Iowa State wins Big 12, takes extended hot streak into NCAA tournament
There’s something about Kansas City. Something about the Sprint Center. Something about the Big 12 tournament. Iowa State just seems to love all three of them.
The Cyclones won their third Big 12 tournament title in four years Saturday with a 80-74 victory over West Virginia. They endured an ice-cold opening 10 minutes, then exploded offensively over the final 30 to reclaim the conference crown.
And while this year’s run didn’t have to go through Kansas, what this year’s Iowa State team has done over the past month might just put it on par with past Cyclone teams heading into the NCAA Tournament.
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With Kansas out of the way, upset by TCU in the quarterfinals, Kansas City spread its arms, and Iowa State leapt into them. Cyclones fans took over the Sprint Center, turning it into “Hilton South”; Iowa State took the title; and maybe, just maybe, Monte Morris and company grabbed the attention of fans who had previously been fixated on the Jayhawks’ excellence.
The Big 12 isn’t a one-team conference. It’s not even a two-team conference, and now, it’s no longer a three-team conference. It is, at the very least, a four-team conference, and it is so because of the team that neutralized Press Virginia and celebrated on the Sprint Center floor Saturday night.
Iowa State, a team both ridiculed and celebrated for its inconsistency in the past, has been as consistent as any team in college basketball over the last month. And it hasn’t just been consistent. It has been consistently good, with only one loss since Feb. 7.
The reason for the consistency is Morris, whose record-setting season has been something to behold. His 5.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio will smash his own NCAA single-season record. In Iowa State’s last 10 games, all but one of them wins, Morris averaged 16.8 points, 7.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. The senior is playing at an All-American level, and if he stays there, Iowa State won’t soon cool off.
To balance Morris’ steady hand, the Cyclones also have players like Deonte Burton, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound matchup nightmare who often plays as a combo four. Burton is as comfortable handling the ball and hitting contested shots on the perimeter as he is using his girth in the paint. He’s tremendously inconsistent, and has been his entire career, ever since his days at Marquette.
Inconsistency, however, isn’t always a bad thing. Burton, over his last five games prior to Saturday’s, put up a per-game average of 19.6 points on 54 percent 2-point shooting and 43 percent from beyond the arc, both well above his season averages. Fluctuations in performance can be positive fluctuations too. With Burton cooking, Iowa State is dangerous.
The Cyclones could still have a blip, and could still fall victim to an NCAA tournament upset. They’ll always be mercurial. But with Morris leading the charge, the newly-crowned Big 12 champs look ready for more March Madness.
