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With March Madness just a little more than nine months away, it’s time to start conceiving some bracket predictions in the hope that our Cyclones are present when the committee gives us the real bracket in mid-March.
They say don’t believe everything you read on the internet, but if Twitter would be any indication, most Cyclone fans don’t expect their team to make the Big Dance next spring.
Look, I get it. The Cyclones will have to replace the production of Monte Morris, Matt Thomas, Naz Mitrou-Long and Deonte Burton. That’s no small task. Not to mention they haven’t filled out their remaining scholarships at this point in time.
However, if you check out the bracket-sphere, there are a number of brackets out there that have the Cyclones in the field, and somewhat comfortably.
We decided to bring our dear friend and resident WRNL bracketologist Shelby Mast in to discuss why he has the Cyclones in the field as an 8 seed and just how accurate these brackets are.
During our discussion, we explored why the top seeds remain the top seeds year in and year out, and how you can make somewhat accurate predictions this far out.
While Iowa State is losing a bunch of talent, other schools are in the same boat. Some teams like TCU and Iowa are returning a lot of talent, yet TCU is in the field and Iowa is still on the wrong side of the bubble. Why is that?
It’s easy to predict where the blue bloods will end up in the field next year. The hard part is determining how teams going through coaching changes and roster overhauls (like Missouri) will finish the 2017-18 season.
Every year, the committee seemingly moves the goalposts when it comes to assessing the resumes of bubble teams. We discussed what Shelby has heard will change this year in the selection room.
Finally, we discussed whether the NCAA would ever consider moving the basketball season to the spring semester exclusively. As a March Madness guru, Shelby has a hard time envisioning May Madness working out.
What do you think, Cyclone fans? If you had to bet the farm in the middle of July, do you think Iowa State will make the 2018 NCAA basketball tournament?