OMAHA, Neb. – Let’s cut to the chase: Iowa State didn’t intentionally set a schedule to reach the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It worked like that.
That was my main takeaway from a 20-minute conversation Friday with athletic director Jamie Pollard in the team hotel lobby — as he watched the State wrestlers. ‘Iowa in his phone participating in the NCAA wrestling tournament.
He understands the passion of the fans. This daily enthusiasm is part of what constitutes the success of the athletic program he leads.
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Therefore, Pollard can understand that some fans were concerned that the fourth-ranked men’s basketball team was double-teamed in an East Region in Omaha.
Why weren’t the Cyclones higher seeded, some wondered, especially since Houston, a twice-beaten Iowa State team, was only a single seed?
This is a popular question on social media and on the radio. Pollard had some concrete, reality-based answers:
“Everyone was criticizing TJ (Otzelberger) for his soft scheduling,” Pollard told me Friday, while flipping from one Iowa State mat to another on his phone. “Our schedule was built to compete in the (NCAA) tournament with a very young team.
“I also said at the time that if you want to be seed 1 or 2, then you plan differently. You have to schedule the 1 or 2 seed among other conferences, otherwise you will never be a 1 or 2 seed. Now we’re getting to the point where you’re actually being considered…”
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Of course, there have been plenty of outside complaints about Iowa State’s loose non-conference schedule; there is something else that accompanies Pollard’s answer:
“I told some Iowa State fans at the beginning of the year that if we had a chance to be in the Elite 8, to go to the Final Four, would you have even cared where we played?” He asked.
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What else did Mr. AD say on the eve of Saturday’s 5:10 p.m. game against Washington State to see who reaches the Sweet 16 next week in Boston.
Reflecting on Pollard’s five years on the NCAA Tournament selection committee
“A great professional experience,” he told me. “I learned a lot of things that I didn’t think I would that fulfilling.
“Being with your colleagues in this type of setting and in such an intense setting – that’s a long time to step away from your schedule and miss special events like last week in Kansas City.”
Because Pollard was in Indianapolis working on the 68 NCAA Tournament selections, he was unable to attend the conference tournament won by the Cyclones.
This will change. His term on the committee ends later this summer.
“If we win (Saturday), I’ll go to Boston as AD,” he said. “If we lose, I’ll go to Los Angeles, which was my committee assignment.”
The Nuts and Bolts of the Selection Process
“We select and sow,” he said. “The computer in parentheses.
“This year’s selection was the most difficult it has ever been, due to the five surprises – teams that secured a place. So we had five teams that won their conference tournaments and took a spot, that wouldn’t have had a spot.
“It made it harder, a lot harder.”
Pollard said NIL and the transfer portal add another dimension to the 68-team field.
“There’s a lot more parity,” he said. “This puts more teams on the bubble line that are worthy of participating in the tournament. This will only continue to happen in the future. I think you’re going to see more and more upsets in the conference tournaments, because of parity and the transfer portal.
Let’s return to the computer which is so loaded with information that it automatically brackets teams. I bring this up because early matchups, in Iowa State’s case, included Otzelberger against his former team (South Dakota State).
“The tournament is designed to send all teams, when possible, as close to their home venue,” he said. “South Dakota State had just as much of an opportunity to come to Omaha as Drake and Iowa State.
“This site from the first round was the site they had to go to because it was the closest site for them when their name was drawn. »
Random information in bullet form
∎ “We probably entered the conference tournament as the third seed. »
∎ “Our non-conference schedule was a real outlier compared to the 1 and 2 seeds. We were No. 324 (in terms of non-conference schedule). North Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona and Marquette were all between 10 and 17. That’s 300 places.
∎ “Our best non-conference game was Texas A&M, and we lost,” he said. “Texas A&M finished seventh in the SEC. Tennessee won the SEC and beat Texas A&M. You can’t put us ahead of Tennessee – no way, no way.
“Our second best non-conference game was Virginia Tech, and we lost. Virginia Tech was eighth or ninth in the ACC, North Carolina won the ACC, so you don’t put us ahead of North Carolina.
and finally
“Anyone who says they could have seen all this coming is not being honest,” Pollard said of Iowa State’s success. “TJ (Otzelberger) has been everything and more as a person and in the way he leads and develops the young men in our program.
“That’s what I saw in TJ when he was an assistant coach.”
What is Pollard’s message to fans?
“Enjoy the moment. Between last weekend and this weekend, it’s been special.
Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson is in his 52nd year of sports writing for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at [email protected], on X @RandyPete and at DesMoinesRegister.com/CyclonesTexts
