My travels will take me the short distance to Wells Fargo Arena tonight to watch former Iowa State backcourt member Izaiah Brockington in action for the Birmingham Squadron of the G-League in action against the Iowa Wolves. I'll be interested to see how he looks so soon into his return from a torn ACL that cost him some valuable offseason opportunities coming out of ISU and into the professional ranks. I believe he's only played in one game with the New Orleans Pelicans affiliate after being cleared to return.

Wordle 642 2/6

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This is embarrassing.

For years, I've just listened to music -- usually via my car audio system -- by summoning Siri and telling her to play Everlys or Seger or Lightfoot or whatever album I want to hear. So I did it the other day, and Siri said I need an app.

I don't think I deleted or otherwise changed anything.

What app was playing before? Do I still have the albums I bought?

94 to 47.

I am a bit surprised.

KC Current is the up and coming team in the NWSL. Finished dead last their first year, made the playoffs their second, going all the way to the championship game. Coached by former OU coach Matt Potter, the organization is building the first stadium for women’s pro soccer. It is being built overlooking the river in Downtown KC. Patrick Mahomes and his wife are part of the ownership group.

She is the third goalie, but with starter A.D. Franch likely to be on the US World Cup team this summer, she may get some playing time. Here’s a brief write-up from the KC Star:

Jordan Silkowitz, No. 29: goalkeeper

The Virginia native is the first player drafted into the NWSL in Iowa State history. She’s a more modern goalkeeper who models her game after German men’s star Manuel Neuer. What does that mean? She flies off her line to close down space and is very comfortable with the ball at her feet. She is fifth all-time in saves at Iowa State, with 324.

Obviously, there's much improvement to be made here, but Iowa State has continuity at the top with position coach Mouser returning and guys with valuable experience back. Plus, maybe guys like Keller or Burkle will be ready to roll on Saturdays.

LINK

Ohio State earned a fourth place finish in Tulsa this past weekend with three top 8 seeds going in, while Iowa State was 11th with 4 top 8 seeds entering the tournament. How did the Buckeyes hoist a trophy while ISU has now gone 13 years without even a top-10 finish in a storied progam with 8 national championships, 17 runnerup finishes and 45 team trophies?

It's by overperforming on the backside and blood round. Case in point: 13 seed Jesse Mendez at 133 lost his second round match but rallied with a fall and three straight OT tiebreaker wins to earn All America status and eventually a 6th place.

The other example is 17 seed Dylan
D' Emilio at 141, who also lost round two, but then won three straight on the backside including a tiebreaker in the blood round. He finished 8th. 2nd seed Sasso was runnerup at 149, Sixth seed Ethan Smith was 7th at 174 and 6 seed Kaleb Romero 3rd at 184 after losing in the Quarterfinals. That's how Ohio State claimed 4th.

Meanwhie, ISU's Paniro Johnson as a 5 seed lost his second round match to 12 seed Van Ness of Penn State then was quickly eliminated in the wrestleback 3-2 to the 11 seed.

8 seed Sam Schuyler at HWT lost in the blood round in OT sudden victory to the 11 seed.

Although Casey Swiderski at 141 was seeded 24, he made it to the blood round and was leading the match late before he was thrown to his back and pinned by the 12 seed.

Bottom line is we had our chances to really make hay and place ourselves in trophy contention but just couldn't get it done while Ohio State maximized their opportunites. We didn't see a first day calamity like last year in Detroit, but still a disappointing result given the competiveness they showed at times during the regular season.

Anyone watching this chaos? From stable bank to receivership in a week, basically due to rumors. Anyone using Rippling for their payroll services has a headache today as SVB was Rippling's primary processing bank.

I have lived in Denver for 40 years during that time I have tried to take an interest in CU athletics but have not been able to connect. CU is an arrogant university, culturally and and athletically (think Iowa). For all the years they were in the Big 8 / Big 12 CU looked down on the Midwest culture and genuinely believed they deserved better. They always felt they had more in common with the PAC schools. One university president that I knew felt the move to the PAC allowed CU to align with institutions they had more in common with academically and culturally. I do not believe they have changed their opinion about the Midwest and Southern schools in the Big 12 and any move they would make would only be because of the sinking ship they signed up for. In the meantime, I have watched the state of Colorado lurch to the far left. The state has become a California wanna be. I haven't checked what kind of TV ratings the football and basketball generate but it is low. I can tell you the local news can go for weeks without mention of them. Of course the new football coach hire has created some buzz. It remains to be see if it is a temporary blip or if it will move the needle permanently. I am skeptical.

At $11M/yr

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With men's basketball season coming to an abrupt end on Friday, let's shift gears and look ahead to Iowa State spring practice, which begins this Thursday. Here's a look at the quarterback group, which is heading into the spring very thin in numbers with preferred walk-on Ashton Cook retiring in the offseason due to a shoulder injury.

LINK

ESPN has a mock WNBA draft with Soares going 4th and Ashley going 10th. Not sure how accurate this will turn out, but it would be good publicity for the program.

Half the front page and a huge photo marking the win over 10 seed Georgia.....and this is the real front page, not the front page of the sports section. They REALLYwent nuts in the sports section.
Makes no sense. It wasn’t an upset and I think it’s the third time in four years they have made the sweet sixteen.
When I saw it, I assumed there was a transgender angle, as that is the paper’s obsession these days. But no.
Seriously, it was what you would expect to see after a national championship.

165 years young today. March 22, 1858.

41 points in 40 minutes. Seriously?

Now this is really crazy and probably the best team performance in ISU history.

The women just set the all time 54 hole scoring record at 60 under par. They beat the previous record by 10 strokes. 2nd place Ohio State was 34 strokes behind. This was at mountain view CC near Tuscon collegiate with probably 25 teams there. Their team score on their final round today was 29 under par.

As a golfer, it doesn't even make sense to me.

That Xavier is taking Pittsburgh to the woodshed today? I’m not. That’s how f’in bad we were Friday. We made a play-in team look all world. SMH.

Des Moines Register Article:

We knew T.J. Otzelberger could recruit. As an assistant, he helped lure some of the finest men’s basketball talent Iowa State has seen. Georges Niang, Abdel Nader, Matt Thomas, and Naz Mitrou-Long. Wesley Johnson played while Otzelberger was an assistant. And Craig Brackins, too.

Don’t forget Diante Garrett, Scott Christopherson, Mike Taylor and Melvin Ejim. And if you need more, there’s Justin Hamilton, Chris Allen, Will Clyburn and Tyrus McGee.

Among others.

With the transfer portal anything is possible. Jerome Tang took over the KState
program in March after 10 years as a Baylor assistant. His first team meeting……..
2 players showed up. That is a rebuild

Just listened to a pod on CF with Blum talking about out NLI. What continues to shake me is our program (writ large) is openly discussing the cost to get a shooter in the portal to take a call from ISU.

Caveat RIGHT here - he is doing the lords work (I'd call it the DARK lord's work but...) and everyone else is already ahead of us (NOT because of him but because of us).

Blum (hope he pops over here to clarify my comments) said it's basically menu pricing for levels of players and for a shooter in the portal will cost us 6 figures just to get a look from those caliber of players.

What struck me is Blum said we will NEVER pay for players, but I'm unable to reconcile the current situation with that statement again referring to my caveat. I believe his statement is we won't pay a player to COME to ISU, but if a player COMES to ISU, we will pay him. I was a CPA for years and that reconciliation doesn't make sense.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I really want children - sorry different forum - I really want a top flight program but can't fathom the additional complexities TJ has to go through JUST to give us a look...

I'm old and once again understanding how programs like ours are at best in the wind hoping for a charitable puff from the winds of money.