Men's and women's brackets. Top 5 of each get gift cards to the CF Store.

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Men's Challenge

Women's Challenge

The Selection Show and reveal for the the 2022 NCAA DI Women's Basketball Championship bracket will be on ESPN at 7:00 central time today.

Known: We will be hosting in Ames as one of the Sixteen which is huge.
Known: Ames games will be March 18/20 or March 19/21
Known: We are either a #2 or #3.
Known: Game 1 will be a cupcake.
Known: The bracketology peeps are rarely close on who plays who.
Known: We have only lost to Top 10 teams that are defense focused. Only a handful of those in the dance.
Known: We will not be in the same regional as Baylor or Texas. LSU could be but pretty unlikely.
Known: The talking heads will be all "Oh, that's a TOUGH region!" and yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Unknown: Will NCAA send regional teams to Ames and Iowa City like in 2019 to save travel money? Not like there is any other reason unless the seeding just works out that way. Neither the Cyclones or Hawks need the few hundred ticket sells from some regional team after the combined 29,000 they drew a week or so ago for their last conference home games.
Unknown: What region, that's anyone's guess.
Unknown: Not Cyclone related but I'm curious to see if Sooners hang on to hosting in Norman. I'd say 50/50.

Anyone know if there are sports books with NCAA wrestling odds? I’m only familiar with William Hill and haven’t seen anything there yet.

Post your final prediction for MBB’s seed (most important) and opponent (for fun). If you don’t think we’re getting in, just move along. Will be fun to revisit 9 hours. Keep this thread on topic and ONLY about seed/matchup-up predictions.

I’ll go first 10 seed vs. USC

Happy Selection Sunday!

Never thought after last year this would be a possibility this year but here we are. Hopefully we are in but this season is already a smashing success.

Selection Show 5PM
CBS

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Some facts to sleep on as we await our seeding/location tomorrow...

Iowa State had regular season wins against teams in their conference tournament finals from the:

• Big 12 (Texas Tech)
• Big East (Creighton)
• Big Ten (Iowa)
• AAC (Memphis)
• Southland (SE Louisiana)

Iowa State has played 32 games

• 18 of those games were against NET top 50 teams
• 23 of the 32 are against top 77 NET teams.

Iowa State has 9 Q1 wins

• top 5 in the country

Iowa State has a SOS of 11th in the country

Iowa State has a SOR of 30th

Iowa State has the #10 best Adjusted Defense in the country

Point is...this season is still insanely impressive after we won 2 last year. We're likely headed to 8/9 seed and yeah that sucks but given we are in the tourney, just making it is gravy to me. I can't wait to see how we do against non-Big 12 teams. Maybe we are toast and **** the bed...who knows. But I can't wait to see them fight another day.

Go Cyclones

So, I installed a new version of macOS on my wife's laptop and it appears the thing has completely bricked. It gets stuck on the install and I've tried everything I can think of and just went through a 3 hour chat session with support. I'm assuming I never get access to this HD again without going with one of those data recovery services. The only threads on here are from like literally 10 years ago and if I google it they are all just places you drop your computer in a drop box and stuff. Is there anybody in the metro that does this? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

My column with Bill Fennelly's comments on freedom of movement after today's loss.

Sadly, there were parallels in this game to yesterdays. Fantastic first half had the sisters in firm control. Nice six point lead at the half that was fed by…you guessed it…a rain of threes. Everyone felt good at this point and hoped for more in the second. Instead…

The second half started with ISU extending the lead to nine and everything looked good. Then what shall be called “the ten seconds” happened. In a matter of ten seconds the ladies gave up a three, turned the ball over twice on inbounds miscues and gave up two more baskets. It was a struggle the rest of the way as Texas would slowly create a lead and force ISU to play catch-up for too many minutes. The defense stepped up big time to force overtime and then the wheels feel off the bus completely leading to a loss for the third time this season to the Longhorns

Observations.
The first half saw good ball movement and scoring inside and out. The second half saw dribble,dribble, dribble and players standing around watching.

Officiating - anyone who followed the game thread saw a dramatic change from half one to half two. In the first half calls were straightforward and went both ways. In the second, it was atrociously bad for even a lousy Big 12 crew. But…it didn’t cost us the game.

Coaching - the lack of immediate changes to inbounds plays, getting the team to play as a team, etc were major shortfalls. They hurt big time.

One on five - too many times we saw our guard dribble, dribble , dribble and the other players line the perimeter. We also saw single players try to drive without any understanding of where other players were. It was a big lack of team ball. The truly was too many empty possessions that could have changed the feel of the game.

Free throws - just take a look at the discrepancy in free throws and you know how this game was called.

Three point line - our biggest defensive lapse was leaving Texas players open for three point shots. Each one was a killer.

Out of bounds plays - anyone who knows Texas knows they pressure the inbounds. We failed to set screens and failed to implement the four out inbounds until it was too late.

Screens. If there is one thing we implement poorly it’s setting screens and the ball handler peeling off closely to create a defensive problem. This hurt on offense and on inbounds plays.

Turnovers and fouls - 15 and 21. Definitely influenced the game…the fouls more than anything (see officials above).

Was there good? Oh heck yes! This team took punch after punch from a team and set of officials and never quit. We managed the Texas inside game rather well. Have to give our star senior some credit. She passed Welle on the career made free throw list. Congrats!

Now the wait begins. We find out our NCAA fate tomorrow. Most prognosticators have ISU now as a three seed. Texas was a three coming into this and the teams will likely swap places.

In any case, we can all move Hilton back north and convene for what I hope is a long run in the dance.

I know it's a bit early, but was wondering when tickets will go on sale for the women's NCAA tourney. I assume we'll be hosting, so is it just a matter of going "live" after the selection show on Monday? Can I buy directly from cyclones.com?

Mar 11, 2022; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Lexi Donarski (21) is introduced before facing the West Virginia Mountaineers at Municipal Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — I’ve covered somewhere around 15 Big 12 Tournaments over the years (I’ve lost track of exacts with my deteriorating mental state), mostly in Kansas City (two in Oklahoma City and one in Dallas). In the league’s current form, it usually sets up as Iowa State and Kansas fans battling to fill up T-Mobile on Friday night, assuming both teams make it that far. Respectfully, Kansas State fans can make an impact too on any given year. 



Thursday night was a massacre that we shall not speak of ever again.



However, thousands of Iowa State fans woke up Friday morning not finished with their somewhat southern getaway – but just getting started. The women were due to tip off their tournament at 5 p.m. in Municipal Arena! And to these people...

Click to expand...

Continue reading...

My story from today's game: https://cyclonefanatic.com/2022/03/...scoring-droughts-advance-to-big-12-semifinal/

Mar 11, 2022; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Lexi Donarski (21) is introduced before facing the West Virginia Mountaineers at Municipal Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — I’ve covered somewhere around 15 Big 12 Tournaments over the years (I’ve lost track of exacts with my deteriorating mental state), mostly in Kansas City (two in Oklahoma City and one in Dallas). In the league’s current form, it usually sets up as Iowa State and Kansas fans battling to fill up T-Mobile on Friday night, assuming both teams make it that far. Respectfully, Kansas State fans can make an impact too on any given year. 



Thursday night was a massacre that we shall not speak of ever again.



However, thousands of Iowa State fans woke up Friday morning not finished with their somewhat southern getaway – but just getting started. The women were due to tip off their tournament at 5 p.m. in Municipal Arena! And to these people...

Click to expand...

Continue reading...

I’ll be interested to see if OU gets all sped up and consistently turns it over, and potentially calls different sets.

Let’s go.

Mar 11, 2022; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Lexi Donarski (21) is introduced before facing the West Virginia Mountaineers at Municipal Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports



KANSAS CITY, Mo. — I’ve covered somewhere around 15 Big 12 Tournaments over the years (I’ve lost track of exacts with my deteriorating mental state), mostly in Kansas City (two in Oklahoma City and one in Dallas). In the league’s current form, it usually sets up as Iowa State and Kansas fans battling to fill up T-Mobile on Friday night, assuming both teams make it that far. Respectfully, Kansas State fans can make an impact too on any given year. 



Thursday night was a massacre that we shall not speak of ever again.



However, thousands of Iowa State fans woke up Friday morning not finished with their somewhat southern getaway – but just getting started. The women were due to tip off their tournament at 5 p.m. in Municipal Arena! And to these people...

Click to expand...

Continue reading...

11 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds, in the state final translates to a bright future!

Wow…it’s always hard to beat someone you just played, but this was a tale of two halves. One was good and one was butt ugly.

The first half was total domination by the sisters. After a back and forth first quarter where WVU and the sisters were hotter than hot, the second game saw the sisters just unleash domination on WVU. Nice double digit lead at halftime.

Then the second half happened. What if I told you that Ashley and Lexi would only have two points between them until the last minute of the game after both scoring 11 in the first? WVU turned a 19 point ISU into a nail biter. Fortunately the ladies did just enough at the line to pull this one out.

Observations
Player of the Game - Jordaro. Man she was active out there. Not a big scoring day but 12 boards was fantastic!

The Problem - in the second half the team forgot what got them there. No team play and lots of one on five efforts. A crapload of turnovers. Ugh

Ashley- first half was hot and the second half was cold. She pulled down FOURTEEN boards and played scrappy D though.

Donasrski - played her usual great defense and like Joens saw her offense dry up in the second.

Emily - like everyone else she had good moments and bad. The turnovers really hurt us at times. The team ended up with about 18 I believe. She had a couple of nice drives for points, but had some head scratchers as well.

Second half - we missed a bunch of shots, but the lack of team play and ball movement really hurt. Players would drive to the middle and just piddle the ball away.

M&M - was reported to be in a boot again but still had some good minutes. Has a calming effect on the court.

Crowd - as usual there is a great ISU crowd at Municipal. Very loud and supportive.

Officials- I don’t usually say much about the officials but this crew was really, really bad. Very inconsistent and like some teams allowed the game to get too physical. They missed many traveling calls as well. One of the poorer teams I’ve seen this year. We have to hope we don’t see them again.

So, the team advanced. We wait to see who they will face and hope the funk they fell into in the second half is out of their system. See you all tomorrow!

Title game vs Johnston, for people in central Iowa anyway.

4 tickets. Balcony corner. Aisle row 9.

$40 per ticket

A lot to love today!!!

My best Bets;
UCSB/LBSU O139.5
UNC -2
NOCO -5
Akr/Toledo O 138.5

Good Luck!

Enjoy!