Judo throws are legal in women's college basketball...

 ...as long as you play for the University of Texas Longhorns. They're known for two things: deep pockets and dirty play. Here we see Aliyah Matharu from Texas judo throw Lexi Donarski of Iowa State to the ground (as well as throwing an arm in Donarski's face which should have be ruled contact above the shoulder which I know is a rule since Iowa State got reviewed for it later in this same game) during a Big 12 conference tournament semifinal today. Matharu should have been tossed for that but it was not called an unsportsmanlike foul nor was it even reviewed. Fortunately Donarski was not injured from it.

Not so lucky was Kari Niblack of West Virginia. Back on February 20th West Virginia played Texas. During the game Lauren Ebo of Texas literally headbutted Niblack, knocking her out with a concussion. A video of the assault can be viewed in this article. Just like Matharu, Ebo was not tossed for her dirty play.

This is becoming a problem where Texas is allowed to maliciously and deliberately injure or attempt to injure opposing players and something needs to be done about it before someone is seriously or permanently hurt.

100 blog posts

This is my 100th blog post and I've been debating what it should be about for the past week. Well, I've figured that it should be about the thing I've cared about for most of my life.

It's been a record breaking season for the Iowa State women's basketball program. They've won 7 Big 12 Conference road games, swept 7 out of 9 Big 12 opponents, won 14 conference games and 25 regular season games overall, which are all school records.

Individually it has also been a record breaker. Senior Ashley Joens now owns the school career scoring record and is staring down the career record for scoring average among other records. (Fun fact: I have the same birthday and last name as she does but I assure you that she is significantly better at basketball than I am.) Sophomore Emily Ryan continues reaching for every assist record at Iowa State while fellow sophomore Lexi Donarski seems to be the heir apparent to Ashley. Statistically Morgan Kane won't blow you away but together with Portuguese transfer Beatriz Jordão they have combined to make a serviceable duo in the post.

They wrapped up the regular season this past Saturday with a win over West Virginia University and now look forward to the Big 12 tournament this coming weekend. Hopefully they'll win a couple of games there and in the NCAA tourney the weekend after.

I hate the Baylor Bears

A trash university for trash people that should be legally required to change it's name to Rape Scandal University.

Photo(s) of the Week: At long last, joy.

    I mentioned a week-and-a-half ago that the Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball team had ended a 5 year losing streak to their hated rivals the Iowa Hawkeyes. What I did not mention is that a former Cyclone would be playing against the Hawkeyes today. Madison Wise played 4 years at Iowa State before taking advantage of the COVID bonus year to transfer closer to home in Indiana. That brought her to the IUPUI Jaguars out of the Horizon League. During her time in Ames, Maddie would go 0-4 against the Hawkeyes so it's a bit funny that, in the same year the Cyclones would get the black and gold monkey off their back, Maddie would do the same. Perhaps even more ironic is the manner in which it happened. During her senior year at Iowa State, the Cyclones would blow a 17-point lead in the final ten minutes of the game and lose to the Hawkeyes 82-80.

    This year?

    It was the Hawkeyes blowing a 15-point 4th quarter lead, losing 74-73. I'm truly happy for Maddie (and the IUPUI Jaguars).

    Here are some pics of the immediate postgame celebration:

Source: Michael Jones on Twitter

Source: IUPUI Jaguars

God is great

    I've had a pretty good week. First, on Wednesday, the Iowa State women's basketball team took on the Iowa Hawkeyes in Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. The game was fast, the crowd was loud, and the Cyclones won by a score of 77-70, ending a 5-game losing streak in the series.

    Next, on Thursday, it was the Iowa State men's basketball team's turn at Iowa. And they blew the doors off the Hawkeyes, winning 73-53 and breaking a 3-game skid to Iowa. Apparently this was the largest margin of victory over the Hawks in series history. The Cyclones are now 9-0 after finishing last year 2-22, a remarkable turnaround.

    Lastly, and on a more personal note, my employer 'paused' it's vaccine mandate Friday. This comes after a federal judge issued a halt to Biden's federal contractor mandate on Tuesday, December 7th. I'll leave it at that.

    Keep faith in God and He will pull through for you.

The golden month of college sports season

    It is now early November and that means college football is nearing the end of it's regular season while college basketball season tipped off today. My Iowa State Cyclones currently sit at 6-3 with three games to play against Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and TCU. They could still make the Big 12 Conference championship game but that would require:

1. Winning all three of their remaining games
2. Baylor dropping another game and at least one of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State finishing 7-2 in conference.

    In Iowa State's most recent contest they defeated that snake in the grass known as the Texas Longhorns by a score of 30-7, marking the third straight victory over Texas and possibly the last as conference opponents. Soon Texas will be heading to the Southeastern Conference in pursuit of more money because if there is one thing the University of Texas athletic department lacks it's money.

    God willing, Kansas will beat Texas this Saturday and put them on the brink of missing a bowl game.

Horns Down!

    Today was the first day of college basketball season. While the Iowa State men's team will have to win me back from last season's 2-20 disaster the women's team has rather lofty expectations.

    They began their regular season today by hosting Omaha. in the first half they almost seemed afraid to attack the paint and the stats showed it; of their 30 field goal attempts in the first half, 20 were 3-pointers (and they only made four). Perhaps it was just pre-game jitters because they seemed to calm down coming out at halftime and became more aggressive in the lane, ultimately winning 65-38.

FYI, the men's team did beat Kennesaw State tonight 84-73, so they're at least off to a winning start.