Let’s see what the Iowa ST Cyclones can do!
11/20: 1-1 start. Lost at Chi ST due to poor D. Won at home with great D. Pete Mell looks very good, and the frontcourt looks decent. Will Ely takes care of the ball at the Point, and he plays good D, but he’s not a scorer.
All 5 recruits sign. Still chasing one more.
12/4: 3-2. We need to develop an offense, #298 in PPG; fortunately we’re playing very good D to kind of compensate. I have a couple of guards I could give more minutes to, but I’m going to wait a little longer to see if we jell.
2 more games before we go to the Caribbean Classic.
12/15: 4-3 going to the Challenge. Scoring is the issue, #306. Pete Mell gets 17.3. Our two big guys get their share, 11.3, 9.4 for C Jeff Smol, and 10.9, 9.1 for PF Ata Raif, but little to no point production from the rest. We’re going to give Ree Stan some minutes at guard. Let’s see if he can help.
We’re the #2 seed in the Classic, but #7 Muncie is 7-1. Looks like it could be a tough game.
12/16: 64-44. Best defensive performance of a season filled with good D. 15, 10 for Raif, 11, 9 for Smol. They really focused on stopping Mell, but he had 13. SF Ed Hinn had perhaps his best game to date, 9 and 9, and very good D. Stan had 8, 3, 3 in the first game in which he got real minutes. 40 RBs, which is just about our average (40.6).
Undefeated, 3rd ranked Oregon ST, 8-0, in the semis. They have 2 players, their C and their SG. If our usually very good D can stop them, we’ll be fine.
12/17: 60-64. We stopped the C and the SG, but the bench did us in, 36, 13, 7 to 18, 6, 1. Frustrating.
12/25: 6-4, RPI #, going to Big 12 play. +5.3 PPG, +5.3 RBs, +2.5 TOs. Still only #290 in PPG, but #10 in PPG allowed, and #5 in RBs. Pete Mell gets 16.6. We’re going to try starting Ree Stan at the Point. He’s playing well. We’ll lose a little D, but gain some O and some ball handling.
The Mitchell Report states that steroid use is very widespread in baseball.