ISU coach, Fred Hoiberg.
Iowa State opens its 108th year of basketball tonight and it would be hard to find a time when the expectations were loftier. After advancing to the “sweet 16” last year and winning the Big 12 Tournament the Cyclones are nationally ranked and trendy pick to make it to the Final Four. The journey begins at home against Oakland of Michigan.
“There’s been some pretty darn good teams here in the past with coach Orr’s teams, with Hornacek and Grayer, those teams obviously had a lot of hype…but it’s a different era now with social media and everything, I just try to tell our guys not to get too caught up in it. But, it’s exciting, it really is,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg says.
He wants his team to play better defense than it did in last week’s exhibition against Viterbo as he says they gave up too many uncontested shots. Oakland is a member of the Horizon League and is picked to finish 7th in the pre-season poll.