Sorry for the wait on the update, but I have been really sick.  Anyway, I avoided posting after the UC-Davis game because I wanted to see all three games before I made an initial opinion on the team.  I'm glad I waited.

For the UC-Davis game the team shot terribly and with Brackins out, really really looked bad.  The rest of the weekend they improved greatly in moving the ball and attacking as well as making open shots.  I hope that they can continue to make shots at a good clip (I doubt they hold up at 55% from the UWM game) but that should help open it up for Brackins.  I have to admit I'm pleasantly surprised by some of the newcomers and I think this team might be a little bit better than I first imagined but they also were playing teams they are generally much better than.  We'll see what happens and I'm not sold on this being a postseason team but it could be a fun year.

Brackins - Did a great job this weekend overall, but he still needs to turn and go to the basket.  He loves to turn and shoot a fade instead of taking it strong to the rim.  With his strength and athletic ability there is no reason why he should be putting up weak shots like he does.  He also needs to control the foul problems because the complexion of the team completely changes when he's out like the UC-Davis game.  Also, three games this weekend, 11 rebounds, all against teams with big guys vastly worse than what he'll be facing in the Big 12.  IMO this year hinges on Craig and he needs to develop some more toughness.

Garrett - I like the way he is controlling the ball, tempo, getting assits and cutting down the turnovers.  I still think he needs to finish a bit better but he is doing what a point guard should do and he's playing good defense as well.  I'd like more scoring out of him but that will probably be inconsistent until he develops his shot a bit more and that will probably take another offseason.

Staiger - Good to see him out there.  Can tell he's a step slow from the surgery a few weeks ago but turned in a great shooting performance against UWM and you can tell he's going to be a huge energy guy.  I think he was so excited this weekend it may have caused him to go a little bonkers but I see good things from him in the future.

Vanderbeken - I was pleasantly surprised by his shooting ability and athletic ability.  I don't know how he'll hold up against physical bangers in the Big 12 but he showed the ability to get out and move a bit.

Petey and Haluska - I group these two together because I think they are bringing pretty much the same thing they brought last year but they do seem a lot more comfortable.  I like Petey at the 2 guard, he seems more at ease there, I just wish he was about 4 inches taller.  Sean played good defense and was driving the ball to the hoop well which I was surprised about.

Thompson - Saw a little offense out of the big guy this weekend which was nice.  Again, you know what you're getting out of him.  #'s will probably be a little better this year because he's getting the starting nod.

Hamilton - Decently athletic, moves pretty well, seems to understand where he should be on the court.  He's still pretty raw but at 6'11" 255 you can see why he's out there.  He still is pretty skinny too, I think he could carry 265 or so and still keep his athletic ability.

Eikmeier - This guy shoots like Sullivan with more athletic ability.  He can handle the ball a bit too.  Surprised with his quickness and he'll be a great shooter and fan favorite for years.

I love Iowa State athletics, but something that always gets me jacked up is the start of basketball season.  I love basketball.  I love to watch it, I love to play it, it's just my favorite athletic endevor.  I watched about an hour and half of the Warriors and Pistons last night people.

Iowa State officially kicks off their season tonight.  No more exhibitions.  No more closed scrimmages.  If Diante Garrett wants to get the most assists in a season he needs to turn it on tonight.  Plus, this game will probably mark the ascension of the Chosen One from his NCAA enforced purgatory.

This is the smirk of a man released after a year in bondage... Behold!

I don't know what kind of player Lucca is going to be but I will be grateful for him sticking with the team.  The guy could go on to average 2 points for his whole career and I'd be loving him.  He's exactly what you talk about when you want the right kind of people involved in your program and I am just so excited to see him on the floor even if he will be hobbled from the knee surgery.  As he rains in three point daggers from Deutcheland I'll never forget what he did for the program.

Listen I don't really care about UC-Davis.  Here's what I know about them - Drake wing Adam Templeton transferred from there; their RPI last year was 303.  That's pretty much all I need to know.  Tonight is about the young guys putting on the uniform for the first time in a "real" game for the ISU Cyclones and I'm going to love every minute of it.

Sorry for no updates last week, especially sorry to the gracious founder of this board, got a little busy with real life.  Anyway, the preview is back, whether that is good or bad I guess is up to you guys.

As you can see from CrossCyed's interview with Beergut our programs are kind of in the same spot - a little deficient on talent and speed and in the process of upgrading.  There will be a lot of true freshman talent on the field Saturday so it's tough to say how it will all turn out but there are a few interesting things going on from my perspective.

• Goodson might be out.  Leading rusher on the season had an MCL sprain and was limping after the Tech game last week.  So even if he Starting O-tackle Travis Schneider was out against Tech and might be out for ISU as well.  They are a little banged up.  A true freshman will probably fill in for Goodson so that could be helpful.

• They will be starting true freshman at corner, safety, and defensive tackle, and the DT weighs about 260 pounds and has a mohawk.  This seemed eerily similar to ISU but I also wanted to post this picture.

•  A&M apparently struggles to run the ball as much as ISU does, registering 20 yards on the ground last week against Tech.  This will be the perverbial stoppable force vs. movable object in the running game.

It's been a rough few weeks for Cyclone football but a win in front of the homecoming crowd would do a lot to help get people back on board for the final home game against Mizzou in a few weeks and stave off some of the folks upset about the last few weeks (of which I am one).  Should be a decent crowd on Saturday and it'd be nice to go home happy after what could be a chilly night.

"We weren't focused on the task at hand," cornerback Devin McDowell said. "We just went out there and gave up, pretty much."

I think that pretty much sums it up.  I downloaded Super Mario Brothers 3 on my Wii so I think I'm going to go play that and harken back to a simpler time.  It's better than trying to ramble on about last night.

Since we haven't played Baylor for 3 years and they usually don't make a lot of headlines, many of us Cyclone fans don't know a lot about them.  I didn't really have the time to write a bit preview because of the Bates distraction, but I'll touch on some quick hitters.

• New coach:  They have a new coach in Art Briles who brings a fun offense with him from Houston.  I think he was a great hire for Baylor because he has an exciting offense that can help regenerate interest in the program and he's a proven winner at the college level with obvious recruiting ties in Texas to help build the team back up with good local talent.
• QB Robert Griffin might be the best athlete to put on pads in all of Division 1.  He hasn't thrown a pick yet but he can get it done throwing or running.  His completion percentage isn't outstanding against good competition and according to some BU fans the WR corp has been somewhat disappointing this season.  It is my hope that the talent ISU has on the defensive backfield can continue to jam their WR's at the line and force him to make passes into tight spots.
• They are a very efficient running team as Griffin averages almost 5 ypc and Finley averages 7.4 ypc.  This is a game where the the corners might be left on an island repeatedly because additional players may have to be brought up to help the run game.
• They are also pretty stout against the run, which has been the weakness of ISU's offense.  Apparently they play soft in coverage and will usually allow the opposing WR's 5-8 yards of cushion playing a bend but don't break style.  Arnaud repeatedly took advantage of that against KU and moved the ball very effectively last week.  I imagine this will be the gameplan again today.
• Apparently the Baylor defense has trouble pressuring the quarterback as well as covering receivers.  This pretty much puts this road game on Arnaud's shoulders to deliver the ball to his targets.  I think he's up to it as the home crowds at Baylor haven't been that large and that shouldn't create as big of homefield advantage as it could.

The Bates transfer has created headlines and mass reaction from Cyclone fans over the last day.  Myself, I'm not necessarily angry or overly bothered by it.  It's not as though the possibility of Bates transferring has never been broached by people following the team.  I am mostly confused by it and bothered by two things.

The two things that bother me are:

• The timing - I don't feel like Bates necessarily owes ISU or the fans anything.  But I do believe he owes his teammates the respect of finishing the year.  He will obviously have friends on the team and he has actively been involving in hosting recruits.  Obviously he didn't take that responsibility seriously.
• Not telling the coaching staff himself.  I understand that it would be hard to approach somebody like Chizik and tell him you're quitting the team.  However to have your dad call Pollard and have Pollard relay the message to the staff... I'm sorry there is no other way to describe that than gutless.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not intending to rip the kid.  I think there is more at work here than just Bates making a decision as his father was heavily involved.  Those two things irk me but don't necessarily impact Cyclone football other than emotionally and I hope the rest of the team is emotionally mature enough to handle him cutting out. 

The thing I really don't understand is the reasoning behind leaving now.  For one it does not reflect well on him at his future stop.  He also cannot practice the rest of the season and even if he were a backup I would think time spent on the field would help him get better as opposed to time spent otherwise.

Something else bothering Cyclone fans is the rumors that he is looking at Nebraska.  I don't doubt that he is, but let him go there if he wants to.  I think he'll find that sitting to play one year would probably have been a tremendous waste of his talent and I highly doubt Nebraska doesn't have at least one other quality quarterback coming in or on the roster.  Nothing is going to be given to him even if he's from Omaha.

Honestly best of luck to Phil.  I don't think he's a bad kid, he helped ISU many ways off the field, and he conducted himself with class on and off the field until this moment.  Do I think he made a mistake leaving in the middle of the year?  Yes, but he's confident enough I doubt it will effect him.  And since he was obviously beaten out by Arnaud on the field... I don't think it will effect Iowa State football as much as some believe either.

I’m not a big moral victory guy, but I honestly expected KU to win and cover (two touchdowns or greater) last weekend so the fact that they came out in dominating fashion really got my hopes up before the breakdown in the third quarter.  There were some good things and bad things to be taken away from this one.

The Good:

Overall it wasn’t a bad showing by the team even though they lost.  I’m not much for quoting the Zooker but I think he said it well when he said in year one, you lose big.  Year two, you lose small, year three you win small, and year four you win big.  I think they are on track for that with this staff.  I love this staff and I’m extremely confident in the future of the program. 

I’ve been on the record as saying this before but I think 2009 has the potential to be a breakout season.  I expect the team to be undefeated through the nonconference and the schedule is set up so they can be very competitive in conference.  An 8-4 record is attainable and they return a lot of players in 2010.

I think it moved...

Iowa State gets their first true test at home after playing the two toughest teams so far on the road.  Kansas does a lot of things well and getting a victory may be extremely difficult but I don't think ISU should go into the game feeling like it has no shot.  They will need to probably play like they did in the second half against UNLV and if they come out with a first half effort KU will roll.

However there are a lot of potential areas that ISU could attack in this game. 

Kansas is #11 in rushing offense among Big 12 teams so it may allow ISU to play the run a bit more in this game.  After facing Jarvis, Greene, and Frank the Tank in the last three games a team that averages 119 YPG has to be a welcome sight.  Pressuring Reesing is very difficult because he gets the ball out of his hands so quickly - in 19 games as a starter he's only been sacked 31 times.  This KU offense is still plenty capable of hanging some huge numbers on ISU but they are a little more one dimensional than last season.

The KU rush defense is very stout only allowing 94 YPG but the pass defense is #8 in the Big 12.  At the risk of reading too much into the second half of the UNLV game, Arnaud really seemed to find himself as a passer in those final moments.  Hopefully he gained some confidence last week because he looked outstanding in the second half.  Hopefully Bass can also continue to contribute at a high level after seeing some of his first extended action during the UNLV game.

Reesing and the passing attack for KU has been out of this world so far this year as he has over 1400 yards passing and 11 TD's already.  Meier and Briscoe (5 TD's) have been very solid for them and they will be very tough to defend.  The return of McDowell and Leonard Johnson should help bolster what I think is the best and deepest unit on the team, the cornerbacks.  Obviously I don't think stopping KU's passing attack is feasible but I think if they can continue to force some turnovers like they have been (they are still #1 in the Big 12) and a pass rush would be helpful.  Kansas also returns some injured players that should shore up their defense.

Obviously this will be an extremely tough Big 12 opener for Iowa State but I'll remain hopeful until the final buzzer.  Winning this game would do a lot to help the program (Just as KU beating ISU in 2005 helped propel the KU program) and it would be great to return the favor.  Hopefully Chizik can repeat the halftime speech at UNLV before the KU game kicks off.

 
At my signal, unleash hell! (Ghetto MS Paint Style)

With no football game last week it was a pretty slow week as far as actually on the field happenings go.  However there were a couple of news items on the board for the future of athletics and regarding the basketball team.

Dick Jacobsen continued his great support of ISU athletics by making the largest donation ever to the athletic department in the amount of 5 million dollars.  It is tabbed to help renovate the east side of the stadium in the same way as the west side - updated bathrooms, concessions, expanding the concourse, etc.  As a resident eastsider I'm pretty fired up about this because the new concessions on the West side are pretty sweet from what I've eaten.

Also, due to some excellent facebook stalking taking place over at CycloneFanatic, we can see the new basketball uniforms for this season.  Initially I really like the fit, but there seems to be a lot of white on the home uni's.  Regardless they start playing in about a month and it will be very exciting to see the guys back in action regardless of what they have on.

What a heartbreaker.  I really couldn't bring myself to put down a coherent thought for a few days after this one.  A few years ago losses would really get to me and I'd be down for at least the rest of the day on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday.  This was one that could have been a throwback to the old times.  Luckily I went right to sleep after this late-starting game and the putrid effort by the Chiefs on Sunday reminded me that it could always be worse.

Anyway, a few thoughts to wrap this one up -

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