There is a debate to be made whether the Iowa State Cyclones are a Cinderella team. While the Cyclones are a double-seed in the 2022 March Madness, they don’t seem to have the aura of anonymity, relatively speaking, that usually comes with a traditional Cinderella in the NCAA Tournament.
Click here to Bet $5, Win $150 in site credits regardless of if your bet wins or loses on March Madness (30-1 Odds)
*To claim, new users need to register, make a first-time deposit, and then simply place their first real-money wager on FanDuel Sportsbook on any March Madness game during the tournament. All winning bets will be fulfilled within 72 hours if they win.*
Cinderella isn’t a term normally associated with teams from any of the major conferences. Teams who wear glass slippers in March are those who are, as mentioned earlier, relative unknowns. They just show up in the NCAA Tournament like an uninvited person to a party, merely tagged along by a friend of the host. When you say Cinderalla this year, you’re probably just preempting an introduction to the St. Peter’s Peacocks, whose amazing run as a 15-seed has resulted in millions of crumpled March Madness brackets being thrown out the window. In Iowa State’s case, its league affiliation and the team’s considerable following shouldn’t take away its qualification as a Cinderella, especially when you consider how far back this team has come from a disastrous 2020-21 season to a surprising ascent back to respectability in 2021-22.
We are talking about the 2020-21 NCAA season here which can be remembered by the Cyclones in a number of ways. Among these is that it’s Steve Prohm’s final season as head coach of the basketball program. The reason for which Prohm was fired was simple: the Cyclones went full 2016 Cleveland Browns in Big 12 play. Not much was expected of the Cyclones in 2020-21 but winning just two games overall and going 0-18 against Big 12 teams were way worse than most people’s worst projections.
Getting the program up from a debacle like that was not going to be an easy task for Prohm’s replacement, particularly since the Big 12 is a dog-eat-dog world. That replacement turned out to be TJ Otzelberger, well-liked in the Cyclones community, but not exactly the kind of hire that inspires a ton of confidence. Well, look at where the Cyclones are right now in just Otzelberger’s first season as the team’s bench boss – in the Sweet Sixteen with a clear shot of making the Elite Eight, as Iowa State will be battling another double-digit seed in that round in the form of the Miami Hurricanes.
The Canes might also be another Cinderella hiding in plain sight, but they have a proven head coach in Jim Larranaga and did not have the kind of embarrassing 2021-22 season that Iowa State had.
The unexpected rise in 2021-22
With a new head coach and a roster that lost so much talent over the offseason, the Cyclones once again received gloomy projections, with some saying the team would finish last in the Big 12. (Not really a shocker after laying a big fat egg a season prior in league play.) All five starters this season were not even in Ames last season. But those starters turned out to be ready to step up and deliver for Otzelberger. Leading the pack is Big Ten transfer Izaiah Brockington, who came from the Penn State Nittany Lions program. Brockington made so big an impact right away that he got awarded the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Coming along with Brockington from the Big Ten also was Gabe Kalscheur, who’s become a major contributor to the team. And then there’s Iowa State recruit and freshman Tyrese Hunter, who just won the Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors.
The Cyclones opened the season with an 84-73 win over the Kennesaw State Owls at home, which wasn’t really a huge victory but winning his first game as head coach of Iowa State mattered a lot to Otzelberger. Then the Cyclones went on to win 11 straight non-conference games, a hot start against a collection of teams with different Quadrant assignments, and that includes big wins over the likes of the Xavier Musketeers, Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers, Creighton Bluejays, and the biggest of them all – the Iowa Hawkeyes, whom Iowa State beat by 20 points. At that point, the Cyclones. But it was after their win against Memphis where people started to notice Iowa State as it was following that victory that the Cyclones cracked the Top 25.
Big 12 play was a much different story for the Cyclones, as they got served with several doses of reality against the competition there. Iowa State finished with a 7-11 conference record, a losing one, but a seven-win improvement nonetheless.
The Cyclones did get enough quality wins to warrant an entry to the Big Dance as an at-large berth, and much of the credit should go to Otzelberger. To be more precise, the Cyclones rode the success of their defense which is one of the best in the nation. Per KenPom , the Cyclones are fifth overall in adjusted defensive efficiency, allowing just 88.7 points per 100 possessions. So far in the tournament so far, both victims of the Cyclones in the first (LSU Tigers) and second round (Wisconsin Badgers) failed to post a higher effective field percentage than 41% . LSU and Wisconsin also combined for 35 turnovers in those games, which just goes to show how dangerous Iowa State is.
21+ and present in AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, LA, MI, NY, NJ, PA, TN, VA, or WV. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as nonwithdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA, IL, VA), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or visit www.1800gambler.net (WV).