Hines: Familiarity no longer a feature in Big 12 basketball as Iowa State opens league play

Posted by Admin December 29, 2024 Basketball

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It’s hard to imagine the non-conference slate having gone much better for the Iowa State men’s basketball team.

Sure, the Cyclones could have beaten Auburn in the opening game of the Maui Invitational. Other than that, what’s missing?

Iowa State sits 10-1, owner of three Quad 1 victories and ranked third in the country as it gets ready to open Big 12 play Monday at Colorado (8 p.m.; CBS Sports Network).

Even for a guy whose job is to analyze, question and − fine − nitpick, I’m pretty much coming up empty on pointing out any significant shortcomings.

Iowa State more than lived up to its billing as a Big 12 contender and Final Four threat through the season’s first two months. Now, the Cyclones are set up to make a run at both the league title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“Non-conference, as much as you want to learn, you want to get better, you want to understand your team and the areas you can improve,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said last week, “obviously doing that and being successful and not having to learn in losses is important. I think we were fortunate.

“There’s a lot of positives to take away from what we’ve done.”

One of the more interesting aspects of Big 12 play this year is simply how different it will be from years past. The Big 12 ditched the round-robin schedule last year as the league grew to 12 teams, and things are even more drastic this year with an expansion from 18 league games to 20 in the 16-team conference.

In a matter of two seasons, the league has added eight teams and two games. There are also 11 coaches who are either in their first or second season in the conference.

A league whose consistency was once a hallmark of its strength has undergone incredible change.

We’ve gone from the familiarity level of a “Simpsons” episode to Season 21 of “Grey’s Anatomy.” I recognize some of these people, but am completely lost on the others.

“The familiarity is certainly going to be challenged,” Otzelberger said, referring to the Big 12 and not an ABC medical drama, “because when we first came in, there was 10 teams and a true round-robin. That’s a different animal.

“I think (in previous years) everybody knows each other so well because there are fewer teams and you play everybody twice. Now that certainly isn’t always the case.”

It will be the case with the Buffaloes, whom Iowa State already defeated in Maui and will face twice in the regular season. But the likes of Utah, West Virginia, Baylor, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, BYU, Texas Tech, TCU, Houston and Cincinnati – which accounts for 63 percent of the league’s teams – they’ll face just once.

Frankly, that’s not so much a conference as it is a group of scheduling partners, but that’s another column for another time.

The interesting thing will be how the changes influence the outcomes on the floor. Part of what made the 10-team Big 12 so difficult is that by February, there were no secrets. There was really only one way to win games – out-execute your opponent for 40 minutes.

I’m not sure that’ll be the case going forward.

What won’t change, Otzelberger said, is Iowa State’s approach to game prep.

“How we look at things, as much as we respect the coaches, the players and the programs, 90 percent of it for us is being who we are and doing what we do,” he said. “That won’t change this year because our No. 1 job to get our guys playing better and playing more unified, connected, harder – all those things.

“That’s within the realm of what we can control.”

It worked for the first 11 games this season. Not sure why, given everything we have already seen, that would change for the next 20.

And, I imagine, given everything we have already seen, for maybe another nine after that.

Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.