Cyclones’ Last Time Out

Last we saw, the Cyclones were in the Sweet Sixteen and lost to the Miami Hurricanes in Chicago’s United Center. Iowa State finished the year with 22 wins after a 2 win season a year prior, shocking college basketball and marking one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA history. This year, Iowa State will start fresh after losing starting PG Tyrese Hunter and All-Big 12 First Team Izaiah Brockington, as well as fan favorite George Conditt.

IUPUI’s Last Time Out

The Jaguars are fresh off a 3-26 season and looking to improve on what was an awful year. IUPUI’s 3 wins came against Spalding, East West, and Robert Morris, which I can only assume are local intramural teams that were looking for a run after classes were cancelled in Indianapolis one afternoon. IUPUI finished 358th last year, according to KenPom, and are currently the preseason 368th best team (yes, that’s a nice way of saying dead last).

Player To Watch

Instead of picking a player to watch, here’s another stat you may enjoy: Last year, IUPUI only scored 60 or more points 5 times all year, and broke the 70 point mark once, a hard fought 75-59 victory for the Jaguars over… East West? Google tells me East West is a tiny school in Chicago with a little over 400 undergraduate students. Their mascot is the Phantoms and they are part of the USCAA and play in NAIA and NCAA games.

The more you know.

Pick 3

1. IUPUI scores more than 50
2. Caleb Grill 3 or more 3s
3. Osun Osuniniyi double double

What Will Happen

This will not be pretty, we will just have to see why. I expect Iowa State to be sloppy on both ends to start, but slowly start to kick things into gear as the game progresses. Look for the Clones to get Gabe Kalscheur involved immediately and hopefully establish Osunniyi in the low post. Nerves will be high for the young guys, and I expect newcomers Lipsey and King to be jittery early. At the end of the day, this Iowa State team was just in the Sweet Sixteen and IUPUI was not. I like Iowa State big.

75-51