Iowa

Moore: Who's the Big 12 bully now? It's Iowa State and its unflappable coach

Published

2 months ago

March 17, 2024

Moore: Who's the Big 12 bully now? It's Iowa State and its unflappable coach

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Iowa State’s players backpedaled on defense, coach T.J. Otzelberger — arms crossed, per usual — shouted, “Get a stop!” His team was up by 24 points with eight and a half minutes left.

Otzelberger’s pulse in Saturday’s Big 12 tournament final against the nation’s No. 1 team seemed as steady as his Cyclones. No nerves. No panic. Just relentless execution on the way to giving legendary coach Kelvin Sampson his worst loss in 10 seasons at Houston, 69-41.

For most of the season, Houston’s defense has been the bogeyman. Big men would catch the ball around the rim against the Cougars, just assume someone was coming to block their shot and miss bunnies. Perimeter players would have space and give a half-second of hesitation to allow Houston to get back in the play. It’s why the Cougars have had the best defensive metrics all season.

Until now.

The Cyclones enter the NCAA Tournament with the best defense in the country, a healthy roster and looking like the Big 12 team most equipped to go on a run. Maybe they’ll even sneak onto the No. 1 line.

It will not matter where you send the Cyclones or what the challenge will be. Otzelberger’s players will be in line, following orders precisely with no egos and no agendas.

Over three days in Kansas City, the Cyclones had three different leading scorers — led by bigs Robert Jones (18) and Tre King (16) in the quarterfinals against Kansas State, then guard Keshon Gilbert (20) in the semis against Baylor and freshman Milan Momcilovic (18) in the finals.

“We’ve had great offensive balance, and it’s not necessarily because it’s by design,” Otzelberger said. “It’s just our guys really don’t care what the right play is. They just want to make it.”

“There’s a lot of people on this team that they would prefer to even get an assist as opposed to getting a bucket,” said Jones, who had just two points and didn’t seem to mind one bit.

Playing against Houston’s suffocating pressure and ball-screen traps for the third time this season, the Iowa State coaches leaned into that unselfishness. They told their guards not to hold onto the ball too long, because that’s when the Cougars swallow you up. They needed to get it out quickly.

“We learned especially after the second game, when the ball stops moving for us, they’re able to get in and really pressure us and dictate what we’re doing,” said ISU assistant Nate Schmidt, who serves as one of the team’s offensive coordinators. “I think part of it for us is our defense. We pressure and dictate so much that we’ve been seeing it since June.”

A month ago in the loss at Houston, the Cyclones had 16 turnovers. This time around, Houston dictated nothing.

The Cyclones had only nine turnovers. The ball had eyes, always finding the open man.

Houston is usually flawless in knowing who is supposed to take the roller and who is zoning up away from the ball. It’s why the Cougars usually recover so quickly. But Iowa State’s off-ball screening and movement left the Cougars pointing fingers at one another and led to some easy buckets, where there was someone at the rim unmarked.

And by not having live-ball turnovers, the Cyclones kept Houston out of transition and forced it to go against their defense.

With no time to really prep, Iowa State’s game plan was simple: keep the Cougars out of the paint, especially All-America guard Jamal Shead. Shead went 3-of-17 from the field, struggling to get into the teeth of the defense. A lot of his shots came late in the shot clock or were contested runners that felt forced.

“I didn’t think Jamal’s looks were that good because they were on the first side,” Sampson said. “You can’t play offensively like that. It’s why we’re good against a lot of teams. You have to play to the third side against good defensive teams and for whatever reason, we just didn’t have the patience to do that today.”

The Cyclones never relented, guarding with the same intensity and focus possession after possession after possession.

“We’re never gonna take the gas pedal off the gas,” sophomore point guard Tamin Lipsey said.

It showed in Houston’s numbers. The Cougars had just four open catch-and-shoot jumpers, and three of those came off offensive rebounds. They went 15-of-56 from the field, finishing with their lowest efficiency in any game Sampson has coached at Houston.

It’s remarkable where this program is just three seasons after going winless in the Big 12. Otzelberger, formerly an assistant at Iowa State under Greg McDermott and Fred Hoiberg, took over his dream job and recreated his identity as a coach. He’d been known for his offense at South Dakota State. After two mostly mediocre years at UNLV, he came home to Iowa State, and immediately made sure defense was his calling card.

The Cyclones had top-10 defenses his first two years, but they needed to catch up offensively this season to climb out of the middle of the Big 12. Iowa State targeted players who could dribble, pass and shoot in recruiting, getting precisely that in transfers Gilbert and Curtis Jones, plus Momcilovic, a freshman.

And in just his third season, Otzelberger has his first Big 12 championship against a team that was supposed to be like looking in the mirror. Otzelberger should be viewed as one of the best young coaches in the sport, based on where Iowa State was and where it looks to be going. And this night was the crowning achievement of his career.

Of course, you’d hardly know it by watching him afterward. Even when his team posed on the stage postgame, his toothy smile looked forced.

Where he’s comfortable is on that sideline, arms folded, watching his guys play for one another. Nothing flashy. Just a calculated beatdown.

(Photo: Jay Biggerstaff / Getty Images)

Source link

Related Topics:Featured Iowa State Cyclones Men's College Basketball

Click to comment

Iowa

67 state boards and commissions being eliminated – Radio Iowa

Published

2 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

67 state boards and commissions being eliminated – Radio Iowa

by O. Kay Henderson | May 19, 2024

The 2024 Iowa legislative session ended at 4:23 a.m. on April 20. The governor had 30 days after that to sign or veto all the bills passed by the legislature. (RI file photo)

Eighty-three state boards and commissions are being eliminated or consolidated.

Governor Kim Reynolds recommended even more for elimination, but legislators pared down her list and she has approved the final plan.

Iowa-Nebraska NAACP president Betty Andrews is raising concerns about shifting power away from the Iowa Civil Rights Commission to a director appointed by the governor. The plan also eliminates several commissions in the Iowa Department of Human Rights.

“It sends a sad, unwelcoming message to communities of color, to people with disabilities and women,” Andrews said, “that civil rights and their interests are not a priority at the highest level of state government.”

Reynolds said have the Iowa Civil Rights Commission be an advisory group rather than a decision-making board makes sense.

“We had a part-time board that was really managing things and it’s just too hard to do that. You need somebody that’s there full time,” Reynolds said. “…It’s just a better way for us to really manage the organization.”

Reynolds sids there’s never been a comprehensive review of all state boards and commissions and it’s a continuation of her efforts to make state government more efficient. A year ago, the legislature approved the governor’s plan to reduce the number of state agencies from 36 to 16.

Source link

Iowa

New Iowa law flouts U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause

Published

9 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

New Iowa law flouts U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause

Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column.

Where does your primary loyalty lie: as a citizen of America, or as a citizen of Iowa?

Probably seems like a meaningless question. But around the nation, more and more states these days are enacting laws in opposition to those of the federal government, placing the loyalty question front and center. And a growing number of U.S. residents are declaring a preference to honor their state laws above those of the United States.

ORIGINS OF THE SUPREMACY CLAUSE

In terms of settled law, there’s no real dispute: federal law outranks state law. The U.S. Constitution leaves no doubt. Article VI, Clause 2 (the “Supremacy Clause”), reads as follows:

(more…)

Iowa

Even conferring diplomas, I see how Iowa has shut the door on public education

Published

16 hours ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

Even conferring diplomas, I see how Iowa has shut the door on public education

My passion for public education has been, let’s say, exacerbated by the actions of our state legislators.

Dianne Prichard
| Guest columnist

Recently I had the pleasure of handing diplomas to graduates. I did nothing to help these individuals reach this milestone. I was standing on a stage facing the students, who had surmounted myriad odds to achieve their place on the steps to the stage.

I was facing all the people to the left and right, sitting on bleachers, who had had to beg them to get out of bed to go to school. I was facing all the faculty, who screamed alternately with joy and frustration during the years that culminated in this one hour celebration. All the people in that gymnasium were living witnesses to determination and hope and expectations and sacrifice and silliness and confidence and doubt and, most importantly, to the existence of, the efficacy of, the accessibility of public education.

Fittingly, the faculty was sitting behind the students. Behind is fitting, because they have been behind these students, lifting them up, reigning them in, pushing them forward, through this challenging journey.

A few of us are born to thrive in academia; the rest of us wrestle our way through the accouterments of education: requirements, curriculum, technology, tuition, new personalities, old habits, textbooks, lectures, traditions and innovations.

This diploma represents the equivalent of Indiana Jones stepping into space in his quest for the holy grail.

This diploma has prepared our students for “what if?” What if I take a step and find solid footing? What if I take a step and fall into space? We know that the faculty has prepared them for welding, nursing, growing, teaching, cooking, and dozens of other careers, but our students are stepping out into the space of the real world, a world that is not even close to the predictable environment of public education.

This diploma is part of hundreds of individuals stories, as varied as the shoes they are wearing, as varied as their DNA.

This is the only time they’ll all look alike, in caps and gowns, not sure if that cap is going to stay on, sweating under the robe. They are sitting closer together than they ever have in this journey through libraries and classrooms and internships and coffeeshops.

They line up to climb the steps, hand their name card to the dean, who double-checks to make sure she pronounces their name correctly, and they walk a few feet to a person they don’t know who hands them this precious folder.

I am the person they don’t know. I have not shared a cup of coffee or a beer with any of them. I have never read a single word they have written. I did not help them choose a major, I did not help them find a book, I did not suggest they redo an assignment. I did not hand them tissues as they cried in my office. I did not celebrate with them when they outdid themselves. I did nothing to get them up on that stage.

But I represent everything that is amazing and noble about a folder from Eastern Iowa Community College, from any institution of public education. I serve on the Board of Trustees. How I got on this stage with the “dignitaries” is another journey, that started somewhere. Maybe it started in a one-room country school, one room, two paths, a big bell in the belfry and assorted students, K-8, sitting in that one room with one teacher. I had an eighth-grade education by the time I finished kindergarten.

Maybe it started in a Works Progress Administration-built high school whose architectural style required 40 granite steps between creaky wooden floors.

Maybe it started when I sampled and rejected and finally accepted a career in public education.

Regardless, my passion for public education has been, let’s say, exacerbated by the actions of our state legislators as they have stripped away not only the pillars, but the foundations of public education. They have turned public education, even in the public schools, into a cut-throat competition for — money. Not for students. Not for staff. Not for communities. For profit. We used to confine competition to the playing field, the gym, the court. Now public schools are being forced to compete for services — the services of book sellers, the services of social workers and counselors. Our elected officials have stripped away the kind of funding that probably supported their own educations.

So, I shook hands with public education. Four Madisons, three Rileys, six Michaels, one Brecken, a couple Brandons and dozens more hands of real people with real names with a real education. I shook hands with the future. I shook hands that will build, guide, give, teach, save, protect. I shook hands with what has been the pride of Iowa: public education.

Interestingly, there were no legislators on that stage. That is unusual and significant. You tell me why.

Dianne Prichard is on the Board of Trustees of Davenport-based Eastern Iowa Community College.

Source link