The ladies are starting out pretty hot. Up 20-13 with less than a minute left first quarter. Stanford fans boo more than we do at the refs.

Get your popcorn ready.

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Some good stuff here from Rivals National Recruiting Analyst Greg Smith, who covers the Midwest.

LINK

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More big news tonight for the Cyclones, this time on the gridiron!

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Iowa State ended up a fantastic 4th.
They will get a trophy.

Coach Dresser and team has worked hard to get to this point. Hope there are many more top 5 finishes in the future.

Once again Penn State dominated.

This from an article on Keegan O’Toole on the KC Star after his third place finish:

When asked of his plans after leaving T-Mobile Center, first on his list was to, of course, hang out with his parents, and then make the trip back to Columbia. What’s waiting for him back in Columbia, though, isn’t a typical answer from a normal college student:

“I got a lot of things going for me,” he said. “Starting to build a house back in Columbia, it’s starting to happen soon.”

It’s rare to hear of house-building plans from someone so young. But as a financial planning major, O’Toole has put in more than enough work outside the mat to carry over to his success when his wrestling career is eventually over.

Emily Ryan, Audi Crooks, and Addy Brown

Skip ahead to 1:14:10 for Bill Fennelly

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Right now. From this point forward. DO NOT doubt this team. You can relieve yourself of a lot of apprehension and hand wringing, and whatever happens will happen regardless. So I will start this off - WE ARE NOT LOSING AGAIN THIS SEASON. Believe it. I don't care if it's realistic or unrealistic - it's my own attitude and I own it. We are not losing so sleep well.
I GUARANTEE !!

Illinois has the #1 rated offense (offensive efficiency) per the Haslametrics site. Iowa State has the #2 defense, just a hair behind Houston.

The data shows that Illinois (for the season) is not that strong at the mid-range game and that shooting 3s is not a big part of their system. Their high rating is largely because they get to the free throw line (rated #2) and are good at converting opportunities for layups, tip-ins, and dunks.

Iowa State is somewhat weak on allowing opponents to get to the free throw line, but is elite at not allowing opponents to score on layups, tip-ins, dunks, and second-chance points.

Let's get this NCAA Tournament game thread rolling a bit early today, too! The Cyclones and Cougars meet up in the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska, in the round of 32 this afternoon around 5:10 p.m. The game will be carried on TNT. I'll have the live courtside updates for you in the thread below.

Went to my daughters 12 and under volleyball tournament today out at the RecPlex in West Des Moines. In the next court over, Kadyn Proctor was there watching a team wearing the black and gold and thought that made sense given that is South East Polk colors, maybe his sister or someone was on the team. After their match ended, I took a closer look at the jersey's and it was actually an Iowa City team, not SEP that he was there watching.

Don't know why, but thought this was funny. He has twice committed/decommitted to Iowa football, now going back to Bama, but here he was cheering on a 12 year old team from Iowa City. I guess good for him to put that behind him, but also an FU to that University.

This team:
1. They can rebound from cold shooting and build large margins
2. Great depth - great contribution from the bench
3. They don't rely on one or two players
4. Our coach doesn't get tossed and has a lot of poise.
5. We have likeable players who appear humble
6. There is not a single hok fan in the bunch

Anyone care to add things I've missed?

Conrad Hawley has apparently joined the hoopers as a walk-on per CF...

Iowa State Media Relations

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – No. 4 David Carr defeated Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink, 9-8, to win his second national title Saturday night inside the T-Mobile Center. He becomes the 17th Cyclone to win multiple national titles and the first since 2010 (Jake Varner, 2009-10).

His path to the title included wins over the No. 1, 2 and 5 seeds, and four of his five opponents in the tournament were All-Americans.

Carr is the first five-time All-American in program history and the 12th Cyclone to finish on the podium four times. The Cyclone legacy never placed worse than third at the national tournament, following his 2021 national title with a third-place finish in 2022, a runner-up in 2023 before securing a second title in 2024.

The Canton, Ohio native finishes his career with a 120-5 record, tied for the 15th-most wins in school history, and as a three-time national finalist. His .960 career winning percentage ranks fourth in program history behind Cael Sanderson (1.000), Dan Gable (.990) and Tim Krieger (.967).

Carr, along with his father Nate who won three national titles for ISU from 1981-83, are one of four father-son duos in Division I history to win two-plus national titles. Carr’s title is the 71st individual wrestling title in Iowa State history.

Carr led the resurgence of a program which finished tied for 57th at the 2017 NCAA Championships. In his final season, Iowa State finished in fourth place with 68.5 team points, it’s best finish and point total since 2010 when the Cyclones placed third with 75.0 points. ISU placed four wrestlers on the podium, its most since 2009.

The Cyclones finished just outside the top three of Penn State (172.5), Cornell (72.5) and Michigan (71.0). Rounding out the top five was Iowa with 67.0 points.

How it Happened
Carr struck early with a tough-nosed blast double within the first five seconds of the match. The Cyclone was tough on top and rode Mesenbrink until the Nittany Lion escaped with 1:11 remaining in the opening period.

Mesenbrink got back into the match with a stall point and escape early in the second period, but Carr widened his lead with another takedown off a re-shot single leg before the end of the period.

The Nittany Lion kept pressing forward in the third and would take a brief lead on a takedown with a minute remaining. Carr tied the match, 8-8, and fended off any remaining takedown attempts from Mesenbrink. The Cyclone held over two minutes of riding time when the clock hit zeros, giving Carr a 9-8 victory.

Match-by-Match Results
125: No. 24 Kysen Terukina – DNP (0.5 Pts)
First Round: L-D, 9-4 vs. No. 9 Patrick McKee (MINN)
Consis. Rd. 1: W-D, 4-2 vs. No. 25 Ethan Berginc (ARMY)
Consis. Rd. 2: LBF (5:34) vs. No. 7 Jakob Camacho (NCST)

133: No. 8 Evan Frost - 6th Place (9.0 Pts.)
First Round: W-D, 8-5 vs. No. 25 Braden Basile (ARMY)
Second Round: W-D, 4-1 vs. No. 24 Julian Chlebove (ASU)
Quarterfinals: L-D, 2-1 TB-1 s. No. 1 Daton Fix (OKST)
R12: W-D, 2-1 vs. No. 20 Tyler Wells (MINN)
R8: L-D, 4-1 vs. No. 2 Ryan Crookham (LEH)
Fifth-Place Match: L-MD, 17-6 vs. No. 5 Dylan Ragusin (MICH)

141: No. 5 Anthony Echemendia – 5th Place (13.5 Pts.)
First Round: W-TF, 20-4 (6:51) vs. No. 28 Greyson Clark (Purdue)
Second Round: W-D, 8-2 vs. No. 21 Josh Edmond (MIZ)
Quarterfinals: W-D, 5-3 vs. No. 4 Ryan Jack (NCST)
Semifinals: L-D, 6-4 vs. No. 1 Jesse Mendez (OHST)
R8: L-D, 4-0 vs. No. 3 Real Woods (IOWA)
Fifth-Place Match: W, MFF vs. No. 6 Lachlan McNeil (UNC)

149: No. 8 Casey Swiderski – 7th Place (7.5 Pts.)
First Round: W-D, 2-1 vs. No. 25 Matthew Williams (ARMY)
Second Round: W-D, 8-5 TB-1 vs. No. 9 Ethan Fernandez (CORN)
Quarterfinals: L-MD, 14-4 vs. No. 1 Ridge Lovett (NEB)
R12: W-D, 2-1 TB-1 vs. No. 14 Dylan D`Emilio (OHST)
R8: L-MD, 10-2 vs. No. 5 Ty Watters (WVU)
Seventh-Place Match: W-MD, 19-8 vs. No. 11 Quinn Kinner (RID)

157: No. 14 Cody Chittum – DNP (2.0 Pts.)
First Round: L-MD, 17-6 vs. No. 19 Tommy Askey (APP)
Consis. Rd. 1: W-TF, 20-4 (5:00) vs. No. 30 Colton Washleski (RID)
Consis. Rd. 2: L-D, 14-3 vs. No. 13 Michael Blockhus (MINN)

165: No. 4 David Carr – Champion (22.5 Pts.)
First Round: W-TF, 18-2 (4:52) vs. No. 29 Evan Maag (GMU)
Second Round: W-MD, 10-1 vs. No. 20 Hunter Garvin (STAN)
Quarterfinals: W-D, 5-0 vs. No. 5 Dean Hamiti (WIS)
Semifinals: W-D, 8-6 vs. No. 1 Keegan O’Toole (MIZ)
Finals: W-D, 9-8 vs. No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU)

174: No. 15 MJ Gaitan – DNP (4.5 Pts.)
First Round: L-D, 18-11 vs. No. 18 Benjamin Pasiuk (ARMY)
Consis. Rd. 1: WBF (4:11) vs. No. 31 Michael Wilson (RID)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-MD, 14-4 vs. No. 16 Jackson Turley (RUT)
Consis. Rd. 3: W-D, 13-8 vs. No. 8 Adam Kemp (POLY)
R12: L-D, 8-6 vs. No. 3 Edmond Ruth (ILL)

184: No. 17 Will Feldkamp - DNP (4.5 Pts.)
First Round: WBF (2:29) vs. No. 16 Nate Dugan (PRIN)
Second Round: L-TF, 19-4 (6:52) vs. No. 1 Parker Keckeisen (UNI)
Consis. Rd. 2: W-MD, 15-5 vs. No. 15 Reece Heller (PITT)
Consis. Rd. 3: L-D, 4-2 vs. No. 10 Dylan Fishback (NCST)

285: No. 2 Yonger Bastida – DNP (5.5 Pts.)
First Round: WBF (1:50) vs. No. 31 Bennett Tabor (MINN)
Second Round: W-TF, 20-5 (6:20) vs. No. 15 Lewis Fernandes (CORN)
Quarterfinals: L-D, 6-4 vs. No. 10 Lucas Davison (MICH)
R12: L-D, 8-3 vs. No. 13 Yaraslau Slavikouski (RUT)

HAHAHAHA- and a hok fan warned that they will not like this post.

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Milwaukee Alumni Association gamewatch at McGillicuddy's at 5PM tonight. Wife and I went on Thursday and it was awesome. Going again tonight. Private upstairs bar just for area Clones.

1135 N Water St, Milwaukee