Let's get this started all. Looking forward to a great year for the Birds!

Not sure if everyone saw the news this morning, but the Cards are bringing Pujols back! While he certainly isn't 'the machine' anymore, this is a great move for PR and sentimental purposes. Being able to see Yadi and Pujols get one final season together is pretty awesome.

I'm thinking the division is very much in reach this year - especially if Goldy and Arenado get hot and the pitching staff is above average.

What say you Birds fans?

I need some advice on this…

I started at my current company in Fall 2020. Prior to COVID, they had a “shared hotel room” policy. Opposite sex are exempt, but basically the policy is “if you are traveling with someone else, you’re expected to share a room.” They just reinstated the policy this week.

The CEO’s line is all about “family culture” and “small company feel.” He did acknowledge the cost savings in his announcement, which I’m sure is the real driver.

I travel a lot for work; 1-2 nights every week. I’m probably alone 80% of the time but I will travel with someone else once every few months. I have to say, I am 100% against this policy. I like my privacy and honestly have a lot of anxiety around sharing a room with a coworker.

I should mention, this is not a startup. We have 700 employees and over $200M in revenue every year.

Anyone have some truthful and respectable ways to tell my boss I’m not on board?

Who’s going Monday night?

I’d love to see them for the first time since ‘99 but alas my wife doesn’t like hard rock / metal and I have no friends. Thought about going solo, but I’m odd enough the way it is. So I’ll live vicariously.

Enjoy!

So, now that it's been a couple of days since our season ended, I've been thinking about what a fun ride it was and remembering some of the highlights of it, and I'm curious to hear from other posters what those might be.

For me, I'll separate it between non-conference and Big 12 play;

Smashing Iowa by 20 was great, as was the road win at Creighton, but for me the highlight of the non-conference schedule was our victory over Memphis in the NIT. I remember going into that game that I thought there was a real chance that we could get our a$$ kicked by a much more talented, Top 10 team, and instead it was our Cyclones who did the a$$ kicking. I remember cackling with glee like a deranged madman in front of the TV watching us completely eviscerate them in the 2nd half of that game.

For the Big 12 season all of the road wins were amazing, particularly at TCU, as we really, really needed that one, but for some reason the home win against Texas really stands out to me. It wasn't a blowout against a solid team, but IIRC we were more or less in control pretty much the whole way, and if I remember correctly from looking at T-rank it might have been one of our best games of the season.

As for the NCAA tournament, where to start? The LSU win was by no means a gimme for us, and I shrieked in delight when Tyrese hit that last 3-pointer to more or less ice the game. As for Wisconsin, quick little anecdote; my former roommate and I had gotten tickets to go see "Hamilton" down in Denver waaay back before the season even started, and while in the back of my mind I knew that there could be a conflict with the NCAA tournament I also never, ever expected us to make the NCAA's in the first place. Thank God for DVR!

Anyway, does anyone else want to chime in?

Has anyone relocated to the Utah area specifically St George or cedar City. The opportunity seems to be presenting itself and we're doing the initial research on the pros and cons of such a move.

I usually am very into the Oscars, but this year not as much. Still some solid movies though...here are my predictions for the big categories tonight:

Best Picture: CODA (possibly Power of the Dog)
Best Director: Jane Campion (Power of the Dog) (spoiler would be Spielberg)
Best Actress: I'm going upset here and saying Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers) but could be Chastain or really any of the others. Closest race.
Best Actor: Will Smith (King Richard) even though I don't think he even deserved to be nominated
Best Supporting Actress: Arianna DeBose (West Side Story) Anyone else wins and it's a massive upset
Best Supporting Actor: Tony Kotsur (CODA) Spoiler would be Kodi Smit McFee (Power of the Dog)

And 4th out of 5. Trevor Hudgins might be the best D2 player ever. He could be starting for any team left in the tourney.

This will either collate some good responses or drop off the page quicker than your mom can unbutton her overalls...

I drained a farm pond to renovate it this past year. They are coming to rebuild the dike soon. I'd like to build a dock to make getting out into 8 foot water easier for kids to get some fishing done, but I haven't built a dock before. Any tips to getting it built right? I'm handy enough, just don't know what I don't know in terms of materials, best style, whether to go with floating or put piers underneath, etc. Obviously, the time to do this is now before the thing fills up again.

If we can have an extended thread about automobile insurance on here, I can ask about this.

Now that Summer Dead Period -- that dreaded long wait between the end of the basketball season an the first football game -- is upon us, any predictions about football? Will we make a bowl game? How good will whoever steps up at QB be?

Matchday 13 of 14 tomorrow (Sunday) with the US playing a massively important match against Panama in Orlando.



Mexico travels to Honduras and Costa Rica plays away at El Salvador.

A draw for the US tomorrow will guarantee a finish no lower than 4th. A win for the most part would cement a finish no lower than 3rd (getting jumped by Costa Rica would require them to overturn a 7 goal difference in GD).

Great season, pretty much all that any of us could have hoped for. The real question is, what happens next year. The knows are the incoming freshmen and the King kid, plus assuming Grill, Jones, Hunter and Jackson will be back. Not sure on Walker, and at this point we have no clue what seniors will come back for their COVID year. It seems reasonable that TJ knows who is or is not coming back now or will soon. Just seems weird that he threw this team together, and next year it could look like a completely different team again. College BB has gotten quite complicated in the last couple years.

Looking to purchase one ticket in the 100 or 200 sections for the game on Sunday. Thanks

Yeah it’s sucks that we failed to show offense tonight. Yeah it sucks we couldn’t make the Elite 8. For men and women.

But my god people. This was a throw away season for the men and we made the ******* sweet 16. Just amazing!

I am one that will forever have this team at the top of my favorite teams ever. What they accomplished is honestly just incredible.

I have no sadness about this season at all. There were ups. There were downs. We struggled on offense but by god we were fighters.

Bring on next season. I’m a happy and proud Cyclone.

My column from Chicago.

Mar 25, 2022; Chicago, IL, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Aljaz Kunc (5) reacts as the Cyclones lose 70-56 to the Miami Hurricanes in the semifinals of the Midwest regional of the men’s college basketball NCAA Tournament at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports



CHICAGO — I despise amusement parks. Having said that, the 2021-22 Iowa State men’s basketball season is one roller-coaster that I am glad that I got to ride. 



The excitement of the most surprising season in Iowa State history came to an end on Friday night in the Sweet 16, 70-56 at the hands of a toasty Miami squad. 



To be frank, these season-ending columns are generally the most difficult ones to write. Mainly because I don’t feel like I’m good enough at this to wrap up five months worth of basketball – in this case, 35 games – in 1,000 words. It’s impossible to capture, especially for a season as inspiring as this.



My emotions right now are quite odd.



After a...

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What will Ashley do? That is now the big question. Will she stay or will she go? From what I’ve read most think she is a first rounder. It would be a non-brainer if WNBA paid like it’s male counterpart. Unlike Bridget’s I just don’t see her game playing that well at the next level yet. Could she work on some things to improve her chances? Getting a masters in education on ISU’s dime could be an attractive fall back when she’s done with pro ball.

Prior to the game I posted some questions about the game. Well here are the answers.
1. can Creighton handle our bigs and Ashley inside? Yes. When the bigs miss layups and Ashley gets swarmed with not help.
2. will our drive and pass work? At times it was unstoppable. Em drove all day and scored. Others tried and missed.
3. can we guard their guards? In other words, can we knock them off their game? A big fat resounding NO. At times Creighton put on a clinic at our expense.
4. how will the game be called? some ticky tack stuff called. Overall not bad.
5. will ISU be on from deep (which is the key to every other part of our offense)? No. Lukewarm. We missed a bunch of wide open looks while shooting 32% overall.
6. Knowing we don’t really like pressure, will Creighton use their depth to hammer us full court? No.

The game started out with both teams trading blows. Diew started it for ISU with an opening three and I was hopeful that was a good sign. Sadly, it wasn't. Our team was colder than molasses in winter time from deep in the first half. Meanwhile Creighton seemingly almost hit their per game average in the first half. Whatever we did on defense just didn't work. Creighton either had wide open threes or cut to the basket and took advantage of our lack of foot speed to chew us alive. In the second quarter Ash went to the bench with two fouls and quite surprisingly the team stayed with Creighton. Just enough stops and a few baskets here and there and the half time score was tied at 30. I really thought at this point Coach Fen would make some defensive adjustments and we'd be ok. Surely we'd get better shooting right?

The third quarter was one of the worst I've seen since perhaps the beat downs by Baylor or Texas. Creighton came out and literally sliced and diced the sisters. They would find open threes. They would cut or drive to the basket. It all seemed to work and meanwhile the Sisters continued to struggle. When the smoke started to clear in the 4th quarter Creighton had built a 13 point lead and it seemed like this one was in the books. But, as you would expect the ladies still had fight left in their bones. They actually drew within three before making a few critical errors that shifted the game back in Creighton's direction. The ladies had to start fouling and hoping they could in turn score at the other end. It just didn't happen as even Creighton's worst free throw shooter was nearly perfect. In the end the better team won this game 76-68.

Observations
Defense - I was puzzled that our defense didn't seem more prepared for what Creighton was doing. It was the same thing they had done all season and yet our ladies seemed a step slow or way out of position all night long. The best defense we played was the last five minutes of the 4th quarter. So what changed?

Posts - our posts were an absolute non-factor tonight. They were slow plow horses compared to Creighton's quarter horses. Inside or outside (they were guarding guards) they couldn't keep up on defense. On offense they just couldn't find the hoop. 3 points and 7 boards between them. Much of what happened in the third quarter centered around their inability to cover on defense (although others had the same problem).

Playing fire with fire - Coach Fen waited until part way through the 4th to move away from our bigs and insert faster smaller players in an effort to slow Creighton down. Didn't always work, but they started getting some stops. Strangely after seeing Iowa's Czinano eat Creighton up inside our posts couldn't come close to replicating her effort. The only option was go small.

The three - When you watched the game you'd swear we made a total of about 5 threes and Creighton hit 21. In fact, Creighton only hit 3 more than we did on the same number of attempts. The difference was timing...when they happened. Creighton found themselves wide open time after time after time and it stymied anything ISU seemed to have going at the time.

In the lane. At one point Creighton had 24 points in the lane. These were slice and dice cuts to the hoop and it worked over and over again. They executed their offense quite well.

Our offense - for much of the game it seemed like our ladies were very disjointed. No flow to the offense and once we started missing it seemed like frustration set in a little bit.

The stat line - go look at it. Every single line of it looks nearly identical. Creighton made a couple more free throws. Made 3 more treys. Made a total of two more shots than the Sisters. Rebounds even. Turnovers even. The big difference? Assists. They had 7 more assists and each one was a knife in our back.

Ashley - sadly she picked up two fouls early and had to sit the bulk of the second quarter. We never really saw her exert her dominance as we expect. 3-11 from the floor, but 7-7 from the line. Without her offensive presence we were hurting. 14 points and 4 boards on what I hope isn't her last game in a Cyclone uniform.

Em - The little general did everything she could tonight. Made some mistakes - yes. A few of those "what were you thinking" moments. But her drives down the lane were fun to watch. 22 points, 6 assists, and 8 boards. Wow. She was the main reason we had any chance to win this game. 2:1 assist to turnover ratio.

Donarski - she started the game hot on defense and cold on offense. Made some exceptional hands plays. Did get beat a few times to the hoop, but she was working her butt off. Another tough shooting night missing threes and layups. 11 points and 3 boards. Another big missing link in our offense.

Diew - Probably the most improved player on this year's squad. She hit some critical threes. Played decent defense (although she was victimized a couple of times leaving open three point shooters). What a pleasant surprise she has been. Maybe her best game of the year tonight with 15 big points and 5 boards.

The bench - just not much happened there. four total points. One single player from Creighton's bench more than tripled that output.

So disappointing. I told friends that I just had to tip my hat to Creighton. You could tell their players were having fun. They knew their offense and ran it almost effortlessly, and their quickness exposed some of our flaws. The two teams were called "mirrors" of each other, but in actuality Creighton has some things we don't have. Namely, bench production and better team speed. On the other side, our team (like the one in the Replacements) has grit by the bucket load. Many teams might have folded when down by 13 and everything going the other way. Not our Sisters. They reached inside and grabbed some of that grit and found a way to cut that lead to almost nothing. Almost. Sadly, that "almost" means the most successful team (by win) in ISU history is done for the year. What a ride it was. We were privileged to watch some outstanding basketball and are able to say we were a part of it all. Thanks ladies. It's most definitely been fun.

Now for the waiting game. The only question remaining to be answered is what will Ashley do? Will she choose to go pro or will she decide to take one more stab at it? Of course I selfishly want her to come back next year. We will have a deeper bench with Fritz returning. We will be adding Shantavia Dawkins from Canada as another guard. It's possible the transfer portal might yield something, but I'm not sure what the team would be looking for. So, the question remains...what will Ashley do? Previously I was leaning 60-40 on a return. After tonight I think it is a total toss up. The rest of the team returns. You know this outstanding sophomore class will have fire burning in their veins to take things farther. Fritz will be ready to go. Hopefully our posts will make some marked improvement as well. The clock ticks while we wait on the big decision...

I'm tired and sad so I'll make it short. Wild season, pretty much an unthinkable year. The highs and lows were pretty much as high and low as you can get. Love you guys, thanks for making college basketball fun again for me this year. Get back in it next year

I hate this building - just the site of so many cyclone disasters (Floyd, Fizer, Gmac, Niang, etc.).

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I came here to Chicago but tickets too expensive and my toddler doesn’t want to do a game that late. PM if interested.

PM me if you have one for sale.