Randy Peterson
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March 24, 2025
I purposely waited 12 or so hours before writing this. I wanted whatever happened during Sunday night’s Iowa State-Ole Miss NCAA Tournament game to sink in. A few hours of reflection sometimes is a remedy for incorrect knee-jerk reaction.
On this occasion, however, overnight contemplation didn’t change much:
A season once headed for greatness, never recovered from what we now realize was a devastating January.
The ending of a season during which even national talkers were predicting Final Four, will forever be deemed a disappointment.
Silver linings and highlights (of which there were oh so many) aside – how Iowa State played during its 91-78 season-crushing defeat in Milwaukee, cannot be sugarcoated.
Disappointing.
I don’t know another word that fits, Iowa State bowing out of the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32.
Ranked as high as No. 2 nationally while losing only on a walk-off tip-in against top-ranked Auburn during the first 16 games . . .
To losing four of seven games while star Milan Momcilovic recovered from hand surgery . . .
To playing great when mostly healthy again . . .
To Sunday’s season-ending conclusion.
Was it the injuries that cost T.J. Otzelberger’s team from breaking through the Sweet 16 barrier, and finally making an Elite Eight again?
Not all together.
Plain and simple, Iowa State couldn’t find an offense, when it most needed one. Sunday night was another case in which teams like Iowa State that play great defense – don’t always play well against teams with great defenses.
Could the Cyclones have used another shooting option?
You bet, considering Iowa State missed, even when wide open, 32 of its 48 first-half shots. But, he was back in Ames, with a season-ending groin injury.
You can pay players all you want, but you can’t put them in bubble wrap.
They’re going to get injured, at least the good ones -- the ones that sometimes exert more than their bodies are built to withstand. We saw it with Tamin Lipsey, one of most determined and strong-willed athletes I’ve ever been around. We also saw him refuse to come off the court – refuse to let a broken thumb, bad back, and owly groin dictate his season.
I know it’s tough right now, but eventually, that’s one of the ways this season should be defined. They played with toughness – right up to the final buzzer. They entertained. They interacted.
Read what T.J. said during this long, perfectly-said postgame comment to reporters:
“I would say for our team this year -- to start the season with the expectations and the ranking that we had all year long -- there was a higher magnitude with every game we played,” Otzelberger said after the game. “Certainly disappointment, wanting to fulfill and live up to those, the competitors that we all are, every single day.
“I look at the entire season and say, you know, you start the year preseason No. 6, you win 25 games, and you finish in the top five of the league. There's a lot of great things our guys accomplished.
“Still at the end, being a top-three seed, we wanted to go on a run and be at full strength. But what happens for a lot of teams this time of year is injuries happen -- disruption happens -- and what you need to be able to do is continue to move forward the best that you can.
“If you look at the season, we were able to do that for the start, and then certainly with Milan, Tamin, Keshon, there are things that happen from an injury standpoint that disrupted that rhythm.
“Our guys kept fighting, they kept competing, they kept coming to practice every single day and I'm proud of how they continued to move forward. The guys who were out there -- I really feel like we left it on the court. Did we play great tonight? No. It wasn't our best, but our guys didn't stop fighting and I'm proud of them for that.”
There’s a couple read-between-the-lines spots there, if you’ll notice, that folks will analyze, but the bottom line is that this program is determined not to make Sunday night their legacy. Not long after the game, Joshua Jefferson and Nate Heise told reporters they’re planning to return next season. Lipsey isn’t going anywhere, and Momcilovic gave every indication that he’ll be returning, too.
The foundation remains strong. That’s a silver lining, and here’s another:
You recall that a Big 12 team lost in the first round, I presume – and that team was college basketball’s pre-season No. 1.
Thank goodness for Kansas, for when Iowa State fans think about the disappointing turn the Cyclones’ season took en route to another Sweet 16 -- it certainly wasn’t as bad as the Jayhawks’ temporary fall from college basketball grace.
(Award-winning columnist Randy Peterson can be, and has been, reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)