Iowa State basketball coach TJ Otzelberger on readiness for Big 12
Iowa State basketball coach TJ Otzelberger discussed the Cyclones’ readiness for the start of Big 12 play.
- Third-ranked Iowa State basketball has been dominant in its 13-0 start to the season.
- Big 12 Conference play will present tougher challenges and force the Cyclones to adapt.
- Iowa State’s offensive versatility makes the Cyclones a Final Four and national championship contender.
AMES – One of the ways to think about a basketball team is how many paths to victory it can create.
The destination – winning – is always the same, but the best teams have multiple ways to get there. There’s the direct route, the scenic route and the long way around. There’s the freeway, backroads and dirt roads. Heck, maybe the vehicle even changes – sometimes it’s a Lambo, other times it’s an Astro Van and sometimes still it’s a jet.
The more ways you can get from tip to triumph, the bigger collection of wins you’re likely to amass.
Having those avenues is always important – and a key indicator of success – but it’s critical once conference play begins. While third-ranked Iowa State has been able to take just about whatever route it wanted throughout much of its 13-0 start to the season, Big 12 men’s basketball opponents are sure to cause some detours, delays and outright closures.
“There’s all these things that other teams can do that you have to just recognize,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said last week. “It’s part of a process of what takes shape over the course of a season.”
Otzelberger usually frames this issue as being forced into choices.
A defense decides to double-team Joshua Jefferson? You have to make a choice how to respond.
An offense is killing your pick-and-roll coverage? You have to make a choice on how – or if – to adjust.
The best teams make their opponents decide between bad choices while giving themselves the most – and best – options.
The choices become harder and the options become fewer in Big 12 play, which begins for Iowa State on Jan. 2 against West Virginia (8 p.m.; ESPN2). It may not be the same degree of familiarity or ferocity as when the league was an 18-game round-robin, but the level of familiarity, scouting, coaching and talent all push teams toward choices they’d rather not make.
That’s what makes this year’s Big 12 play so fascinating to me, at least when it comes to assessing Iowa State. The Cyclones are spending a second consecutive winter as a bona fide Final Four (and national championship) contender, and we’re going to evaluate them as such.
There are two main ways, in my thinking, to making a Final Four (and national championship) run.
One is to just be so dominant, talented and cohesive that you just run roughshod over your opponents. You do what you want, when you want and how you want. The other way is to be able to solve defenses in multiple ways while having counters to counters defensively.
I think Iowa State has a viable path the second way, though their defense may be so overwhelmingly good at forcing other teams into bad choices that maybe the first route is available on that side of the floor.
But, as good as Iowa State is offensively, they’re not inevitable on that end. Teams are going to be able to eliminate some of their preferred paths. They’re going to chase Milan Momcilovic off the 3-point arc. They’re going to force the ball out of Jefferson’s hands. They’re going to to keep Tamin Lipsey out of the paint or Blake Buchanan off the glass.
What makes Iowa State a Final Four (and national championship) contender is that all those offensive pieces live harmoniously together. They’re not necessarily dependent on each other to be executed. Which is to say taking away one option doesn’t cause a cascading effect of failure on down the line.
You want the ball out of JJeff’s hands? That means putting your defense into rotation against an excellent passing team that will probably be able to find an open Momcilovic from deep. You want to hug up on Momcilovic? Well, that gives Jefferson a lot of space to operate and creates driving lanes for Lipsey and Killyan Toure.
You get the idea. Iowa State does not have to wear out one road to find their way to victories. They’re able – and willing – to chart new paths. On a possession. In a game. Throughout a season.
Through 13 games, all paths have led to victory. The question now: Is there a road to the Final Four (and national championship)?
The trip’s most grinding leg begins Friday.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at [email protected] or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
