Iowa State Basketball
The Cyclones defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes by an 86-76 margin, though the game was out of hand most of the night. The usual players led the way, but apparently Bubu Palo must have read my comment in the preview calling him a placeholder and took exception. Bubu finished with 14 points and 6 assists. Fred clearly trusts Bubu in tough stretches.
The ladies defeated MVSU 77-47 without Poppens and Prins in the lineup. Scott Christopherson's bizarro sister Hallie Christofferson poured in 24 points in 22 minutes.
Iowa State Volleyball
After defeating Minnesota in Minneapolis to go to the Elite Eight, the Cyclones fell to Florida State in 5 sets, short of the Final Four. Great job all season by the Cyclones and we'll look forward to another deep NCAA tournament run next year.
Iowa State Football
18 days til the Pinstripe bowl, Iowa State picks up a commitment from Leander, TX offensive lineman Jacob Dunning. Iowa State's opponent in the Pinstripe Bowl is not having the best of luck with paying for their new stadium. This excerpt is pretty sad:
"One of the more surprising findings shows that an increasingly smaller percentage of fans at home games now pay for tickets, because to offset declining attendance, the university hands out fistfuls of complimentary passes to fill seats. While the stadium may look more filled, there is still less revenue for the cash-strapped program.
This year, roughly 59 percent of the fans bought a ticket, down from 76 percent in 2009. And despite a liberal use of complimentary tickets, the team still played in front of thousands of empty seats this year, even though it went into its final home game with a chance to win its first Big East title"
Check out this video on ISU's road to bowl eligibility.
Around College Football
Robert Griffin III won the Heisman on Saturday by a good margin, even (surprisingly) defeating Trent Richardson in the SEC regions. Anybody who didn't have Griffin in their top 3 should immediately have their Heisman vote taken away from them. RG3 has even taken preference over Andrew Luck in some NFL executive's minds.
UCLA hired Jim Mora Jr and Texas A&M FINALLY hired Kevin Sumlin after getting blueballed by Mark Richt. With almost all major coaching positions filled (Arizona State will probably just use a robot to call plays next year), Bill Connelly ranks this year's coaching hires.
Finally, longtime Iowa DC Norm Parker now has one foot out the door - he will be retiring after the Insight Bowl this month. He will be missed, and not just because of his seeming inability to adapt against a spread offense team with a mobile QB.