Adventureland Park is an amusement park in the Des Moines metro area which serves as one of the leading attractions in central Iowa. At Adventureland, there are plenty of roller coasters which people experience during their visit. The Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team's season is just like a roller coaster. Right now, however, they are at an all-time high.
For what it's worth, the Cyclones have too many things going right for them based on recent history. Iowa State fans barely remember this type of success, back when it was prevalent in the late 90's and very early 00's. Now, the Hilton Magic is back in full force.
Iowa State is now 29th in the ESPN/USA Today poll. With wins against Kansas, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State inside Hilton Coliseum as well as nice road win inside Oklahoma for the first time since moving into the Big 8. ISU is making themselves into a nice team who can make a deep run through the Big 12 and even possibly the NCAA Tournament.
Some do not think the Cyclones should even be considered for postseason play, because of their inconsistent play.
ISU's worst loss happens to be against a school just down the road from them on Highway 69, the Drake Bulldogs. Now, Drake helped boost their status by defeating Missouri Valley leader Wichita State.
Since that point, Iowa State is 16-5 since losing to the Bulldogs. Inconsistent? Not that much.
Because of the play from Royce White, the Cyclones have become one of the top teams in the Midwest. In fact, not only has the team gotten better, so has White.
White, who came to Iowa State as a transfer from Minnesota (because he got into a little bit of trouble), is becoming one of the toughest forwards to guard in the entire country. Kansas State Frank Martin said of White that he reminded him of Michael Beasley, who played his college ball under Martin.
White is the only player in the nation to lead his team in all five major categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes. That's some productivity.
The Cyclones have eight games remaining. How many of these are winnable? I'll say six. The schedule is evenly split: four at home and four on the road. The four at home: Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas Tech. All four of these games are actually winnable. Going by the "chain reaction," if Kansas can beat Baylor, and Iowa State can beat Kansas at home, why can't the Cyclones defeat the Bears?
The two losses that Iowa State will succumb to are at Baylor and at Missouri.
Because of White and his supporting cast, Iowa State is well on its way to becoming the first NCAA Tournament team in quite some time in Ames. Just hang on for the ride.
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