I don't know if this has ever happened. If it has, it can't have happened very often. Tonight two Iowa State teams will take on the #1 team in their respective sports.
At 6:30 pm on CyclonesTV, the Iowa State women's gymnastics team will take on #1 Oklahoma. And later at 8:00 pm on FS1, the Iowa State women's basketball team will take on #1 Baylor.
Upending Oklahoma isn't likely to happen, but gymnastics is really not so much a battle against an opponent, but rather a battle to maximize your score. I've always set a target of 196.000 for a measure of goodness of our gymnastics team. That means you must average 9.800 for every scored routine in every event (allowing for the fact that the lowest score in each event is thrown out). 196.00 is very good and probably about top 25 class. But for Oklahoma, that would be a huge disappointment. They are as close to perfection as a college team can get. They would probably set their bar at 198.000, which is a 9.900 average per scored routine. Their lowest team score of the year has been 197.000, with a high of 198.325. Iowa State's scores have ranged from a low of 193.575 to a high of 196.700. Part of the issue for Iowa State is the number of young gymnasts on the team. It has taken some time to find the rotation, but we have had some very encouraging results at times. There were some key injuries that kept a couple of promising freshman out for the year. The bottom line is that tonight, watch the score and cheer for that 196.000 performance. At the same time admire the excellence that Oklahoma has achieved.
Not much needs to be said about the basketball game against Baylor. This is going to be a tough game. It will require a near perfect game to beat Baylor. As Bill Fennelly says, you don't have to beat them in a best of seven series. It is one game and with that any outcome can happen. Something to watch is Bridget nearing in on the all time Iowa State scoring record for a career. I believe she is now 75 points behind Angie Welle. Baylor will try to shut her down, so she has a lot of work to do to get the record. It may take winning the first two games in the NCAA to have enough opportunities to get there. But first things first. Let's take Baylor down to the wire and see if they choke.
At 6:30 pm on CyclonesTV, the Iowa State women's gymnastics team will take on #1 Oklahoma. And later at 8:00 pm on FS1, the Iowa State women's basketball team will take on #1 Baylor.
Upending Oklahoma isn't likely to happen, but gymnastics is really not so much a battle against an opponent, but rather a battle to maximize your score. I've always set a target of 196.000 for a measure of goodness of our gymnastics team. That means you must average 9.800 for every scored routine in every event (allowing for the fact that the lowest score in each event is thrown out). 196.00 is very good and probably about top 25 class. But for Oklahoma, that would be a huge disappointment. They are as close to perfection as a college team can get. They would probably set their bar at 198.000, which is a 9.900 average per scored routine. Their lowest team score of the year has been 197.000, with a high of 198.325. Iowa State's scores have ranged from a low of 193.575 to a high of 196.700. Part of the issue for Iowa State is the number of young gymnasts on the team. It has taken some time to find the rotation, but we have had some very encouraging results at times. There were some key injuries that kept a couple of promising freshman out for the year. The bottom line is that tonight, watch the score and cheer for that 196.000 performance. At the same time admire the excellence that Oklahoma has achieved.
Not much needs to be said about the basketball game against Baylor. This is going to be a tough game. It will require a near perfect game to beat Baylor. As Bill Fennelly says, you don't have to beat them in a best of seven series. It is one game and with that any outcome can happen. Something to watch is Bridget nearing in on the all time Iowa State scoring record for a career. I believe she is now 75 points behind Angie Welle. Baylor will try to shut her down, so she has a lot of work to do to get the record. It may take winning the first two games in the NCAA to have enough opportunities to get there. But first things first. Let's take Baylor down to the wire and see if they choke.
