Hello. Let’s talk about Iowa State.
Just in Time
We didn’t get a chance to talk about Iowa State’s weekend loss to TCU, which is nice, because it looks a lot more tolerable after the Cyclones went to Stillwater and got a big road win.
Oklahoma State won’t show up on any bracketology this year, since they’re banned from the postseason (for dubious reasons, but we digress), but they’re roughly a bubble team, so beating them on the road is a solid win. In benchmark-speak, Iowa State’s still safely projected to make the NCAA Tournament field, and the Cyclones have a good shot at finishing Big 12 play at .500, needing to post something like the following split over the last ten league games to hit the mark:
- 3-0 against Kansas State, TCU
- 3-1 against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, West Virginia
- 0-3 against Baylor, Kansas, Texas
That Kansas game’s at home, so if you’re nervous about the first two bullets, flip a win into that third, but generally speaking, this is a take-care-of-business scenario, and it looks pretty good. It likely requires just winning one game as an underdog, and that in itself is a testament to where this team is at, which is: a good place.
On the court, obviously we’re huge fans of last night’s shooting performance, where three-point efficiency fueled one of the best offensive efforts of the season from the Cyclones, if not the best, and made up for some rough results at the foul stripe. At personal levels, George Conditt had a huge game, which could pay off massively down the line if it continues, as Iowa State’s been lacking that dimension on each end.
All in all, great night for ISU. Still looking like a first-round favorite, too, which is another great benchmark.
How We Talk About College Basketball
It’s easy in the college basketball season to ascribe a lot of meaning to a lot of meaninglessness, which makes it useful sometimes to take a broad, wide view. We did that today, and the basic gist of what we saw is that Gonzaga, Baylor, and Arizona are the national title contenders while Houston, Villanova, Purdue, Kentucky, Auburn, Kansas, UCLA, Duke, and Illinois each have a claim as a possibility. Those categories have rotated and will rotate, but that’s the general picture at the top. With that in mind, tonight’s another chance for Purdue to try to rejoin the first group, or to at least put themselves in a position to rejoin it soon. They play at Iowa in tonight’s best game, while Saint Mary’s visits San Francisco in what will likely be tonight’s most consequential game, with the Dons in especial need of a good win as the bubble continues to lurk in their peripheral sights.
Hall of Fame Thoughts
Let ‘em in, but at the same time…who really cares? Eventually, they’ll probably get in. There’s an old-time committee, and even if there wasn’t, one would be created once attitudes have changed enough. They’ll put an asterisk on it or something, and that’s fine too, even if it’s a little silly given all the other cheaters in the hall. And while yes, David Ortiz has that positive test to his name, that was always a little odd. As I recall it, the commissioner’s office made an unusually strong, unusually immediate case for Ortiz’s exoneration, and while that could have been political at the time, it complicates things more than the, “Well, the media likes this guy, so they’ll look past it,” narrative.
This would be a lot more consequential if the Hall of Fame was the end-all-be-all of baseball history. It isn’t, though, and if anything, being excluded adds to one’s historic resonance. We talk a lot more about Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose than we would if they’d been put into the Hall of Fame when first eligible. Opinions can and should differ, but that’s kind of where I’m at. God willing, if I have kids, they’ll learn about baseball, and going to the Hall of Fame at some point will be part of that but far from all of it.
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A viewing schedule for tonight:
- 8:00 PM EST: Ohio State at Minnesota, ESPN – Gophers trying to climb back towards that bubble.
- 9:00 PM EST: Purdue at Iowa, FS1 – Iowa trying to keep the bubble far away, Purdue as mentioned trying to be a contender again.
- 10:00 PM EST: Saint Mary’s at San Francisco, Stadium – Bubble game of consequence.
- Late and later night: Stanford plays at USC on FS1, could get interesting; Gonzaga might score a zillion points on Loyola Marymount on CBSSN, could be fun to watch; Timberwolves/Warriors is happening; the Australian Open men’s semifinals start at 10:30 PM EST on ESPN with Nadal/Berrettini (Medvedev/Tsitsipas follows)…plenty of options. I’ll probably go tennis if I’m still up after SMC/USF (I probably won’t be up).
