.





As I have time I might try this again with other conferences. I can also try different weighting for both the CF Ranking and CBS O/U, or I can incorporate other sites' preseason information.

The Las Vegas NBA Summer League tips off today with six former Cyclones on rosters. Here's an Iowa State fan's guide to the Summer League.

Anyone know where the WBB 2025-26 schedule is posted?

I was really digging into the schedule for this upcoming year, and noticed that between byes and non-con some teams won't play their first conference game until 9/27 - nearly a month after Irish Farmagedon. There will only be 5 total Big 12 conference games prior to that week (6 if you count the weird KSU/Arizona technically non-con game).

Is that an abnormally long time to wait for conference play to begin? Have I just not been paying attention?

Single game tickets went on sale to the current Cyclone Club members and football season ticketholders Tuesday. Just went in this morning to see what is available for Iowa State/Iowa. There are lots of tickets available. Hopefully our fans step up and buy, don't want those mouthbreathers stealing our oxygen at JTS.

Hi All,

Looking for some recommendations on HVAC companies to install a new furnace and AC.

I have, Neighbors, C&K and One Hour doing estimates.

Any others I should consider?

Voting is open for the Cyclone Fanatic Movie Villain Championship


How to vote:
To select the favorite (the show seeded highest), choose the Heart emoji.
To select the underdog, choose the Rainbow emoji.
No other emojis will be counted.

Deadline to vote: Now through Saturday at 10 PM

Wondered if any of you have heard of the Adaptive Open? It’s a golf tournament for individuals with various disabilities. It was at Woodmont CC in Rockville, MD this year. My son is the Director of Golf Courses and Grounds so I went out and volunteered for the 3 day event. Some incredible golfers! The winning score was -24 by a golfer with cerebral palsy. Shot a 61-64-65! If interested look it up on USGA.org.

Cucumbers and Tomatoes are loaded with blooms, but nothing is setting on, any suggestions?

On Monday the Big 12 released embarassing "marketing" images of every school's stadium. They were created by Big 12 sponsor Microsoft's copilot AI. Each picture had eregious errors. Ex:

'V MUNTAINEERS
TEooF TFrn
TCU STANHIK
SILLI.WATER
KSU plays on a 55 yard field
ISU icon JACE IIIBCIGMANIA
HOUSTOS A(rocket)
BUFFAL DES
SPA KNIGHTS
8YU

and

* (Yes that's the Baylor logo)

https://bsky.app/profile/sickoscommittee.org/post/3ltfwfa6ad226

https://bsky.app/profile/smokingmusket.bsky.social/post/3ltfw5ijgl22r

There's more on twitter but I refuse to link there. Terrible look for the Big 12. If you're gonna take money from Microsoft, at least care a little bit? Modicum? Smidgen? It's bad enough that AI is ruining our environment and the lives of people, but for this crap?

SIAP, but this is a pretty impressive video. NSFW language warning.
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The big guy who tosses the Hawaiian shirt guy in the lake is rumored to be former NHL enforcer Nick Tarnasky, which confirms that age old adage: "Don't get into a fight with former NHL enforcer Nick Tarnasky"

Hear from Matt Campbell on what he expects out of the defensive line. Rocco Becht talks about the strengths of transfer receivers Chase Sowell and Xavier Townsend.

Just saw cyclone report that he signed with the good guys. Recruited as an athlete.