CF After Dark Podcast Network

Send us a text After declaring for the NBA draft process, Lindell Wigginton went through various workouts with a handful of NBA teams to get feedback on what they like and don't like about him, as well as what his draft status looks like heading into next season. On the deadline day for playerss to withdraw from the draft, Wigginton elected to return to Iowa State for his sophomore season. Levi, Cole, and Marchie all gave their thoughts on what his return could mean for the team's outlook next season. Also, with the NBA Finals beginning, the guys took a look at the matchup between the two teams, and what their predictions were for the series (SPOILER ALERT: they all like Golden State). Does LeBron have enough help to overcome the obvious talent gap between the Cavs and Warriors? If LeBron leaves for Houston, how will it affect his legacy?

Send us a text On this year's Cyclone Tailgate Tour, the two most common questions fielded by Jamie Pollard and Matt Campbell were regarding the offensive coordinator position black uniforms that are rumored to be arriving this summer. What do you think of the Cyclones donning a black uniform in the fall? Is it going to a cool recruiting tool, or should we just avoid black altogether due to its connection with the Team Out East? Levi and Cole also talked about the reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, which is slated to release in October of this year. The game showed three all new zombies expereinces, including a gladiator style mode based in the Ancient Rome, and a fight for your life aboard the Titanic. However, the biggest reveal was Black Ops 4's all-new battle royale mode, an obvious attempt to to piggy-back off the incredible success of Fortnite's Battle Royale mode, which will be unique in that it will include land and air vehicles, as well as locations from previous Call of Duty games. Could Call of Duty's battle royale mode signal the end of Fortnite?

Send us a text Ever since breaking onto the college basketball scene in the 2011-2012 season, Royce White has been a vocal advocate for those who suffer from mental illness. After being drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2012, White continued to advocate for mental illness, much to the chagrin of some in various NBA front offices. Even after leaving the NBA and playing multiple seasons in Canada, Royce has consistently maintained his position that the NBA needs to see consistent mental health reform within the league not just for players, but for coach's and anybody else involved in the league. ESPN then filmed and aired a special piece on Royce which aired on 5/8/18. Royce has always been a deep thinker, and is happy to share his view of the world around him and share details about his own battle with anxiety. So, naturally, we wanted to sit down and discuss mental illness on a personal level and how it fits into the larger picture. We discussed Royce's battle with mental illness, the role sports and music play in contributing to and/or treating mental illness, and his thoughts on various players from this most recent golden era of Cyclone basketball. We know long podcasts can sometimes be difficult to find time to listen to, but if you can find time to listen to this one, you'll be glad you did.

Send us a text We dive into how Jamie Pollard has done with all of the football stadium upgrades, as well as his football and basketball coaching hires. After that, Cole and Levi talk about one of our favorite subjects, video games. We dive into Fortnite, microtransactions, which developer we think is quietly destroying all the other major developers on the market, the longevity of Grand Theft Auto 5, and much more. If you're a Cyclone fan or a gamer, you won't want to miss this week's episode of Down the Pipe & Natty Lite.

Send us a text In the first ever episode of Down the Pipe & Natty Lite, Levi, Cole Netten, and Marchie Murdock talked about last football season, the football newcomers, NBA playoffs, Lebron vs. Jordan, and what Cole and Marchie have been up to since they left Iowa State

Send us a text After transferring from Illinois before the 2016 season, Marchie became one of the best surprises of the 2017 season, with 5 touchdown catches, including a crucial touchdown reception against Oklahoma. We got his thoughts on the transfer to ISU, the direction of the program, his skills on the hardwood, the Dallas Mavericks, and never talking about the Saints-Vikings game ever again.

Send us a text It has been a long wait, but it is finally game week for Cyclone football once again. On Saturday Iowa State will take the field in a bowl game for the first time since 2012. The site will again be the Liberty Bowl in Memphis as Matt Campbell’s crew is set to take on the home town Memphis Tigers. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is always an interesting one. Austin was recording from the spare bedroom at his in-laws house while Levi is back to the work grind. What is Levi doing with the second floor of his workplace all to himself this week? Levi and Austin both attended the Liberty Bowl in 2012. Those of you heading down this time are in for a good time. Austin recommends the chicken and waffles while Levi had himself some tasty barbeque. We both agreed that traveling north or south of Beale Street is not recommended. HOWEVER, if you do and live to tell the story we can think of no better outlet than WRNL to share your experience! David Montgomery is said to be 150 percent after suffering a couple of late season injuries. Austin is very happy David is feeling healthy again, but has a math issue with players declaring themselves more than 100 percent. It should be strength against weakness as Iowa State’s defense takes the field against Memphis’ offense. The same could probably be said on the other side of the ball as well. Who wins out in the end? We made our fearless predictions for the game, including Austin’s signature palindrome guess. Who do you think wins the contest?

Send us a text Dylan Montz from the Ames Tribune stops by to discuss Iowa State football and basketball

Send us a text With a new early signing period this year for college football we brought Alex Halsted on the podcast to discuss the specifics. How will this impact Iowa State’s recruiting going forward and how many of their commitments plan to sign between December 20th and December 22nd? We discussed how Iowa State’s coaching staff will balance preparing for a bowl game and building for a future at the same time this December. Iowa State is close to having a full class. Halsted speculates on what positions Iowa State might be after in the grad transfer market. Max Duggan, a 2019 quarterback recruit from Council Bluffs Lewis Central, has blown up on the recruiting trail. With the likes of Ohio State and Penn State offering recently, does Iowa State still have a shot? Also, John Waggoner, a defensive end prospect from West Des Moines, recently committed to that team out east. At one point he was a highly sought after prospect but there were rumors of Iowa State cooling on him late. What was the real deal? If you are looking for a good stocking-stuffer idea grab a copy of “100 Things Iowa State Fans Must Know and Do Before They Die” co-authored by Alex Halsted and Dylan Montz. The Cyclone fan you are buying for is sure to enjoy it. As always thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe to iTunes. Go Cyclones!

Send us a text There are former players that are looked highly upon by the Cyclone fan base, and then there is Georges Niang. One of, in not THE, greatest Cyclone basketball player of all-time called into the podcast before his game in Oklahoma City. I once heard someone explain that you can tell when someone is special when they are known by just their first name. To Iowa State’s fan base, Niang was simply known as Georges and for four years we were fortunate enough to watch him represent Iowa State University on and off the court. As a second year professional basketball player, we asked Georges the differences between playing in college and playing professionally. How different was it playing for Coach Hoiberg and Coach Prohm? We of course took the time to talk about the #DillyDilly movement and how he became the spokesperson for it overnight. Georges talked about coming back to Iowa to play in front of Cyclone fans once again and the pressure he felt to perform well in front of the crowd at Wells Fargo just over one week ago. We asked Georges about which exit from the NCAA tournament was the hardest to stomach. The answer may surprise you. Even though he wasn’t born in Iowa, Georges quickly developed a hatred for the Iowa Hawkeyes and we all love him for that. We asked him which team he’d suit up against if he had just one remaining game of eligibility. Niang also talked about the bond formed with several of his former teammates and how they still “geek out” over the recent Iowa State football success and how they are now all Cyclones for life. We really enjoyed the chat with Georges and are sure you will enjoy listening as well.

Send us a text As painful as Saturday was to watch transpire down the stretch, good news made its way to Cyclone Nation Monday evening. Matt Campbell is here to stay....for now at least. The head football coach that was linked to several of the top available jobs out there, signed a 6 year contract that will bring his salary to an average of 3.5 million dollars per year. Levi and Austin discussed the impact of Campbell sticking in Ames for the next few years and what the football facilities renovations might look like. Saturday stacked up with some of the all time bad beats in Iowa State history. This one felt a little different though as it seemed like it was stolen from the Cyclones. Just imagine the vitriol Cyclone fans would have spewed had that game been the difference in going to the Big 12 Championship game. Iowa State is linked to approximately 456 different bowl games. This is admittedly better than being linked to zero, but Cyclone fans are certainly very eager for Sunday evening when their bowl destination will be announced. Levi and Austin discussed the different options and their experiences at a couple of the ones in play. As always thanks for listening and don’t forget to subscribe to iTunes and leave a 5 star review!

Send us a text One our favorite former Cyclones Naz Mitrou-Long called into the podcast to give us an update on how things are going for him as a professional basketball player. As Naz was on his way to the gym (where else would he be going?) he talked about how his role has changed going from the collegiate game to the professional game. We asked him what it was like playing against Georges Niang for once and what it will be like coming “home” to Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on December 8th. Mitrou-Long played for two coaches with vastly different styles in Fred Hoiberg and Steve Prohm. What were the main differences in their styles? Lindell Wigginton, a blue chip recruit from Canada, is having a great start to his college career. Naz talked about his relationship with the fellow Canadian. Nick Weiler-Babb has had one of the biggest transformations in recent memory on the basketball court. Having practiced against him numerous times could Naz see this coming? Mitrou-Long of course took the time to offer words of enthusiasm for the Cyclone men’s basketball and football teams and thank Cyclone fans for their never-ending support of him and the rest of his teammates. Finally, we asked Naz about the “3sus from Nazareth” nickname and whether or not it stuck at the professional level.

Send us a text So Cyclone fans, we’ve certainly had better weekends. A weekend that started with a basketball loss on the road at Missouri, was followed up with a heartbreaking football loss to Oklahoma State inside Jack Trice Stadium, and was finally over after a Monday night blowout loss to Horizon League member Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Levi and Austin discussed it all including whether or now Marchie Murdock came down with that football in the end zone on Saturday. What in the world is going on with our basketball team and why does it look like they might not win another game? The football team travels to Waco, Texas to take on the despicable Baylor Bears. They go into the game as 10 point favorites. Is this an accurate line? We discussed how Matt Campbell could get his football team ready to play this week following a heartbreaking end to conference championship hopes. The basketball team goes off to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. With three games in four days, how many wins can we truly expect from this Cyclone team struggling to find its way? Next week, we hope to bring better news as we will have three basketball games and a football game to digest. As always thanks for listening. Some of you left a 5 star review on iTunes and we appreciate it. If you haven’t please do so soon!

Send us a text One of our favorite guests of the podcast, Reid Forgrave, stopped by to help us preview Iowa State’s opening night game against Missouri and discuss many other college basketball topics. Forgrave, a University of Missouri graduate, currently writes for CBS Sports and several additional outlets. As a national college basketball writer, Reid discussed how he balances his soft spot for the Tigers and covering college basketball on the national scale. This Missouri team is certainly in a different spot than we all thought they would be when Iowa State agreed to play this series. With the potential #1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft and a talented roster behind him, this Missouri program has gone from after thought to potential NCAA tournament team. There are a lot of unknowns with Iowa State this season which is something Cyclone fans haven’t had to deal with in recent seasons. Reid questioned how their youth and inexperience would hold up during the long Big 12 conference season. We discussed the FBI investigation into college basketball recruiting and how that could impact coaches, players and the sport in general. Before we let Forgrave go, we asked him to predict a Final Four and discuss the Witchita State Shockers. As IPA connoisseurs, Austin and Reid made an IPA bet on which team will earn the higher seed in the NCAA tournament between Iowa State and Missouri. Austin is probably going to be on the hook for some cold ones come March.

Send us a text The early signing period for college basketball recruiting has arrived. We brought Rivals national basketball analyst Corey Evans on the podcast to discuss the four players Steve Prohm will sign in the next few days. We know the hype surrounding this class but Corey thinks the class could be even better than the hype. “I think this could turn out to be a Top 10 class,” Evans said. He compared one of the recruits to Michael Carter-Williams and said Iowa State might not be done yet on the recruiting trail. Could Tyler Harris still be in the mix? “He is 50/50 on whether to sign in the fall or the spring. I could definitely see Iowa State adding him at some point as I believe it is 50/50 between Memphis and the Cyclones,” Evans said about Tyler Harris. If you want 15-20 minutes of straight Iowa State basketball kool-aid this is your podcast. You can follow Corey on Twitter @coreyevans_10. Levi and Austin stayed on after Corey hung up to discuss this week’s football game against Oklahoma State. Is this the biggest game of the year? If Iowa State has hopes of a Big 12 championship it sure is. Remember, if the Cyclones win out they should be playing in Dallas early this December. Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5 star review. The reviews really help the podcast grow and bring you a better product and better interviews. As always, thanks for listening.

Send us a text We here at Wide Right Natty Lite love some high quality satire and humor. It should come as no surprise that we are big fans of Ya Boy Matt Campbell on Twitter. Austin and Levi welcomed @NotMattCampbell onto the podcast to discuss his Twitter account, ISU vs TCU and where the Cyclones and Matt Campbell go from here. After Saturday’s big win over the Horned Frogs, Ya Boy penned a nice note to Cyclone fans and their dedication to their favorite team. If there is anyone that knows what is going on inside the head of Matt Campbell, it is Ya Boy. He gave us some insight as to what he thinks Matt Campbell will do this off-season after already watching him leave once from Toledo. We re-evaluated the season expectations and took a look at what it would take for Iowa State to make the Big 12 championship game. Finally, we took a look at the Big 12 action this week and made our predictions for the West Virginia-Iowa State game. Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5 star review. We’ll read any reviews we receive on air next week. Thanks for listening!

Send us a text It has been twelve looong years since Iowa State football took up a spot inside the Top 25. The wait is over as Iowa State checks in at #25 this week in the AP Poll. Is this team for real? We discussed Iowa State’s rather workmanlike victory over Texas Tech. How many of you were waiting for the other shoe to drop and Texas Tech to go on a fourth quarter run? ISU plays for a share of first place in the Big 12 Conference this Saturday. Is playing in Dallas a realistic scenario or fool’s gold at this point? We brought in our resident scout Josh to take us through the numbers with TCU coming to town this Saturday. Who has the advantage when ISU is on offense? When ISU is on defense? Austin loves palindromes making Saturday’s win especially sweet for him. It is the second one of the year. Is another one in the works? We made our big, bad, bold predictions for Saturday. Will Iowa State be looking down on the rest of the Big 12 after Saturday? Congratulations to Bill from northwest Iowa for earning listener of the week. You earned it. Thanks to those who listen on a weekly basis. Don’t forget to leave us a 5 star review on iTunes. It is good for the brand you know?

Send us a text We all have stories to tell. We hear some of the best ones around a campfire, during a night out on the town or while we are catching up with old friends at a wedding. Everyone lives an interesting life and has stories they can tell, but sometimes keep close to their vest. Paul Shirley has some incredible stories to tell and he holds back no details during his latest book Stories I Tell On Dates.

Send us a text 10/11/17: Recapping the Biggest Win in School History and Previewing ISU-KU

Send us a text These podcasts during the fall months are meant to be heavy on football conversations. Steve Prohm didn’t get the memo. He left Levi and Austin no choice but to discuss the recent recruiting news. Three out of the last four weeks we’ve been able to welcome a new member to the 2018 Iowa State basketball recruiting class. This week it was George Conditt, a 6’10” center from Illinois. Prohm finally got the e-mails, tweets and messages from fans telling him to recruit tall guys! It worked! Just kidding, you weren’t the reason they reeled this one in so stop sending him notes you creeper. We discussed how big it would be for Prohm to finish off the 2018 class with Talen Horton-Tucker. National Championship or bust in our honest opinion. Finally, we shifted gears to our Iowa State Cyclones football team. What the hell happened Thursday night and were there any positives you should take from that game? We’ve predicted wins in every game to this point, did either of us have the cajones to call our shot against Oklahoma? Not so fast my friends. Don’t forget to join the WRNL Gamewatch Saturday morning at Es Tas. There will be beer and tacos. What more could you want? As always thanks for listening.

Send us a text It was good to be back to discussing an actual football game. The bye week was rough, but football is just hours away. The boys from Barking Carnival joined Levi, Matthias, Matt and Austin to discussing a myriad of topics, some of them football related. What is the first thing you do when your significant other goes out of town for a few days? Next we broke down the Iowa State vs Texas game from about every angle imaginable. Texas has talent, but will the talent prevail this Thursday evening? We talked about the early line (+4.5) from Vegas on the game and why the money has poured in on the Longhorns who are now almost a touchdown favorite. How does Texas stack up with Iowa State’s best opponent to date thus far, the Iowa Hawkeyes?

Send us a text We have arrived at the longest week of the college football season, the week of the BYE. Fortunately for Iowa State fans things are looking more promising than they were last year at this time when they opened as a 4 point underdog to BYE. Another week, another big basketball commitment for Steve Prohm and the Iowa State men’s basketball team. This time it was Tyrese Haliburton, a 3-star combo guard out of Wisconsin, joining the Cyclone recruiting class of 2018. While we were on the topic of shooty hoops, we discussed Iowa State’s chances of making it to a 7th straight NCAA tournament. The future is bright, but will it start shining as early as this season?

Send us a text Shortly before the podcast was set to go live, a bombshell dropped in the world of Iowa State basketball recruiting. Zion Griffin, one of the top players in the class of 2018 committed to Steve Prohm and the Iowa State Cyclones. We can’t think of a better way to kick off the 2018 class than landing the four-star forward. Josh, Levi and Austin debated and discussed Steve Prohm and Fred Hoiberg’s high school recruiting and what it means for the program going forward. After the dust settled and Austin ironically fumbled over his words discussing Sergio Dipp’s poor showing, we moved on to the Iowa State-Akron football game. Josh, our resident scout, broke down Akron’s offense and defense and what they will bring to the field Saturday morning. Look for Josh’s preview of the game this Friday. Where has Deshaunte Jones been? What is wrong with Mike Warren? We made our fearless predictions for the week and each volunteered to sleep in Matt Campbell’s bed. If you listen, we promise it will make sense....kind of. Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes and tell your friends about the best WRNL podcast on the planet.

Send us a text The boys are back again. This time with Iowa State’s prized 2018 quarterback commitment Re-al Mitchell. Re-al talks about why he chose Iowa State, how much interaction he has with the staff, what he is trying to improve on this year and who he compares himself to among the current Big 12 quarterbacks. Mitchell is an impressive young man that undoubtedly fits the mold of what Matt Campbell and company are looking for on their football team. The California native will be getting his first experience of the Cy-Hawk rivalry this Saturday in Ames for a visit. He is already beginning to develop a hatred for the Iowa Hawkeyes. I’m sure he will be all-in on the rivalry after Saturday. After Re-al hung up to do what we can only assume is piles of important homework the boys discussed this Saturday’s Cy-Hawk game. Where does Iowa have the advantage? Can Iowa State exploit Iowa’s defensive secondary? We made predictions for this Saturday’s game...and once again we think you will agree!

Send us a text Welcome back to football season Cyclone fans! CloneTeach, Matthias and Levi called collect last night in order to deliver you the first regular season installment of the podcast. While Levi and Matthias will be pacing themselves (alternating between Natty Lite and whiskey) in the tailgate lot Saturday before the game, CloneTeach will be trying to keep two children under the age of three alive (and also pacing to keep from falling asleep before kickoff). Not all heroes wear capes. Remember though, in our own way we are all excited for Saturday night. We talked about the Iowa State offense and whether or not Jacob Park could walk on water. Will we see Joel Lanning on the offensive side of the ball this Saturday? The defense currently has two #7’s. What gives? We brainstormed ways they could get away with having two people with the same number on the field at the same time. If two girls can share one cup, two players should be able to share one number right? Before moving to the special teams units, we got sidetracked with Ames bar talk. A lot of things have changed since CloneTeach last stepped on campus. No more Element fishbowls?! You have got to be kidding me. Special teams have certainly been anything but special over the years for Iowa State, but they have had some standouts in recent years. Can they replace the production of Cole Netten and Kene Nwangwu this season?

Send us a text We brought in Andy Garman, KCCI Sports Director, to help us explore the topic of media bias and whether or not it exists. Garman, a University of Iowa graduate, had some really good thoughts on the matter and put things into perspective for both Cyclone and Hawkeye fans. “It wouldn’t make sense for me to alienate half of our viewers by favoring one team over the other. Ultimately, if we are covering one team that means we aren’t covering another and that is a problem to some fans,” Garman said. “With Iowa and Iowa State I hope one team goes 11-1 and one team goes 12-0 and I don’t care who wins the Cy-Hawk game” While we had Andy on the podcast we discussed our holdout in starting Game of Thrones, who the most interesting Cyclone in the world was and what the future holds for Matt Campbell and Iowa State football. We thank Andy Garman for taking the time to chat with us and look forward to continuing the conversation down the road.

Send us a text We decided to bring our dear friend and resident WRNL bracketologist Shelby Mast in to discuss why he has the Cyclones in the field as an 8 seed and just how accurate these brackets are. During our discussion we explored why the top seeds remain the top seeds year in and year out, and how you can make somewhat accurate predictions this far out. While Iowa State is losing a bunch of talent, other schools are in the same boat. Some teams like TCU and Iowa are returning a lot of talent, yet TCU is in the field and Iowa is still on the wrong side of the bubble. Why is that? It is easy to predict where the blue bloods will end up in the field next year. The hard part is determining how teams going through coaching changes and roster overhauls (like Missouri) will finish the 2017-18 season. Every year the committee is seemingly moving the goalposts when it comes to assessing the resumes of bubble teams. We discussed what Shelby has heard will change this year in the selection room. Finally, we discussed whether the NCAA would ever consider moving the basketball season to the spring semester exclusively. As a March Madness guru, Shelby has a hard time envisioning May Madness working out.

Send us a text While many around the state are lamenting the change in law allowing amateurs to shoot off fireworks at all hours of the night (and morning), we discussed why Matt Campbell might bring more fireworks to Jack Trice Stadium. With the ever changing landscape of television and how we, as fans, watch our favorite teams we talked through the growth of Cyclones.tv, how it impacts the journalism program at Iowa State University and where it goes from here. Walters took over the radio play-by-play duties for Iowa State when his friend and mentor Pete Taylor passed away. John reflected on his time working with Pete and what he meant to Iowa State University. The common denominator for both Pete Taylor and John Walters is Eric Heft. Heft, who has served as the color analyst with both Taylor and Walters, is as colorful as they come. We discussed what kind of relationship he has with the Big 12 officials. Finally, with fall around the corner, John gave us his insight into what we’ll see this season from Matt Campbell’s Cyclones. Is a bowl birth a fair expectation?

Send us a text March Madness Preview

Send us a text To start our conversation, Skip discussed his role as the Director of Football Operations. What is it like scheduling Matt Campbell’s day and what does the bill look like for a team meal? With practice during the day, how difficult is it to schedule classes for student athletes? When Matt Campbell brought over almost his entire staff from Toledo, some questioned the decision at first. After over a year of them being in Ames it has become clear this is a big part of their success. Just how close is this staff and how much fun do they have with each other? We took a moment to discuss some of the top storylines from the spring: Allen Lazard’s senior season, Chase Allen’s first season and whether Joel Lanning will see more snaps on the offensive or defensive side of the football. With so many Ohio roots, we discussed the Akron non-conference game this fall along with the possibility of returning there for non-conference games in the future. With so many Cleveland roots, which professional sports team does this staff follow the closest? Hint: Its not one of the good ones. We appreciate Skip taking the time to join us on the podcast. Anything else you would like to know about the team or coaching staff? Let us know in the comments and we’ll ask him next time.

Send us a text National college basketball writer Reid Forgrave joined us on the podcast to discuss a number of college basketball topics including how far he things this veteran group of Cyclones can go. As spring football has begun across the nation we first discussed Reid’s piece about a former Iowa high school football player that took his own life after suffering from CTE. We highly encourage you to check it out here. It has certainly changed the way many of us view the game. We transitioned to a lighter note and discussed some college basketball, specifically our Iowa State Cyclones. With a veteran laden group, we asked Reid how far he thought Iowa State could go. “In the past I’ve been guilty of penciling in Iowa State to the Final Four. I won’t be doing that this year, but I think if Deonte Burton gets hot it could happen. Second weekend is probably a good goal for this team,” Reid explained.

Send us a text The last time we talked to Shelby Mast, the conversation centered around whether or not the Cyclones would make the tournament field. He had them slated in the field as a 10 seed at the time, but with work left to do. Fast forward a couple of weeks and the tune is drastically different. We talked with USA Today Bracketologist Shelby Mast Tuesday evening to get the scoop on the ‘Clones.

Send us a text USA Today bracketologist Shelby Mast joined the podcast to discuss where Iowa State stands after the big win over Kansas and a tough loss to the Texas Longhorns. Some have argued that the Kansas win was almost worth two wins. Is this a fair assessment? We looked into our crystal ball and tried to predict what type of finish the Cyclones would have to have in order to make the NCAA tournament. Remember, Shelby makes his predictions based on current resumes, not projected resumes. We did ask him to make a projection though. Just how many teams can the Big 12 expect to get in the NCAA tournament? Will teams like TCU and Texas Tech sneak in or come up short? Shelby thinks the conference will get between 5 and 7 teams in the dance. The committee is scheduled to release their top 16 teams at this point in the season on Saturday evening. It is pretty obvious that this “bracket release” will mean very little in the grand scheme of things, but what does it mean for bracketologists like Shelby? Finally, Iowa State fans have been a little salty with Shelby on Twitter. Imagine that right? Shelby used this platform to explain some of the bracketing principles in play and why having Iowa State as a 10 seed doesn’t necessarily mean that is where he has them on the S-curve. As always, we thank Shelby Mast for being our guest bracketologist and providing a look into what the selection committee sees with Iowa State’s resume. You can follow Shelby Mast on Twitter: @BracketWag Shelby’s bracket (updated daily) can be seen here or in the daily USA Today.

Send us a text Austin and Matthias were joined by Alex Halsted from 247 Sports to discuss the 2017 recruiting class that will be faxed in on Wednesday morning. Yes, we spent 30 minutes drooling over 17 and 18 year olds, but you all are listening (we hope) so don’t judge us. Just hours before recording Keontae Jones, brother of Cyclone Deshaunte Jones, committed to Iowa State. Halsted was able to describe just how big of a deal this was for the staff and where this puts the current class nationally and in the Big 12. Matthias, who thinks the world revolves around offensive linemen, had to ask about the two 5th year seniors who will be joining the Cyclones in the trenches next year. Alex and him went on to discuss what a potential offensive line could look like next year with the return of Jake Campos and Julian Good-Jones. Speaking of big guys, we discussed Kamilo Tongamoa and why he’s been flirting with the Oregon Ducks. Ok, there might be a couple of reasons why, but is this an innocent fling or is he going to leave us at the doorstep?

Send us a text In preparation for the Iowa State/Vanderbilt tilt on Saturday we brought Adam Sparks from The Tennessean on the podcast to discuss the Commodores, Big 12/SEC Challenge and what to eat and drink in Nashville. We’ve all seen games at Vanderbilt on television and wondered why it looked so funny. Adam took the time to explain the “ground rules” , if you will, of the court and where we can expect Prohm to call his infamous time-outs from. Also, if you see first or second row tickets for sale you may want to pass on them unless you enjoy checking out sneakers. Vanderbilt has struggled to close out games with poor rebounding and stagnant offense. Sound familiar? Adam explains his thoughts on their close losses and how that plays into the game plan for Iowa State on Saturday. Live by the three and die by the three. If there has ever been a team that fits that motto, it might be this years Vanderbilt team. As the team has transitioned from a catch and shoot team to a dribble drive team under Bryce Drew they are still relying on three point baskets to put points on the board. According to Sparks the Commodores have scored more points from behind the three point line than inside of it. Bryce Drew would prefer to play man-to-man defense but has been forced to play zone at time for a variety of reasons. Adam says the reviews have been a mixed bag and it is a potential are that Iowa State may be able to expose. If you are going to Nashville, Adam has some food recommendations for you toward the end of the podcast. You won’t want to miss out on some Hattie B’s hot chicken according to Adam Sparks.

Send us a text Believe it or not, there was a day in time when Cyclone fans would get excited about having their basketball team on the bubble. After five straight NCAA tournaments we have become a bit spoiled, and the word “bubble” has become four letter word in Ames, Iowa. Now that conference play has started, the mock brackets are starting to sprout up left and right. We were fortunate enough to be joined by Shelby Mast, head bracketologist for the USA Today to discuss bracketology, where he has ISU sitting right now and how he deals with haters on Twitter. Shelby adjusts his brackets almost daily based on results from the previous night of games. His projections try to model what he believes the selection committee will do and he always evaluates teams based on what they have done thus far, not what he believes they will do. We discussed the infusion of additional metrics this year such as KenPom, Sagarin and Massey ratings. Is this a good thing and will they replace the RPI? The term marquee win is thrown out a lot by spectators, commentators and bracketologists. Shelby helps us define a marquee win and talks about the importance of Iowa State earning one going forward. How should Iowa State fans weigh rooting for teams they beat against rooting against them as they compete for the same at-large berths? We plan on bringing on Shelby again throughout conference play. If there are questions you have about the selection and seeding process you can leave them in the comments below and we’ll ask him on the next podcast. You can follow Shelby on Twitter: @BracketWAG His daily updated bracket can be found here.

Send us a text Wednesday’s game against Baylor was encouraging for a lot reasons. The final result though was a heartbreaking loss and a missed opportunity to stay atop the Big 12 conference standings and earn a marquee with for their resume. The four horsemen, Austin, Matt, Kevin and Matthias joined the podcast to discuss their thoughts on several key topics surround the Cyclones. Matt explained why he thought Deonte Burton was the MVP for Iowa State Wednesday night in Waco. Kevin discussed who he would have started (FROM THIS YEAR’S TEAM) after halftime against Baylor. Matthias explained why TCU is poised to end Kansas’ run of Big 12 Championships. Just kidding, but he did give his thoughts as to whether anyone would challenge the Jayhawks this year. Together we discussed the inability to put the ball in the hoop (which it turns out is a pretty big deal) for this team at the end of ball games. Do we need to fire Prohm or do the players need to sweat more and try harder? We went back to discuss Matt’s man crush and everyone else’s public enemy #1, Deonte Burton. We think he try more of those slam dunks and less of those missed layups. Kevin noticed some concerning trends in Monte Morris’ shooting numbers against quality opponents. Should his focus return to being more of a distributor? The crew took a look at Iowa State’s resume at this point in the year. How does is stack up and what do they need to do to improve it? Spoiler: they need to win more and lose less. We started the hype train on Cameron Lard as he is set to arrive on campus this weekend. Kevin was kind of buzzkill as he isn’t entirely convinced the kid is a real person. Where does Lard rank among fictitious recruits like Emmanuel Malou, Norvel Pelle and Ivan Chiriaev?

Send us a text National college basketball writer Reid Forgrave stopped by to discuss some of college basketball’s biggest story-lines at this point in the season. Duke has already lost a game, but could go down as one of the all-time great teams in college basketball. Will UCLA really fire Steve Alford if he doesn’t get to the Elite 8? One the nation’s biggest surprises is obviously the red hot start that Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears are on. Reid has always been a big Scott Drew fan and he explains why. The Hy-Vee Classic takes place in Des Moines this weekend and Iowa State is set to face Drake. Is the neutral court set up good for college basketball teams in the state? Should beer be served at all college basketball games? Duh. The Cyclones have one good win (Miami) on their resume. What is the perception nationally of their resume and season to this point? We appreciate Reid taking the time to join us on the podcast. It was a very fun and informative conversation. Keep your eyes out for a piece written by Reid in the next GQ magazine next week. Follow Reid Forgrave on Twitter: @ReidForgrave

Send us a text Iowa beat reporter Jeremiah Davis of the Cedar Rapids Gazette joined us to preview the Iowa vs Iowa State basketball game. Jeremiah, an ISU graduate, discussed his time in Ames as well as his time as a beat reporter for the Northern Iowa men's basketball team. We discussed the defensive woe's the Hawkeyes have had so far this season. Jeremiah also gave us some insight on the young Hawkeyes (Bohannon, Pemsl, Moss and Cook). You can follow Jeremiah on Twitter: @jeremiahdavis10 You can follow Austin (CloneTeach) on Twitter: @Wrigley_Ivy

Send us a text Joseph Hoyt, recently hired at the Ames Tribune, stopped by to discuss his first impressions of Iowa and Ames specifically. Hoyt previously covered the Oregon Ducks football team so we talked about uniform combinations, tailgating and just how far away ISU really is on the football field. In the upset of the centruy, Jospeh has been in Ames for about a month and has yet to eat at Hickory Park. We talked about local Ames watering holes and he helped Austin pronounce Deutches IPA (Not the IPA part). As a first time Iowa, we asked Joseph what he thought Iowa State could sell recruits on and where their focus will be over the next two months on the recruiting trail. Finally, Joseph gave us some hope for things we might see in the 2017 football season. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. Also, special thanks to Jake McDonough for allowing us to use his Cyclone tune throughout the show. You can follow Joseph on Twitter: @JoeJHoyt

Send us a text Dylan Montz from the Cedar Rapids Gazette and co-author of "100 Things Iowa State Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die" stopped by to hep us recap the 2016 Iowa State football season. We talked about whether you could consider Matt Campbell's first season a success as well as what went well on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Matt Campbell continues to preach "culture change". What changes has Dylan seen around the facilities and how is the Campbell era different from the Rhoads era thus far? As the season ends, the staff has shifted its focus to the recruiting trail. How does the staff keep a very solid class in tact and could they potentially steal some recruits from other football programs for once? Don't fogret to subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. You can catch Austin on Twitter: @Wrigley_Ivy You can catch Dylan on Twitter: @dylanmontz

Send us a text The Cyclones stand at 3-0 on the young season and are coming off a Cyclone record 130 point performance. How much have we learned about this team from those three games? Austin (CloneTeach) and Kevin dig into the Advocare Invitational field. If the Cyclones walk away with the tournament championship it will certainly be no small feat. The field is stacked with quality opponents and the winner will have earned their right to call themselves champions. The Cyclones tip at 11:30 AM on Thanksgiving morning. The game is to be televised on ESPN2. Austin read another review on air. We encourage you to subscribe and leave your own on iTunes. The more creative the better!

Send us a text Matthias and Austin (CloneTeach) recap an amazing Saturday that featured the Cyclones leading by six touchdowns at half-time and wrapping up with an eight touchdown victory? Where did this offensive explosion come from and can we expect to see more of it Saturday against West Virginia? How about that defense? Is this a sign of improvement or did Texas Tech throw in the towel? Finally we talked about what this means for next year going forward. The Cyclones are in action again on Saturday against West Virginia. Kickoff is at 2:30 PM and the game will be televised on FS1. Austin read a listener review on air and it was.....interesting. Don't forget to subscribe on iTunes and leave us a review of your own!

Send us a text Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) from HoopSeen.com stopped by to help us recap the fall signing period for Steve Prohm and the Iowa State basketball team. Recently, he ranked ISU's class #16 in the nation as well as #1 in the Big 12. How will that change going forward and how will the addition of Cameron Lard impact the class? We talked about what we can expect out of Isaiah Stokes' recruitment going forward and what ISU's chances are in landing the talented big man. Well connected when it comes to national recruiting, we asked Corey his thoughts on the perception of Steve Prohm's recruiting ability. Also, we look forward to reading your creative reviews you leave in iTunes, on-air during our next show.

Send us a text With their exhibition game in the books, the Cyclones are ready to play games that count starting Friday. What did we think about the rotations that we saw? What can we expect from the newcomers? Matt (CyHusker) and Austin (CloneTeach) give their season predictions and set the table what we hope is a very special season.

Send us a text We took some time to chat with Ken Pomeroy about college basketball analytics. If you are a subscriber to his site this conversation will help you to understand just what all of those numbers mean and what the hell they have to do with basketball. What makes home court advantage different arena to arena? Ken gave us his thoughts on that topic along with giving us his early season prediction for which teams will make it to the Final Four. Thanks to Ken Pomeroy for coming on the podcast. You can subscribe to his site at kenpom.com.

Send us a text In the hours following Lindell Wigginton's commitment, we brought on Alex Halsted from 247 Sports and Cyclone Alert to tell us what this means for the Cyclones and how the rest of the 2017 recruiting class might come together.

Send us a text Paul Shirley is in the area doing some speaking gigs, so we figured we would catch up with the Iowa State basketball legend. Paul reflected on his time playing in the NBA and overseas and why playing professional basketball isn't always as glamorous as it appears. We talked about what happened against Hampton in 2001 and why that year turned out so much differently than the previous year. You can hear Paul speak on Wednesday in Boone at the DMACC campus.

Send us a text With basketball season right around the corner for college and professional teams we brought Pat Boylan on the podcast to talk about Georges NIang and the Indiana Pacers. Boylan works for the Pacers Radio Network and was optimistic about Niang's chances of making the 15 man roster this season for the Pacers. Growing up a Pacers fan Pat was very familiar with another Cyclone great Fred Hoiberg and we discussed the Fred/Geroges relationship and why Hoiberg chose not to draft Niang in the 2nd round of the NBA Draft. After talking Niang and the Pacers, Matthias and Austin (CloneTeach) took time to review the Iowa State basketball media days and give their insights on the rotation, Monte Morris, Nick Babb and other basketball tidbits. Special thanks to former Cyclone Jake McDonough for letting us use the track, "816 Boyz Comin Thru 2" for the intro and outro. Give him a follow on Soundcloud.

Send us a text Iowa State continued to show improvement after the San Jose State game, putting up one hell of a fight against the 13th ranked Baylor Bears before eventually losing a game in which they never trailed. The offense continued to gel as Joel Lanning played his best game of the season, and Mike Warren again rushed for more than 100 yards. The defense, however, was not as successful as Shock Linwood ran his way up and down the field at will. This week the Cyclones head to Stillwater where they take on a really solid Oklahoma State Cowboys team. What did we learn about the progress of the process, and just how much improvement have we seen from ISU in the first five weeks? What should we as fans reasonably expect as the Cyclones head into a tough road contest? What would indicate continued progress against the Pokes? Find all that and more in this week's We Still Booze podcast. Brought to you by Wide Right & Natty Lite. Iowa State's SBNation blog. Special thanks to former Cyclone, Jake McDonough, for letting us use the track, "816 Boyz Comin Thru 2" for the intro and outro. Give him a follow on Soundcloud.