It's that time of year when we turn our attention from our alma mater's struggling football team (despite the nice win last weekend over K-State) to the hardwood floors. College basketball season is officially upon us with last night's start of the Coaches vs. Cancer classic. In the first game of the season, those pesky Richmond Spiders downed Maine in a 44-42 shootout. Their reward? A matchup with #3 Memphis. I wish I got ESPNU. It seems like there hasn't been nearly as much college basketball on TV since ESPN signed a deal with the NBA.
My Iowa State Cyclones start their official season this Friday (they've already won two exhibition games, destroying the University of Dubuque and sneaking by the EA All-Stars) with their own Cyclone Challenge, in which they invite three of the worst teams in the nation to Ames in order to pick on them. This year the opposition consists of Winston-Salem State (a 2nd year Division I program), Centenary, and Lipscomb. They ranked 304, 294, and 179 respectively in last year's RPI ratings (out of 336 schools).
Going to Hilton Coliseum with my friends is one of the things I miss most about college, especially the Cyclone Challenge. We used to go to the early games that didn't involve Iowa State and pick a random team to root for. Traditionally, less than 100 people show up for those games as they're during dinner and no one cares about the teams, so we found that if you're really loud you can make a real impact on the game.
One year we made signs for a bunch of SW Texas State players (mine ended up becoming an Indiana Pacer). Another year, the North Texas coaching staff offered us free beer if we could cheer them on to victory (they lost). Other times, teams would go from hearing our cheers one day to our derisive jeers the next when they faced off against the Cyclones (Boney Watson, anyone?) If I were there this year, I think we'd definitely have to pick Centenary. Gentlemen beat anyone who thinks that the correct pluralization of Bison is Bisons any day.
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Ah yes, those were great times..."Foster: Austrialian for #34" was a classic sign (written on a dominoe's pizza box if I remember correctly). It was fun to watch what Foster went on to do, but I wonder what ever happened to the guy we labeled Skunk?
I'm debating whether I should fork up the money to continue with the clone zone and be able to watch these upcoming bball games. I'm only seeing an option to get the year pass, whereas before I had only paid for a month. Hmm...
Anywhoo...I'll join you in cheering on the Gents.
Yeah, I've been debating for awhile whether to start getting the Clone Zone again or not. I was a subscriber right when it first started, but didn't use it as much as I thought I might and the price has only gone up since then.
Now that I have wireless and could bring Iowa State goodness with me throughout the house, it seems a little more enticing. I'm not very big on paying for internet content, though. It should at least be complimentary if you support the Nat'l Cyclone Club.
Even I remember cheering for Foster! Can't say I've thought about it in years though. Kate does get pretty excited about all kinds of sports (her dad is happy to note that she's says "Go Huskers" no matter what shape the ball). :)
I think I only made it to one of those Cylone Challenge games, and just remember we ended up supporting a school who I think may have been a historically black school, leading to a whole lot of their minority fan base who showed up looking at us like we were crazy when we started cheering for their team.
remember- "Don't shoot the messenger!" "I'm Just the Messenger!"
Happy Thanksgiving, Brian. Kind of unusual for Detroit and Green Bay to have meaningful games this late in the season. Should be a good one tomorrow!
Wow! People are coming out of the woodwork, I'd better start posting again. Hi Abbie!
Packers-Lions was meaningful, yes. Fun to watch? Not so much. Maybe Detroit will actually be competitive with good teams sometime soon.
To follow up on this post, the Cyclones won their challenge (beating the Gents) which put them in first place in the RPI (which is always meaningful in early November). Of course, they lost three straight games after that to real competition dropping them out of the top 100... 2nd worst in the Big 12.
We'll see how they hold up once we enter conference play in January.
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