A little self-awareness can often go a long way, be it basketball-related or otherwise. Consider the case of the Iowa State Cyclones, erstwhile bottom-dwellers-turned-Sweet 16 challengers who are decidedly Not Supposed To Be Here. Iowa State did not arrive in Chicago this week as winners of a beauty contest, coming off two upset wins in which neither team scratched 60 points. But here they are.
“We're not going to apologize for how we have to win,” head coach T.J. Otzelberger said, “and we're not going to apologize for aesthetically how it may look.”
The Cyclones arrived as Cinderellas of note nonetheless. Power 5 teams with low seeds have gotten hot in March before; no Division I team of any standing has made the turnaround from winning two games the year prior—yes, you read that correctly—all the way to the second weekend of the tourney. Granted, these are, as literally as possible, not the same Cyclones: In his first season at the helm, Otzelberger brought in a small army of transfers and held on to just one regular from last year’s team. They are now 22–12, having taken their lumps and set to face No. 10 Miami, another team that’s gotten hot at the right time.
