Hilton Magic

The team woke up this morning with a conference road winning streak for the first in a long, long time. It must feel great to get this win. For those that aren't Iowa State fans it must seem a little strange to be this happy about one win when we're still way back in the standings but this streak has been an albatross on the necks of these teams. So many close losses that just kept mounting and mounting to make a ridiculous streak that I never thought I would see.

"I can't put it into words. There isn't a better feeling for me right now. I just give it up for my teammates." Jared Homan

"This is pure joy. Fortunately, we got this one, and hopefully we're fortunate enough to get some more." Wayne Morgan

So, it might be kind of easy to forget about what's coming up for this team. The standings right now look like this.

1. Kansas 8-0
2. Okie State 7-2
3. OU 6-2
4. Texas Tech 6-2
5. Texas 4-4
6. A&M 4-5
7. KSU 3-5
8. ISU 3-5
9. Nebraska 3-5
10. CU 3-6
11. Mizzou 2-7
12. Baylor 1-7

I would guess that the Big 12 would only get five teams in the tourney with an outside chance at six if someone really steps up. I would guess that there is a chance that only 4 teams get in if several teams finish at 9-7. The margin of error for Iowa State is razor thin but I'm all about speculation and wild-eyed optimism so let's take a look at the Cyclone's remaining schedule. The upcoming week is absolutely crucial. If they drop one of these games I would guess they would essentially be eliminated outside of a Big 12 Tournament championship. These are disguised as predictions but it's going to be what I think they need to do to at least put themselves on the bubble with a good chance to get into the dance.

At Nebraska A 2 game road winning streak? It's possible. They have home losses to Creighton, Minnesota, Texas, and Kansas but they have beaten K-State and A&M there. KU didn't have much trouble there on Saturday and Texas won by 10 but I believe they still had Tucker for that game.

Texas Tech Easily the biggest surprise of the conference this year. The game is already a sellout and if ISU wins at Nebraska the crowd will be insane for that one. Johnny Orr will be back in the house along with the '84 team. There are a lot of things lining up for this game. A bunch of my friends are coming back for this game and the last time we were together along with Johnny Orr in the house? A win over Oklahoma State to all but clinch the first of our Big 12 championships. Tech is good but I expect Iowa State to beat everyone at home.

Kansas State ISU should have beaten them in Manhattan. I think they can win this one going away.

At Kansas On paper it looks like a sure loss, and it probably is, but the game last year was a lot closer than anyone expected. I'm sure we can count on the usual home cooking refs that throw our coaches out and give KU three pointers between our free throws.... Yes, I'm bitter.

At Texas A&M Probably a very key game if they keep winning since we'll be fighting them for that 5th spot but winnable.

Nebraska At home, should be a win.

Missouri Will they be playing for Quin's job or have given up on the season? My guess is they'll be dead outside of the KU game but that's what I thought about the football game this year. Ugh, the potential parallels to that game are eerie.

At Colorado Going to be a tough game but with the bad blood the last couple of years and the potential for some revenge it's another winnable game.

So, it looks like they could finish 10-6 in the conference which would put them around 5th in the league. Texas needs to keep losing and some other teams will have to drop a few games but we have a game left with everybody except the teams we probably can't catch or won't need to and Texas.