The Cyclones are 14-9 (1-7) with a win over Baylor and losses at Northern Iowa and to Cal. The Cyclones return 2 starters from last season (a squad that posted a 15-17 overall record, including a 4-12 mark in the Big XII Conference). The Cyclones were projected to finish 12th in the Big XII Conference.
The Cyclones are lead by G's Diante Garrett, Scott Christopherson and Darion 'Jake' Anderson and F's Jamie Vanderbeken and Melvin Ejim. Garrett is averaging 18 points/game (leads the team), 4 rebounds/game and 6 assists/game (leads the team). Garrett's best season was last year, when he averaged 9 points on 44% shooting, including 35% from the three-point line while averaging 5 assists, with a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and 1 steal/game. This is to say he was better than about half the point guards in the Big 12 and worse than about half of them.
Christopherson is averaging 14 points/game, 3 rebounds/game and 2 assists/game. Christopherson is primarily an outside shooter who was the least offensively productive of Iowa State's starters last season. He has doubled his points production and added another rebound/game this season.
Anderson is averaging 12 points/game, 8 rebounds/game (leads the team) and 3 assists/game. Vanderbeken is averaging 11 points/game, 6 rebounds/game and 1 assist/game. Vanderbeeken missed all but 10 games because of injuries a year ago. He adds size to the team. The Cyclones have six players who are 6'8" or taller, but two are transfers, three are true freshmen and the other is Vanderbeeken.
Ejim is averaging 11 points/game, 7 rebounds/game and 1 assist/game. Ejim, a Rivals.com three-star recruit from Brewster (N.H.) Academy chose Iowa State over Boston College and Xavier, among others. Ejim was rated by ESPN.com as the No. 16 small forward in the 2010 class. He averaged 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists for a team that finished 34-4 and won the National Prep School Championship.
New Cyclones head coach Fred Hoiberg, who I'm old enough to remember see play
, has quite the rebuilding project on his hands. The Cyclones are looking to be competitive next year when they have a couple of transfers (Chris White from Minnesota and Chris Babb from Penn State) who will be eligible to play. The Cyclones are a team that went into the season with the goal of making any type of postseason appearance. Their non conference schedule wasn't particularly difficult (they picked up some gimme wins over Iowa and Virginia and they did have a surprising win over Creighton) and they still have a couple of home games vs. Nebraska and Colorado that could put them on the postseason bubble. Hopefully they don't have a shocking win, like either of their two games vs. KSU, to add to their resume as well. It would be unfortunate to give back some of the momentum that the Cats gained last night. The Cats SHOULD win this game.
