KU Predictions: at Iowa State

The game against Texas gave us a glimmer of hope, but now we get to go into the mystical place known as Hilton Coliseum. Can Kansas ride in and defeat the new wizard who inhabits that "magical" place?

David: It's hard to look at what these two teams have done recently and feel good about this game. Iowa State regrouped after their back-to-back losses to Baylor and Texas, with two double-digit road wins and a victory over Oklahoma. Kansas hasn't looked quite right since beating Oklahoma in Lawrence three weeks ago. They turned in mediocre home performances to beat TCU and Texas, and looked downright bad on the road against West Virginia and Oklahoma State. I'll go with recent trends and predict another road loss for the Jayhawks. Iowa State 84, Kansas 75

Fizzle406: I’ve gone back and forth on this game all season. When ISU announced the players they were returning, I knew it would be a battle. Then when Naz Long got hurt, I thought it wouldn’t be as tough as initially thought. ISU bounced back though. Hilton magic will be in the building tonight and with KU’s recent road woes, I’m not as confident as I was a month ago. If Mason is indeed hurt, I expect a long night. Hawkeyes 77, Kansas 74

mikeville: Criminy.  I hate this game.  I hate Mondays in general.  And right now I hate the way Kansas is playing.  Yes, they rose up in the second half to come back and beat Texas.  But that was at home, and homecourt advantage in college basketball is a real thing.  Example 1: Bill Self’s record at home is 200-9.  Example B: Bill Self’s record at KU on Big Monday at home is 21-0.  And Example III, Bill Self’s record at KU on Big Monday on the road is 15-11.  Scary stuff, my friends.  David is right, it’s very difficult to ignore recent trends.  I expect a beat down but will hope for better. Iowa State 89, Kansas 66.

dnoll5: Ok, I’m going to be the only one to pick KU, and that’s fine.  It’s fine, because as WRNL pointed out, I’m clearly an "arrogant Kansas fan that expects to win every game" (paraphrased), and as commenters on this site noted, it’s true.  I expect to win.  We’re Kansas.  It’s ok to believe that Kansas will win because we do it so often. Kansas 10,000, Iowa State 1 (Georges Niang free throw).

brendandzwierzynski: I’m going to join dnoll and pick the Jayhawks, mostly because I’m a blindly optimistic homer. It’s going to be a close contest regardless of who wins I think. KU will need to shoot well tonight if they want to stay close, and also have to hope that Mason isn’t too badly dinged up. Kansas wins, the city of Ames has a collective meltdown and complains for a year. Kansas 88, Iowa State 86.

Winmore: Much has been made of Kansas’ 9-9 road record in conference play over the last two seasons. In all the talk of road woes, people are forgetting that one place Self has had little to no trouble winning is Ames. During his tenure as KU coach, Hilton has been less than "magical" when hosting one of Self’s squads. So maddening has this been to Iowa State fans that one time a Cyclone alum - and dead ringer for Milton from "Office Space" - tried to get in Self’s face after Elijah Johnson went for 39 and made Fred Hoiberg’s kid cry. Over the last 11 seasons Self’s Jayhawks have only lost twice up in Iowegia. Self’s teams have had a harder time winning in places like Austin, Manhattan, Morgantown and Stillwater. I called for KU to lose on the road to West V. I almost did the same for the game at OSU, but I’m not calling for them to go down tonight. Not in Ames. Sorry Cyclone fans. You won’t get to break a local reporter’s leg with a court storming tonight. Kansas 82, Iowa State 74.

NineToesBlogging: Kansas wins because plain and simple, the JAYHAWKS have a better team. They are better coached and though they have been left a lot to be desired from the KU faithful I believe Kansas was gearing up for this tilt. Kansas wins because they can not afford another loss and Bill Self knows it. Kansas 87, Iowa State 67.

misterbrain: I'm already on record picking the home team, and the main concern is that the depth we were supposed to have is faltering horribly.  It's telling that we only gave significant minutes to 6 guys in a home game, and we've all seen the signs of fatigue in the Jayhawks.  I'm concerned that we get punked early and then run out of gas trying to come back. Iowa State 78, Kansas 75