JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
CyHawk Hoops: Big Game | Hawkeye Nation
This might be one of the more significant Iowa-Iowa State men's basketball games in a long time, at least from an Iowa perspective.
First, congrats to Lisa Bluder's #19th ranked Hawkeyes for their 22-point win over #16 Iowa State on Thursday night. It was the first time the two teams have ever played while each was ranked, and it wasn't a contest. Iowa has played three straight games against very good competition and had a respectable loss at North Carolina and beat Kansas State and ISU. The UNC loss is Iowa's lone misstep on the season.
As for tonight's men's game and why I think it's important...
This game isn't going to define the coaching career for either Fran McCaffery or Fred Hoiberg. I am not trying to overly dramatize the game from that perspective, or really any perspective. On its face, it's a basketball game between two unranked programs that are in total rebuilding modes. Iowa has been to just three NCAA tournaments since 2001 while Iowa State has been there just twice in that many years. Iowa hasn't been there since 2006 while ISU's drought goes back to 2005. Each school hired a new coach this spring.
So outside the borders of this state, the game isn't going to garner much attention.
I also can't say that the Iowa-Iowa State basketball game has meant anything more to me through the years other than being the next game on Iowa's schedule and as a fan, just wanting Iowa to win every game they play.
In fact, I can really only recall two or three Iowa-ISU games, one of them being the 102-100 overtime win that ISU had over Iowa in 1987 when LaFester Rhoads scored 54 points for the Cyclones, playing all 45 minutes. Iowa was ranked in the Top Ten and ISU was around 20th. I remember the NIT game a few years back and a game I was at in Hilton a few years ago, only because I was there, but that's about it.
I can recall far more games against Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and just about every single member of the Big Ten than I can recall single Iowa-ISU games, which might have something to do with being raised 8 miles from Iowa City and the Iowa-ISU rivalry being nothing but a rumor when I was a kid in the 1980's.
However tonight's game means a little more to me, more than just the fact that I live in Des Moines now where the rivalry is a popular point of discussion.
Iowa fans need a distraction right now. They need a distraction from a disappointing football season and a disappointing week of negative headlines involving Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. Something to take their minds away from all of that.
Iowa fans need to see their basketball team show signs of life, signs of hope that the future is not as bleak as the past few years have been. We have gotten glimpses of that thus far this season, as we are nearing it being one-third completed. We've seen Iowa score more points in a game than they have since 1998. We've seen a return of up tempo basketball, even though they won ugly in their last game against Northern Iowa as the Panthers set the tempo.
Tonight's game should be fast paced and up beat, as both teams want to get out and run, the way both teams did in the 1980's.
There's a chance for this game to be a contest in this series that is remembered.
Not because either of these teams is going to play in the NCAA tournament this year; that will not happen. But if the Iowa basketball program is going to get turned around under Fran McCaffery, and at this moment all we can do is hope for that to happen, a win tonight might not be a crossroads moment, but certainly another layer of the foundation to build upon.
If Iowa loses, it will not spell the end of the world or signal the sky falling down on our heads, and since that is the case this game really does not have great magnitude on the basketball Richter Scale.
However, a win would salve a few of the wounds Iowa fans have experienced this week and the last few weeks, if only for a few days. It would be a welcomed distraction right about now and put everyone to bed with a smile.
I could be wrong, this might only be the case for me. But I know every Hawkeye fan will be pulling for a win tonight, as we always do, and if they get it, the weekend will be a little easier to navigate.
This might be one of the more significant Iowa-Iowa State men's basketball games in a long time, at least from an Iowa perspective.
First, congrats to Lisa Bluder's #19th ranked Hawkeyes for their 22-point win over #16 Iowa State on Thursday night. It was the first time the two teams have ever played while each was ranked, and it wasn't a contest. Iowa has played three straight games against very good competition and had a respectable loss at North Carolina and beat Kansas State and ISU. The UNC loss is Iowa's lone misstep on the season.
As for tonight's men's game and why I think it's important...
This game isn't going to define the coaching career for either Fran McCaffery or Fred Hoiberg. I am not trying to overly dramatize the game from that perspective, or really any perspective. On its face, it's a basketball game between two unranked programs that are in total rebuilding modes. Iowa has been to just three NCAA tournaments since 2001 while Iowa State has been there just twice in that many years. Iowa hasn't been there since 2006 while ISU's drought goes back to 2005. Each school hired a new coach this spring.
So outside the borders of this state, the game isn't going to garner much attention.
I also can't say that the Iowa-Iowa State basketball game has meant anything more to me through the years other than being the next game on Iowa's schedule and as a fan, just wanting Iowa to win every game they play.
In fact, I can really only recall two or three Iowa-ISU games, one of them being the 102-100 overtime win that ISU had over Iowa in 1987 when LaFester Rhoads scored 54 points for the Cyclones, playing all 45 minutes. Iowa was ranked in the Top Ten and ISU was around 20th. I remember the NIT game a few years back and a game I was at in Hilton a few years ago, only because I was there, but that's about it.
I can recall far more games against Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and just about every single member of the Big Ten than I can recall single Iowa-ISU games, which might have something to do with being raised 8 miles from Iowa City and the Iowa-ISU rivalry being nothing but a rumor when I was a kid in the 1980's.
However tonight's game means a little more to me, more than just the fact that I live in Des Moines now where the rivalry is a popular point of discussion.
Iowa fans need a distraction right now. They need a distraction from a disappointing football season and a disappointing week of negative headlines involving Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. Something to take their minds away from all of that.
Iowa fans need to see their basketball team show signs of life, signs of hope that the future is not as bleak as the past few years have been. We have gotten glimpses of that thus far this season, as we are nearing it being one-third completed. We've seen Iowa score more points in a game than they have since 1998. We've seen a return of up tempo basketball, even though they won ugly in their last game against Northern Iowa as the Panthers set the tempo.
Tonight's game should be fast paced and up beat, as both teams want to get out and run, the way both teams did in the 1980's.
There's a chance for this game to be a contest in this series that is remembered.
Not because either of these teams is going to play in the NCAA tournament this year; that will not happen. But if the Iowa basketball program is going to get turned around under Fran McCaffery, and at this moment all we can do is hope for that to happen, a win tonight might not be a crossroads moment, but certainly another layer of the foundation to build upon.
If Iowa loses, it will not spell the end of the world or signal the sky falling down on our heads, and since that is the case this game really does not have great magnitude on the basketball Richter Scale.
However, a win would salve a few of the wounds Iowa fans have experienced this week and the last few weeks, if only for a few days. It would be a welcomed distraction right about now and put everyone to bed with a smile.
I could be wrong, this might only be the case for me. But I know every Hawkeye fan will be pulling for a win tonight, as we always do, and if they get it, the weekend will be a little easier to navigate.
