Iowa State men’s basketball: Fox Sports writer has Cyclones in Final Four
By Brian Spaen
More national sports writers are paying attention to Iowa State men’s basketball, and by doing so, they’re starting to raise their expectations for the Cyclones. A Fox Sports writer released his predictions for the Final Four in 2015, and guess who made the cut?
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Reid Forgrave of Fox Sports has Iowa State along with Arizona, Kentucky, and Wisconsin in the national Final Four. He’s got the Wildcats pegged as the national champion and the Wildcats finishing as the national runner-up.
Arizona, Kentucky, and Wisconsin are highly ranked in preseason rankings and are all heavy favorites to win it all this year. Iowa State in generally high (ranked 15 or above in most national media polls and ranking lists). but aren’t getting quite the national contender love.
The interesting thing is Forgrave pointed out what we’ve harped for months now — that most national pundits will point to the departure of DeAndre Kane and Melvin Ejim dissolving the success, but don’t point out who’s all there that could keep this team kicking.
"Those who don’t really know Iowa State will point out that two of the three heads of its three-headed monster from last season – DeAndre Kane and Melvin Ejim – are gone. But Niang, college basketball’s biggest matchup nightmare, is back.This team is balanced and dangerous. The Cyclones will get a tough test during conference season, as the Big 12 is the nation’s most brutal conference (four teams in my preseason top 13). Get hot at the right time – and stay healthy through April – and this team could win it all."
Staying healthy is the important part. Niang is doing his thing to avoid another injury that he suffered in the NCAA tournament. Yes, if he was healthy, who knows what could have happened after seeing them nearly topple UConn, the eventual champions, without him.
But instead of playing the what-if game, Iowa State will have a chance to make another run this season, and more and more national media writers are hopping in the bus with us.