It didn’t take long for the Iowa State Cyclones to get humbled in the Big 12 this season. When conference play began, the Cyclones jumped inside the top five in the AP Top 25 poll. They’ve since fallen to just inside the top 10.
But their rankings and subsequently sliding down the rankings only tell part of the story. When you look at how things have gone for them as of late, they’ve lost the two games, one of which was to a bottom-feeder in the Big 12.
On top of that, they haven’t actually beaten a tournament-bound team in nearly two months. Iowa State’s game against Arizona on Saturday couldn’t be more important for the simple fact that it could be what differentiates them between contenders and pretenders.
Even in a Big 12 that has just a handful of good teams, they haven’t quite separated themselves from the pack. Texas Tech has looked solid after losing in overtime to Iowa State, Houston has continued its dominance and now Arizona is looking to beef up its NCAA Tournament resumé.
Iowa State needs a win Saturday if nothing more to prove they can beat good teams and not just skate by the mediocre ones.
Ahead of NCAA Tournament, Iowa State needs monumental statement over Arizona
Early on in the season, Iowa State proved it could be a team that could make some noise in the NCAA Tournament. The problem is, once conference play began, they kind of tapered off a bit. While they do have five Quad 1 wins, only Kansas, Marquette and Texas Tech are currently predicted to make the field of 68.
And all of their Quad 1 losses are to teams that are projected to get into the NCAA Tournament. The Cyclones are a team that has proved they can win, but they can’t quite win the games that matter.
This is why they need to beat Arizona. Not only would it give them another Quad 1 win and bump them to over .500 against Quad 1 opponents, but it’s a resume-boosting win. The committee can look back and say, while they struggled in games maybe they shouldn’t have, they won at the right time.
Of course, the Big 12 tournament is going to help them in the sense that they’ll not only get to add more solid wins but also get to generate some momentum ahead of the tournament.
Right now, ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi has Iowa State projected as a No. 2 seed. While that’s good, there’s also no confidence the Cyclones can go on a deep tournament run. Per Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, the Cyclones are in the same region as Kentucky, Marquette, Michigan, Auburn, Illinois and Vanderbilt.
Nothing about their current resume instills confidence that they can beat any of those teams. That could change with a win on Saturday night.