I believe TJ has admitted he probably wasn’t ready at that point anyway.
Official Announcement of TJ as the New Iowa State Mens BBall Coach
- Thread starter werdnamanhill
- Start date
I believe TJ has admitted he probably wasn’t ready at that point anyway.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Meh. Too early to tell yet. No need to jump to conclusions.
This Pretzelburger guy seems to be working out so far.
Is it though? So far a higher winning percentage and conference winning percentage not even through his 4th year.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
When carts get ahead of horses, bad things happen for both.
Why do people do this? We are fans and can have a back and forth about this. It won’t change anything with how TJ coaches and the players play, not one iota. With where he started to where we are I think he is our best coach. 2 sweet 16’s in 3 years taking us from a 2 win team to where we are now. I’m not sure any coach has done much better. Only thing to get in that pesky regular season conference title and get past the sweet 16.
Best ever? He will likely need to check these items off first, and without putting the cart too much in front of the horse, there certainly appears to be a chance for each of these:
No regular season conference title since 2001
No Elite 8 since 2000
No Final 4 since 1944
No Natty ever
No doubt TJ can be seen as the best ever once all of these are checked off or he is around for multiples.
It sure is nice to be experiencing this recent revival of Cyclone MBB.
He's already matched Hoiberg and Floyd in NCAA tournament wins, surpassed Eustachy and Orr. If he wins a Big 12 title this year, he's basically reached the accomplishments of all the other coaches that would be in the conversation, other than Eustachy's Elite 8.
Reaching the final 4 would automatically cement him as the greatest coach in Iowa State history. The final 4 in 1944 wasn't the same as making it today. There were only 8 teams in it, so we won a single game to make the final 4.
I find GOAT conversations incredibly tedious and unnecessary. TJ is ******* awesome and I'm thrilled he's here. Outside getting deeper into the tournament I'd like to see him get a regular season title. Larry before he nuked the program accomplished both of those things
Larry reached the highest of highs for Iowa State basketball. He also missed the tournament 3/5 years he was here.
I think just the first 2 of those could do it.
A f4/championship would obviously put him way over the top, but we only have one elite 8 and the final 4 was in a completely different era of basketball.
And honestly I think one could make arguments that the 2 sweet 16s, including one coming off a 2-22 year, might be as much of an accomplishment as the one elite 8 season. If we win the regular season title this year I think I would be ready to say best ever just off that
I don’t really feel nervous about much with this team tbh. Kind of a weird feeling, but they’re just so complete.
They’ll take some losses, sure, because this is big time college basketball, but there’s no doubt we’re capable of a conference title and a E8/F4 run.
If there’s anything tempering my expectations, it’s just knowing that anything can happen in the tournament.
Absolutely. And I think what is SO great about that quick success is it affirms his brand/style work and now that is the sell to recruits, etc. They said it on the broadcast last night essentially....like this is what it means to play at ISU...TJ won't let a parent/AAU coach tell them how things will be.
I also think think a HUGE kudos to him and the staff he has. SO much to being a head coach and he has people around him that all are swimming in the same direction.....it is so much more than XOs (now more than ever with NIL/revenue sharing, etc)
Agree. We are so stacked.
Even last night...fast start.....Utah had a spurt......i didn't worry......and we end up thumping them.
Just always hoping our "bad" nights we may have are not when we are up against a top dog (or a critical tourney top game)...but an average game we basically would be a pick em against any top team....one or two guys being above average and no doubt we could beat anyone.
What’s fun is that it seems like a different guy steps up each night. Jones and Lipsey went to work last night when Gilbert didn’t have his usual stuff. Thought Jefferson stepped up when it was clear Jackson and Chat were struggling.
And we still have two full months to work on any weaknesses and fully gel. Exciting times.
Absolutely.....and it seems the team is all good with that...meaning, they figure out who needs to be what on any given night. HUGE kudos to building that type of team with "low ego" types of guys.
What I love seeing is it's clear our depth/conditioning is next level. We turn it on and just give other teams fits. And even when we are winning late, TJ is SCREAMING for them to get back/be aggressive. So if we are "cold" from the field, we just limit them even more and create turnovers.
Johnny Orr: 218-200 (79-117); 1 Sweet Sixteen
Tim Floyd: 81-47 (30-30); 1 Sweet Sixteen
Larry Eustachy: 101-59 (42-38); 1 Elite Eight
Fred Hoiberg: 115-56 (49-39); 1 Sweet Sixteen; 6 wins over AP Top 10 teams in 5 seasons
TJ Otzelberger: 83-36 (32-25); 2 Sweet Sixteens; 8 wins over AP Top 10 teams in 3.3 seasons
-> if ISU meets expectations this year and goes 25-6 (15-5): 95-41 (44-30)
However you look at it, TJ's 3+ years have been the greatest coaching success at Iowa State since and including the Orr era
Tim Floyd: 81-47 (30-30); 1 Sweet Sixteen
Larry Eustachy: 101-59 (42-38); 1 Elite Eight
Fred Hoiberg: 115-56 (49-39); 1 Sweet Sixteen; 6 wins over AP Top 10 teams in 5 seasons
TJ Otzelberger: 83-36 (32-25); 2 Sweet Sixteens; 8 wins over AP Top 10 teams in 3.3 seasons
-> if ISU meets expectations this year and goes 25-6 (15-5): 95-41 (44-30)
However you look at it, TJ's 3+ years have been the greatest coaching success at Iowa State since and including the Orr era
I've felt this way with all of TJ's teams. Prior iterations, it always felt "will the clouds align?" "will we get the right matchups?" "will we blow the lead?" or "will we show up?" even with some of our most talented teams, they always felt a bit unpredictable.
TJ's teams are anything but unpredictable.
