SHOP IOWA NATIONAL COLLECTION
In the heart of Ames, IA, the basketball symphony reaches its crescendo. The Iowa State Cyclones, once in the national spotlight, have emerged as a legitimate force, their passion focused on college basketball’s highest honor, the national championship. While every team in the country begins the season with the dream 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 have the means to make it a reality. what do you do. Organized by head coach TJ Otzelberger, this year’s squad embodies a culture of stability, friendship, resilience, discipline, authenticity and most of all, confidence. But to understand how this year’s Cyclones have reached such a high point, you have to first understand where they’ve been.
Last year’s Cyclones won the team’s most conference games since 2001, finished second in the Big 12 standings and capped it all with a victory over then-No.1 Houston Cougars in the Big 12 Tournament Championship. Then came the NCAA Tournament. They would make light work of their first two opponents, before losing to Illinois in the Sweet Sixteen. Alas, it was back to the drawing board.
The scars of last season’s sudden exit from the Tournament still remain. For many, such a setback would be a sign of decline, but not for Iowa State. Under the watchful eye of coach Otzelberger, the Cyclones turned disappointment into a silver lining. Every summer, every season of the film, was filled with one goal: to go back. 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. Fortunately for Iowa State, they are led by two killers in Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert, who appear to be one of the best frontcourts in the nation.
Jones, a native of Minnesota, is the epitome of what the Iowa State program stands for. The 6-4 do-it-all forward has the ability to put the ball in the rim with his feathery touch and plays with an infectious joy and spirit throughout the team. He did not have a single offer coming out of high school and would eventually begin his college career at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, IA. After one outstanding season, he would take his talents to the University of Buffalo, where he would play for two years, en route to becoming an All-MAC player, before transferring to Iowa State last year.
Jones’ linebacker, Gilbert, was also underrated coming out of high school, and was ranked as a 3-star recruit. He enjoyed some success in two years at UNLV and will enter the transfer portal after the ’23 season and become a Cyclone. The 6-4 guard made his impact felt right away in his first season in Ames, leading the team in scoring on his way to several accolades: Second Team All-Big 12, First Team Big 12 All-Tournament Team and Big. 12 Championship MVPs. Simply put, he is the engine that makes this team go.
Along with Jones and Gilbert, this year’s team had several key pieces back from last year’s Sweet Sixteen team—their All-Big 12 junior guard Tamin Lipsey, and their sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic, who earned a spot in the Big 12 Championship. All Tournament Team. This year’s roster also saw another talented transfer class in the fold: former All-Missouri Valley guard Nate Heise (Northern Iowa), Joshua Jefferson (St. Mary’s), Brandton Chatfield (Seattle) and Dishon Jackson (Charlotte).
We’re halfway through the season with conference play going well, and Iowa State has been pretty good. And if you don’t believe me, just ask Baylor’s Hall of Fame coach, Scott Drew, who recently called them “one of the two best teams in the country” after the loss to the Cyclones.
AP polls are like that slowly less generous; as we will publish today, the AP Top 25 poll ranked Iowa State third. Yet somehow, the Cyclones still seem to be flying under the radar.
“That has been a burden on our shoulders since before we got here. I don’t feel like myself either [Jones] we have received the respect we deserve,” said Gilbert. “But that’s an extra motivation. That puts more fuel in the tank, and adds more fuel to the fire. So, it is what it is. “
“You get recognition when you win,” Jones said. “Whatever comes with winning, we will take it. We’re not really there to get respect, but that’s what comes with it.”
If anyone was surprised by his dominance, you can bet it wasn’t someone in his locker room. They expected this.
“Coming into this season, we knew how good we could be. Keshon and I always talked about what we were going to do and what we felt we could do,” said Jones. “The results are coming now, but it all started because of how last year ended. We got to it this year; we already knew what it was.”
And if you let them tell you, they’re just starting to scratch their power. Never mind convincingly winning most of their games so far by double digits.
“We’re not even playing as well as we can. I would say we are playing well, we are playing strongly, but we still have to improve. And that’s exciting, because we’ve been winning easily. But we have room for improvement, even on that. And that’s what great teams do. They find where they can improve and not just be satisfied with winning games. “We won the last one by 20 points, but we want to make it 30,” Jones said.
It’s not easy to envision Iowa State pulling off a few more 30-point wins before the season is over. Well, quite a few More A 30 point win I must say. They won a few at least That’s a lot on their first non-conference slate, which shows the Cyclones aren’t messing around with their food. They know what’s at stake, and they’ll accept whatever it takes to reach their big natty goal. Not a single moment can be taken for granted when they try to do something that has never been done in the history of the show. If we talk like this: Gilbert and Jones said they can’t even think of a time when coach Otzelberger even mentioned the Big 12 Championship, let alone the national championship; he makes a point of taking it game by game, brick by brick.
The star backcourt makes it clear that they keep “the main thing.” They embrace the idea that their personal goals will be more easily attainable if they care about winning first.
Every team that has climbed that level as the last team standing has at least one thing in common: they run I was work, not far from it. In that regard, Iowa State’s program, aided by coach Otzelberger, is on track. And we know the old saying: Nothing worth having comes easily.
“I’m not going to lie, Iowa State is not for everybody—if you don’t really like the game of basketball, you’re not going to like it. You won’t be good here, because basketball is perfect,” said Gilbert. “We’re working hard as hell, so we know everything’s going to be okay.”
Photos by Matthew Coughlin.
