The Iowa State Cyclones men’s basketball team has turned into a consistently strong program under head coach T.J. Otzelberger. Entering Year 5 of his tenure, he has led the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament four out of four years thus far. Last year, Iowa State entered the season ranked No. 5 in the country. They reached No. 2 during the campaign, the highest a Cyclones team has ever been ranked in the school’s history. For the second time in program history, the team has been ranked in the preseason AP Poll for consecutive years. Iowa State isn’t as highly regarded this time around, coming in at No. 16. This is the fifth straight campaign the team has been ranked at any point, which is also a program record. However, some preseason rankings disrespect the Cyclones. Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated shared one such ranking. He ranked every team in men’s college basketball, 1 through 365. Iowa State was placed at No. 25. That is way too low, and the disrespect was doubled down on by placing them as the No. 6
