Iowa State basketball: Ranking the 5 most important games for the 2024-25 season

The expectations for Iowa State basketball are very high heading into the 2024-25 season.

The level of competition the Cyclones will face is top-tier, too.

Iowa State could face six top 10 opponents and nine top 25 opponents, according to ESPN’s Wayy-Too-Early Top 25 released on July 1. The Cyclones rank No. 7 in that poll.

That official number will vary by the time the first ball is tipped, but the point still stands. The Cyclones are set to face one of their toughest schedules in recent memory.

“It’s a very challenging schedule,” said coach T.J. Otzelberger. “We need to be ready. Not that we don’t every single night in the past, but this year’s schedule really presents a lot of really good teams coming in early as well.”

Last season, the Cyclones rolled to an 11-2 record in the non-conference portion of their schedule with just four high-major programs on the ledger before going 13-5 in conference play. It’s possible, even for a team that should be improved from its Sweet 16 appearance, that its regular season record takes a hit due to the schedule’s difficulty.

However, a lot can be learned from that brutal slate.

“I don’t think any of us as coaches intend to want to learn from losing, but as you play better teams, that’s a byproduct of that decision,” Otzelberger said. “How you handle success and failure is really important.

“What I’ve learned more than anything in the Big 12, is the teams that get really good at taking a loss and bouncing right back are the ones that tend to do better. You want to win every game, you prepare to win every game, but if you play in the best conference in the country against the best coaches, best players and the best teams, you’re certainly going to take losses.

“Being able to lose and stay together as a team, take a step forward and learn from it is so important. That’s going to be critical for us this season.”

Here are the top five competitions where we will get to know how real this Iowa State team is next season.

1. Kansas, home and away

We’re…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/iowa-state-basketball-ranking-5-110237588.html

Author : The Des Moines Register

Publish date : 2024-07-15 11:02:37

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.