SHOP THE IOWA STATE COLLECTION!
A basketball symphony reaches its peak in the heart of Ames, N.Y. The Iowa Cyclones, long obscured from the national spotlight, have emerged as a legitimate force with their sights firmly set on college basketball’s highest honor, the national championship. Championship While every team in the country began the season with dreams of climbing the ladder and cutting down the nets in front of a sold-out crowd in San Antonio on April 7, Iowa State is on the short list of programs that actually have a chance, do it. Organized by head coach TJ Otzelberger, this year’s team embodies a culture of resilience, camaraderie, toughness, authenticity and above all, trust.But to understand how this year’s cyclones have peaked, you must first understand where they have been.
Last year’s Cyclones won the most conference games by a team since 2001, finished second in the Big 12 standings and capped it off by beating the then-No. 1 Houston Cougars in the Big 12 Tournament Championship. Then came the NCAA Tournament. They would make easy work of their first two opponents before losing to Illinois in the Sweet Sixteen.Alas, it was back to the drawing board.
The scars from last season’s exit still linger. To many, that kind of setback might be a sign of decline. Under Coach Otzelberger’s watchful eye, the Cyclones turned disappointment into silverware. Every summer practice was imbued with a singular goal: a comeback : And anyone who knows anything about college basketball knows this one thing. If you want to make a deep run with a chance to win it all, it starts with your guards.Luckily for Iowa State, they’re led by a killer pair of Curtis Jones and Keshawn Gilbert, who are proving to be one of the best backs in the country.
Jones, a Minnesota native, embodies what this Iowa program is all about. The 6-4 swingman has a knack for putting the ball at the rim and plays with an infectious joy and spirit that permeates the entire team didn’t have from high school and will finish his college career at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa.After one standout season, he his talents to the University at Buffalo, where he would play two years en route to becoming an All-MAC player before ultimately transferring to Iowa State last year.
Jones’ backcourt mate, Gilbert, was similarly underrated coming out of high school as a 3-star recruit.He had modest success in two years at UNLV and will also enter the transfer portal after the 2020 season as a 6-4 lead guard made his impact felt immediately in his first season at Ames, leading the team in scoring en route to several honors; 12 championship MVPs. Simply put, he is the engine that makes this team go forward.
Along with Jones and Gilbert, this year’s team returns several key pieces from last year’s Sweet Sixteen team: their All-Big 12 junior guard Tamin Lipps and sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic, who earned a spot on the Big 12 All-Tournament Team; Another talented transfer class also landed on this year’s roster: former Missouri Valley guard Nate Hayes (Northern Iowa), Joshua Jefferson (St. Marys), Brandton Chatfield (Seattle) and DeShawn Jackson (Charlotte).
We’re halfway through the season in conference play, and Iowa State has definitely excelled. And if you don’t believe me, just ask Baylor Hall of Fame coach Scott Drew, who recently called them “one of the top two teams in the country.” after the loss by the Cyclones.
AP polls are slightly less generous; As we go to press today, Iowa State is ranked third in the AP Top 25. Yet somehow, the Cyclones still seem to be flying under the radar.
“It’s been a chip on our shoulder since before we got here. I don’t feel like (Jones) ever got the recognition we deserve,” Gilbert says. “It’s just more motivation puts a lot of fuel in the tank and adds more fuel to the fire. So it is what it is.”
“You get recognition when you win,” Jones says. “Whatever comes with winning, we’re not really in it for the recognition, but that’s what it comes down to.”
If anyone was surprised by how dominant he was, you can bet it wasn’t anyone in his locker room. They were expecting this.
“Coming into this season, we knew how good we could be. Keshawn and I were always talking about what we were going to do and what we could do,” Jones said started because of how last year ended. We got right to it this year. we already knew what it was.”
And if you let them tell it, they’re just scratching the surface of their potential.Don’t forget that they’ve convincingly won most of their games by double digits so far.
“We’re not even playing our best. I’d say we’re playing well, but we still have to make improvements. And it’s exciting because we’re still winning, but we have room for improvement. even in that. And that’s what great teams do. They find where they can improve and not just settle for winning games. We’ve won the last two, but we want to make it 30.” says Jones.
It’s not far-fetched to envision Iowa State getting a few 30-point wins before the season is over. Well, a few more I should say 30-point victories. They had a handful of wins at least That much from their early non-conference slate shows that these Cyclones are not playing with their food could be accepted as they try to do something that has never been done in the history of the program. Gilbert and Jones said they can’t even think of Coach Otzelberger even mentioning the Big 12. championship, not to mention a national championship, he aims to take it game by game, brick by brick.
The star back makes it clear that they keep “the main thing first.” They embrace the idea that their personal goals will be much more easily achieved if they care about winning first.
Every team that has ever climbed that ladder as the last team has at least one thing in common. towards job, not far from it. In that sense, the Iowa State program led by Coach Otzelberger is well on its way. Nothing worth having comes easy.
“I’m not going to lie, Iowa State is not for everyone, if you don’t really like basketball, you’re not going to fit in because basketball is all there is,” Gilbert says so we know everything will fall into place.”
Portraits by Matthew Coughlin.
