Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

March 17, 2012: Aplington-Parkersburg’s Chelsea Poppens, center, has been a core member of the ISU women’s basketball team. She will be missed. 

The basketball gods have come up with a new way to taunt Iowa State: Plunge into a deep deficit in the second half, mount a spectacular comeback that puts ISU in the lead late and gives fans a glimmer of hope, and then … BOOM. It happened twice within 36 hours.

It’s uncanny, really. With 6 minutes left to go in the men’s game against Ohio State, ISU was down by 13 and Melvin Ejim had twice missed the front end of one-and-ones. With 7 minutes left in the second half of the women’s game against Georgia, ISU was down by 10 and Chelsea Poppens had been called for a foul resulting in a turnover for a second time in a row.

The women climbed back from a total of 14 points down after a miserable start to the second half, getting outscored 19-5 in 11 minutes and 23 seconds, then outscoring Georgia 19-1 in the next 6:05, then giving up two quick Bulldog 3s. Similarly, the men’s run was 19-5 until Will Clyburn was called for the charge that wasn’t. In both cases, the end of the run had Iowa State ahead by 1 — ISU 75, OSU 74 (1:41 remaining); ISU 59, Georgia 58 (1:17 remaining).

The only difference in the last minute was that the women’s game ended in familiar fashion — lose lead, foul, free throws, miss shots, foul, free throws, game over — and the men’s game ended … that way. (Since it’s going to be played from now to eternity, I just wish it had been a true buzzer beater.) The only saving grace is that the men’s comeback over Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament didn’t end the same way, since that was crucial in earning an at-large bid.

Links: ISU-centric AP story; Georgia-centric AP story; Des Moines Register story; and an ESPN piece about a “Big day for Big 12” because both Kansas and Oklahoma pulled off upsets. Kansas is in the Sweet 16 as a double-digit seed for the second year in a row. Unfortunately, the Cyclones are left out of the party.

Georgia has now defeated Bill Fennelly in the NCAA Tournament three times. The Bulldogs set their season record for 3-point shots Monday, with 12, after averaging 4.4 a game.

Both teams showed tremendous fight during the regular season and into the postseason. Congratulations to the teams and especially the seniors.

Ohio State 78, Iowa State 75. ISU had a 13-point comeback and played the entire second half without Chris Babb.

Register link. Gazette link.

I know games like this don’t happen just to Iowa State, but they always happen to Iowa State. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Michigan State game and the blarge. Tom Izzo has acknowledged that game as being the de facto championship in the 2000 tournament.

UPDATE: Nominee for the most ill-timed sports tweet of the year, and the follow-up three minutes later:
Mike Hlas @Hlas
Iowa State cannot say the officiating hurt it today.

OK, for 38.5 minutes Iowa State cannot say officiating hurt it today.

This writeup from Rush the Court is a good exploration of the “big picture implications” of the loss on the ISU program.

In the end, a team predicted to finish eighth in the Big 12 finished fifth and then took the second-place team in the Big Ten down to the wire. ISU was one of the 32 best teams in the country, and we can be proud of that much.

The Iowa State women won their road game at Gonzaga despite committing 21 turnovers. The next game will be against Georgia, which clubbed the Cyclones by 20 in the second round in Minneapolis in 2007.

Two years in a row, the Kansas women’s basketball team barely made it into the NCAA Tournament. Two years in a row, the first opponent was a former member of the Big 8/12. Last year it was Nebraska, and the Jayhawks won. This year, it was Colorado in Boulder, and the Jayhawks won.

After routing, stomping, dispatching, and drilling/pummeling Notre Dame 76-58 in the late game in Dayton, Iowa State will play Ohio State in the first game of Sunday’s NCAA Tournament action, at 11:15 CDT — about 36 hours after the first game ended.

A 28-hour turnaround in the Big 12 Tournament last week didn’t go well.

This will be the fourth time in five appearances that Iowa State has encountered an opponent in its home state. The outlier was the 2001 loss to Hampton in Boise.

• 2000 Elite Eight, Michigan State in Auburn Hills (MSU won title)
• 2005 second round, North Carolina in Charlotte (NC won title)
• 2012 second round, Kentucky in Louisville (UK won title)
• 2013 second round, Ohio State in Dayton (????)

In addition, the ISU women are playing a road game at Gonzaga this afternoon.

If Notre Dame wins tonight, they would be the low seed against Ohio State, and would have to wear these.

A vote for Cy is a vote against neon Zubaz. Tip-off for the FIRST ROUND game is 8:45 PM. (Emphasis intentionally added.)

The “bracket challenge” on the site of the TV network in charge of the tournament says this:

Iowa State is making back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time since the mid-1990’s, back when coach Fred Hoiberg was a star Cyclones player. ISU will be trying to better its Round of 32 exit a year ago, and Utah transfer and swingman Will Clyburn (15.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg) will help to fuel that effort along with guard Korie Lucious (9.9 ppg, 5.7 apg), who played in two Final Fours with Michigan State.

Iowa State played in the 2000 and 2001 tournaments. It’s just that “played” is a strong word for the latter.

Good news: 5 seed. Bad news: It will be a true road game in Spokane against 12-seed Gonzaga.

The last time this happened, it didn’t go well for the Iowa women, who became an upset victim.