I realize some thought Iowa State was an overachiever last season as opposed to legitimately one of the sport’s best teams — but it’s getting harder and harder to hold on to that opinion. After the Cyclones went 10-1 in the non-league portion of their schedule, they opened Big 12 play Monday night with a 79-69 victory at Colorado to improve to 11-1 and extend their winning streak to eight games.
At some point, you have to believe what you’re watching.
And what you’re watching — what we’re all watching — is a program that went 29-8 last season, received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16. Then, the top four scorers from that team decided to return. Now the Cyclones are 11-1 with three Quadrant 1 victories and sitting at No. 3 in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
ISU’s only loss?
That’s an 83-81 neutral-court defeat to Auburn in the opening round of the Maui Invitational. Put another way: Iowa State’s only loss is a two-point loss to an Auburn team that’s No. 1 in most computers and No. 2 in the Top 25 And 1 behind only No. 1 Tennessee.
And how about TJ Otzelberger?
I noted in an offseason episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast how, crazy as it sounds, Otzelberger is already kinda on pace to maybe go down in history as the best coach in Iowa State history. In three years, Otzelberger has made three NCAA Tournaments and advanced to the Sweet 16 twice. If that doesn’t sound like much, I get it. But what that does mean is that Otzelberger has already taken the Cyclones to more Sweet 16s than any other coach in program history, the great Johnny Orr included.
Now, quite clearly, Otzelberger has another team that’s good enough to get there again — and, this time, go even further.