Every year, college sports columnist Pat Forde makes a “dream/nightmare” scenario for each NCAA tournament team. Usually these are in good fun, but for whatever reason, he has it in for the city of Ames.
This year, in the best case for Iowa State, the Cyclones win a national championship(!)* and Ames “is so grateful it devotes millions to making itself less dismal.” In the worst case, a loss in the first round**, “Ames will remain dismal for the foreseeable future.” He did miss a couple things that would truly make it a worst-case scenario, though: Kansas winning a national championship over Greg and Doug McDermott’s Creighton team.
Forde also slighted Ames two years ago in his best/worst list.
*We have a 1-2% statistically significant chance!
**I will NOT bow to the Orwellian “second/third round” gibberish. Look, NCAA, you officially call it the “Round of 64/32” with the play-in games always called “First Four” and no harm no foul. But implying that 60 teams get byes is ridiculous.