ESPN Article

[cyowan]

I think we've been slumping lately so hopefully we bounce back vs. Texas tomorrow. Here's an interesting look at our current struggles:

Planning for Success: Are Iowa State Cyclones slumping? - ESPN

 

[Die4Cy]

I think this game is a real tough matchup for ISU. It's going to take 40 minutes of full focus to win this one.

 

[Wesley]

Need to avoid brick city from outside.

 

[CYUL8R]

Welp, just pack it in boys...season is over.

ESPN sucks. They just couldn't wait to pounce because we're having a little down cycle - at least he mentions the Big XII as being the best conference. Being 6th in the Big XII ain't bad...especially when the other things we do (like have the leading scorer in Ejim, one of the best freshman in Morris, matchup nightmares in Kane and Niang) have us at a pretty good spot in the national rankings (stats and polls).

I'm fine with going back to the underdog role. Stay under the radar and go deep in the tournament. Honestly, if I'm an opposing coach reading this article, I'm not worried about ISU...but we all know that would be folly.

 

[Guetterdone1]

I am most definitely not fine with us being 6th in the big 12 when we're ranked 11th (currently). We should be 4th at this time.

 

[CRcyclone6]

winning 4 of 5 is slumping?

 

[huntt26]

Well that was a downer of an article

 

[jsb]

This is a tough conference. We have lost to really good teams with the exception of West Virginia.

Look at the top 20 teams, I bet you can't find 5 that have an obviously better resume than we do. That doesn't mean Iowa State is without faults, it just means that we aren't an elite team.

The hand-wringing over this team is so annoying.

Enjoy it when we win. And hope that the losses stay away.

 

[twocoach]

Welp, just pack it in boys...season is over.ESPN sucks. They just couldn't wait to pounce because we're having a little down cycle - at least he mentions the Big XII as being the best conference. Being 6th in the Big XII ain't bad...especially when the other things we do (like have the leading scorer in Ejim, one of the best freshman in Morris, matchup nightmares in Kane and Niang) have us at a pretty good spot in the national rankings (stats and polls).I'm fine with going back to the underdog role. Stay under the radar and go deep in the tournament. Honestly, if I'm an opposing coach reading this article, I'm not worried about ISU...but we all know that would be folly.

Since you think ESPN sucks, what in the article do you feel is inaccurate or incorrect? Or do you just think they suck for pointing it out? I think it is perfectly accurate to say that ISU's offense is not clicking as good right now as it was a month ago and neither is it's defense. Texas blocks a huge number of shots so ISU guards will have a very tough time if they get the ball down low. They will need for the bigs to shoot very well from deep to try to draw Texas bigs out from under the rim.

 

[twocoach]

winning 4 of 5 is slumping?

Don't confuse results and play. Many teams win games where they didn't play particularly well.

 

[LindenCy]

This is a tough conference. We have lost to really good teams with the exception of West Virginia.

Look at the top 20 teams, I bet you can't find 5 that have an obviously better resume than we do. That doesn't mean Iowa State is without faults, it just means that we aren't an elite team.

The hand-wringing over this team is so annoying.

Enjoy it when we win. And hope that the losses stay away.

Bolded for truth.

 

[DiehardClone]

ISU is currently tied for fourth (in the Big 12 standings) and we've won 4 of our last 5 in the conference meatgrinder. But neither of those facts are worth including in a national piece on the "Cyclone Slump"?

 

[MNclone]

What do those numbers look like if you take out that WV debacle?

 

[Bobber]

It's not a bad article. We have been in a bit of slump....However none of this will matter when March arrives. We will be one of the most dangerous teams in the tournament. The only team I've seen that really play better than ISU at it's best is Kansas.

 

[JohnnyFive]

We haven't looked impressive in three weeks, even in the games that should have been easyish wins. Exhibit A: TCU, at home. Exhibit B: Tech, at home.

 

[jsb]

Don't confuse results and play. Many teams win games where they didn't play particularly well.

See Duke and Syracuse on Saturday night.

Iowa State is going to have to play better to win more than a couple of games the rest of the way. But I feel like there are people that want to downgrade what we've done so far this season and that is not acceptable to me.

 

[CYUL8R]

Since you think ESPN sucks, what in the article do you feel is inaccurate or incorrect? Or do you just think they suck for pointing it out? I think it is perfectly accurate to say that ISU's offense is not clicking as good right now as it was a month ago and neither is it's defense. Texas blocks a huge number of shots so ISU guards will have a very tough time if they get the ball down low. They will need for the bigs to shoot very well from deep to try to draw Texas bigs out from under the rim.

Sorry, I'm sure it's hard for you to understand since your team doesn't get 'beat' according to ESPN, they just have an off night. Top stats: Kansas State 85, Kansas 82 - Stats & Info Blog - ESPN

The point of my post was that unless you are a blue-blood, you cannot have any sort of down series (even though we are winning 4 of last 5 and only have 5 losses - total - on the season) if you want the mainstream outlets to show you the love. Look at Ejim - dude had to score 48 to get people's attention when he leads the Big XII in scoring.

I don't disagree with their analysis of our slump. I just don't think it means we are the 6th best team in the Big XII which is how they made it look.

 

[jsb]

We haven't looked impressive in three weeks, even in the games that should have been easyish wins. Exhibit A: TCU, at home. Exhibit B: Tech, at home.

Actually, we looked pretty impressive against Texas Tech for much of the game. At least we looked impressive enough to win which Oklahoma didn't.

God, Duke looked like **** on Saturday night. It happens.

 

[ribsnwhiskey]

Don't confuse results and play. Many teams win games where they didn't play particularly well.

You KU fans think you know more about basketball than anyone else. Go away.

Oh yeah and BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[tzjung]

This is a great article and expresses many of the concerns I have witnessed over the last few weeks. At times it is very hard for this team to get a bucket, and it is very obvious what happens when the team starts feeling 'tight'. Its quite the dichotomy in offensive execution with this team...when things are going well and we are playing loose there is LOTS of spacing and passing leading to wide open shots whereas when things get tight we compound our problems by playing 'Hero Ball' and going to straight 1 on 1 isolations decreasing our efficiency.