This college basketball season has been weird if you’re a fan of the Iowa State Cyclones.
If social media is any indication, most fans are simply frustrated. They expect more from the program, and with six seniors and five senior starters, there’s nothing wrong with that.
It’s been a Jekyll and Hyde season. The Cyclones have nine losses, and seven of those have come by six points or less.
The largest margin of defeat this season came inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena against instate rival Iowa by 14 points. West Virginia also pulled away from the Cyclones inside Hilton Coliseum to win by 13 more recently.
Other than that, the Cyclones have either won or lost games by one or two possessions.
Until Iowa State went into Allen Fieldhouse and knocked off Kansas, there was plenty of talk about the Cyclones not making a sixth straight NCAA Tournament.
Barring a huge collapse, this Cyclones team will be playing in the Big Dance in March. Their RPI is 47. They are currently tied for fifth in the Big 12 Conference.
Most programs would take this kind of a season, but Iowa State fans expect more. They expect to contend for Big 12 championships.
That’s why losses to 12-12 Vanderbilt, 10-14 Texas and 14-11 Iowa are so frustrating.
The Big 12 Conference is regarded as one of the top conferences in America. It currently ranks as the second best to the ACC, according to the RPI.
Unfortunately, most of Iowa State’s league wins have come against teams in the bottom of the conference — Kansas State (6th), Oklahoma State (7th), Texas Tech (8th) and Oklahoma (10th). The Cowboys’ RPI is 29th so that’s a pretty good win. K-State’s RPI is 44th, but there’s not another real good RPI win on the resume sans the Kansas road win of course.
It’s the losses that have Cyclone fans shaking their head.
A team with five senior starters should not lose to a Texas team which sits at ninth in the Big 12 and has an RPI of 129. Vanderbilt’s RPI is 48th, but it is a middle of the pack SEC program this season.
Even close losses to Baylor, Gonzaga, Cincinnati and Kansas are frustrating.
That brings us to the Iowa loss. That really was the only loss this year where Iowa State was never in the game. That’s puzzling since Iowa starts four freshmen and has just one senior on its roster. The Hawkeyes are 14-11 and their RPI is 97.
If the Cyclones can’t get more consistency, the state of Iowa may get shut out of the NCAA Tournament. I think they make it, but right now, they are no better than a seventh seed.
Iowa probably isn’t going to the tournament. The Hawkeyes still need to improve their RPI about 25-30 positions if they don’t win the conference tournament.
They’ll have some opportunities with road games at Wisconsin and Maryland still on the schedule. Those would be two top 25 RPI wins.
Michigan State would be a top 50 win, and the Spartans have proven to be very beatable this year.
Even a win over Illinois would be positive. The Illini has an RPI of 54.
I love March Madness. I like it even better when there are Iowa teams in the tournament.
But fans of all four Big Four teams need to buckle up. You just never know what you are going to get with any of them.
Contact Troy Hyde
at thyde@newtondailynews.com