Of the 8 teams below ISU only one (AZ) may have enough pulse to make a decent season this year if they pull it together in the last games. The other 7 may not even be NIT material.
2024-25 ISU WBB Season Thread
- Thread starter mred
- Start date
I've tried to be positive about making the dance, but several of the opportunities that would cement an invite are passing the team by. What's even worse is not seeing the team grow as a unit like you'd normally expect a Fennelly coached squad to do. What I'm currently seeing is digression from the bench players and some of the starters. The only player that has truly stepped up their game in the past month has been Brown. Still good games left to play with a lot on the line.
Cincy - toss up, but slight edge to ISU
Colorado - at home. Colorado has been playing better than we are lately. Another toss up.
Kansas - in Lawrence. This team has struggled on the road. Kansas sucks. Better get this one.
Houston - this should be a blow out.
Baylor - this should be heavily favored for Baylor.
UCF - on the road makes this a tough one. Peterson is back rolling up points. That will present a challenge to us.
KSU - at home. Final game for Ryan at home. I still hold out hope, but it's thinning.
At best I'm seeing 5-2 down the stretch. That puts the team at 20-11/11-7 on the season. If Baylor and KSU are the losses and either are blowouts...or if the team stumbles in the winnable games we will be looking at the WNIT once more.
Cincy - toss up, but slight edge to ISU
Colorado - at home. Colorado has been playing better than we are lately. Another toss up.
Kansas - in Lawrence. This team has struggled on the road. Kansas sucks. Better get this one.
Houston - this should be a blow out.
Baylor - this should be heavily favored for Baylor.
UCF - on the road makes this a tough one. Peterson is back rolling up points. That will present a challenge to us.
KSU - at home. Final game for Ryan at home. I still hold out hope, but it's thinning.
At best I'm seeing 5-2 down the stretch. That puts the team at 20-11/11-7 on the season. If Baylor and KSU are the losses and either are blowouts...or if the team stumbles in the winnable games we will be looking at the WNIT once more.
Still think ISU will get in if on the bubble. I think Audi has enough name recognition that the NCAA Tournament committee will put them in if right on the bubble.
Last edited:
^This. We might get in over some other deserving teams just because of the TV factor related to Crooks. Sort of a sad hope to hang our hat on but it is true. Same goes to maybe doing better in a even less competative Big 12 next year when the senior lead teams at he top graduate their players.
Yeah…there is this…and Brown is starting to become a story of her own.
It was the first one going back to 2021, at least. That's as far back as warrennolan.com goes.
I've said it before (twice, iirc) and I'll say it again: Columbia had no business being selected last year, and I have no idea why they were.
Here's my post where I talked about Quad 1 wins from 2021-2024:
There are currently four teams ahead of us (by NET) with 0 quad-1 wins. Two are in the Big 12 (WVU, Baylor) and two are not (Minnesota, Creighton).
WVU has home games against KSU and Utah (#26 so not quite quad 1, but could be) and road games against Baylor and TCU, so they'll have plenty of opportunities.
Baylor has home games against WVU and TCU and a road game @ KSU, so they also have plenty of chances. And either Baylor or WVU will end up with a Quad 1 win since they play each other.
Minnesota only has two more chances per current NET rankings: @ OSU and @ MSU. They have three high-quad 2 home games left, though (Iowa, Indiana, Oregon).
Creighton has only one chance remaining, and it's a doozy: @ UConn.
www.warrennolan.com
WVU has home games against KSU and Utah (#26 so not quite quad 1, but could be) and road games against Baylor and TCU, so they'll have plenty of opportunities.
Baylor has home games against WVU and TCU and a road game @ KSU, so they also have plenty of chances. And either Baylor or WVU will end up with a Quad 1 win since they play each other.
Minnesota only has two more chances per current NET rankings: @ OSU and @ MSU. They have three high-quad 2 home games left, though (Iowa, Indiana, Oregon).
Creighton has only one chance remaining, and it's a doozy: @ UConn.
The NET Nitty Gritty Report for NCAA Women's College Basketball | WarrenNolan.com
The NET Nitty Gritty Report for 2025 NCAA Women's College Basketball. This Is a Duplication of the Report Used by the Tournament Selection Committee to Determine At-Large Teams with Quadrants
There are currently four teams ahead of us (by NET) with 0 quad-1 wins. Two are in the Big 12 (WVU, Baylor) and two are not (Minnesota, Creighton).
WVU has home games against KSU and Utah (#26 so not quite quad 1, but could be) and road games against Baylor and TCU, so they'll have plenty of opportunities.
Baylor has home games against WVU and TCU and a road game @ KSU, so they also have plenty of chances. And either Baylor or WVU will end up with a Quad 1 win since they play each other.
Minnesota only has two more chances per current NET rankings: @ OSU and @ MSU. They have three high-quad 2 home games left, though (Iowa, Indiana, Oregon).
Creighton has only one chance remaining, and it's a doozy: @ UConn.
The NET Nitty Gritty Report for NCAA Women's College Basketball | WarrenNolan.com
The NET Nitty Gritty Report for 2025 NCAA Women's College Basketball. This Is a Duplication of the Report Used by the Tournament Selection Committee to Determine At-Large Teams with Quadrants
Our best chance in is the bubble is filled with teams with similar resumes (my Gophers) and they will have to pick some of them. Gophers have a much tougher conference schedule than ISU but lack the marque "name" player that might get them in. When push comes to shove the committee is likely to think back to the good TV that Crooks provided vs Maryland and opt us in, metrics be damned, over other similar teams.
That's currently the most frustrating thing for me. ISU has often had slow starts, but usually things are turned around by mid-January, peaking at the end of the regular season and/or the conference tournament. We're not seeing that this year.
I was curious so I looked into our 3 pt stats
Like I was really expecting to see less 3 points attempts.
It is so strange, every time I look up stats to compare this year's team to last, they don't pan out to a clear answer to why it feels and looks worse.
| Year | 3 Pt Attempts per game | 3 Pt Percentage | (Attempts * %) |
| 2023-24 | 21.33 | 37.5 | 7.99 |
| 2024-25 | 22.95 | 35.2 | 8.08 |
Like I was really expecting to see less 3 points attempts.
It is so strange, every time I look up stats to compare this year's team to last, they don't pan out to a clear answer to why it feels and looks worse.
Honestly, at this point I'd almost rather see us in the WNIT (or whatever it's called now). I think we could do some real damage in that tournament.
Counterpoint: if we're an 11 seed in the play-in game, we could see games vs another 11 seed, then a 6 seed, then a 3 seed. Not the hardest path to a sweet 16.
Counterpoint: if we're an 11 seed in the play-in game, we could see games vs another 11 seed, then a 6 seed, then a 3 seed. Not the hardest path to a sweet 16.
Last edited:
Agree get in the wnit probably host a few rounds and win the dang thing.
This team if it does get into the big dance it could be another one and done.
Related to Brown being co-player of the week post, who will be Big 12 POY? With Lee out, she was pre-season pick, will Audi Crooks get the nod? Or will it be Prince, Van Lith or Sundell because from the 1st place team? Ten different players have won or shared the weekly award so far.
BYU's Gibbs will be freshman of the year, that's not even close as she's really the only freshman looking like a star following a season where there were so many good freshman that it was hard to pair down to just five for the freshman team.
BYU's Gibbs will be freshman of the year, that's not even close as she's really the only freshman looking like a star following a season where there were so many good freshman that it was hard to pair down to just five for the freshman team.
Definitely food for thought. Unless there is some miraculous turn around the team likely will be a day 2 or 3 casualty in the conference tournament. Based off of todays standings this is what we would see:
First Round - Wednesday, March 5
Game 1 - TTech vs. BYU - 11 a.m.
Game 2 - Arizona vs. Houston - 1:30 p.m
Game 3 - Cincy vs. UCF - 5:30 p.m.
Game 4 -KU vs.ASU - 8 p.m.
Second Round - Thursday, March 6
Game 5 - WVU vs. TTech/BYU - 11 a.m.
Game 6 - ISU vs. Arizona/Houston - 1:30 p.m.
Game 7 - Colorado vs. Cincy/UCF - 5:30 p.m.
Game 8 - Utah vs. KU/ASU - 8 p.m.
Quarterfinals - Friday, March 7
Game 9 - OSU vs. Winner of Game 5 - 11 a.m.
Game 10 - TCU vs. Winner of Game 6 - 1:30 p.m.
Game 11 - KSU vs. Winner of Game 7 - 5:30 p.m.
.
Game 12 -Baylor vs. Winner of Game 8 - 8 p.m.
Even if we swap places with Colorado we rematch with KSU. The quarterfinal games will be tough, not impossible, for the Sisters to survive.
