The awards are out, and yes, Iowa State has some All-Big 12 performers. Sure, we're the only school without any First or Second Team players, but hey, we've got some guys that were mentioned in an honorable sense.

Mike Brandtner, P; Leonard Johnson, DB/KR/PR; Rashawn Parker, DL; James Smith, DB; Jesse Smith, LB; Reggie Stephens, OL; Kurtis Taylor, DL

Brandtner and Johnson could have probably made second team (heck, Brandtner might be our team MVP). 

Do you guys see any snubs? Or any guys that shouldn't have been nominated?

In what can only be deemed a bit surprising, Coach Chizik has reshuffled his coaching staff by letting go of QB coach Tony Petersen, secondary coach Shawn Raney, demoting DC Wayne Bolt to LB coach, and demoting OC Robert MacFarland to OL coach.

It's surprising that Chizik felt a need to make the moves now, especially as the offense was showing some signs of life late in the year. Now begins a fun search for two new coordinators. Early names already out there include Major Applewhite, Gus Malzhan, Greg Robinson and Paul Rhoads. Smart money says none of those guys get hired.

.....and the rumor mill is already ramping up, including Major Applewhite (again). When Chizik first took the job, he was mentioned as a possible choice as an assistant. We now have an open spot for an OC/QB's coach, and he is one name that has come up for consideration.

Now, Wikipedia has his compensation at $250k, whereas our former OC Robert McFarland, was making $275k.....so there's a possibility of a raise.

I feel we'll strongly go after the Tulsa OC, but Applewhite will probably be under consideration.

Greg Robinson is also popping up on the DC radar, as is Auburn DC Paul Rhoads.

I doubt there's much of a chance we would get Applewhite (though, the Applewhite fan deep inside of me would get a kick out of it), I thought the same thing about Chizik. Now that Muschamp is the crown prince of UT football, maybe Applewhite will look for a position that will get him closer to a head coaching position. Who knows, but just something to be aware of.

Tonight is a golden opportunity for the Cyclone women to make a serious statement and a serious move in the polls. Unfortunately, with the game in Hawai'i, this game will not be on TV, but it may be on the radio dial for some of you. Stanford will be missing it's starting point guard.

ISU struggled with Creighton, and was less than stellar against Prairie View A&M, but there's no denying that this team is certainly good enough to knock off the Cardinal.

Well, for about 30 minutes of that game, I thought we were in serious danger of losing to Mississippi freaking Valley freaking State.

The first half, the threes were simply not dropping for Iowa State, which isn't a good thing when you're struggling to get your inside game going. Of course, MVSU hasn't shown they can defend any shots, especially twos, all year, so the itchy trigger finger from behind the arc had me a bit confused. Of course, the amount of three pointers we take is a fundamental difference between the coaching staff and myself.

Our defense wasn't a big issue today. Allow 59 points and you should win every time (and McDermott is something like 20-0 at ISU when allowing fewer than 60 points....that should happen). 

The offense, however, will live and freakin die by the three point basket. Just under half of our shots (24 of 53) were from behind the arc. Somehow, some way, we hit 11 3's, seven of which came in the second half.

This team is going to be frustrating to watch all year long. We'll lose games we shouldn't. We'll likely win games that we shouldn't. 

Hopefully, Jamie Vanderbeken and Justin Hamilton can team up to provide some post support down low, as we've been faring pretty badly in the paint for a team that has, in Craig Brackins, a pretty good threat under the basket. In an ideal world, we could get 10 points a game from each of those guys. 

Hamilton is intriguing in that you can see he's got potential. Maybe he'll find a game where it clicks, because I've ben impressed by his positioning and movement on the block all year, as well as his defense. If he continues to improve, he'll be a valuable post player, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

Hopefully, we can figure out how to balance our offense sometime soon. The Northern Iowa game will be a very tough game for this team (McDermott is 0-7 versus the MVC at ISU, 49-48 in his career), and could have an impact on such a young team. A loss at UNI wouldn't be a killer (to what, our CBI hopes?), but we have to prove that we can beat them. I don't care that it's his alma mater or the fact that it's the last team he coached. We're sure as hell not paying our coaching staff to lose to UNI. Hopefully, that has stopped.

Meh, it's arguable the better game takes place later tonight. #6 Stanford versus #22 Iowa State in women's basketball action from Hawai'i......

But, you might as well register and keep up with the gamethread....