2017 Big 12 Tournament: Iowa State takes the title from West Virginia
By Doug Winkey
The 2017 Big 12 Tournament Championship saw Iowa State go for an upset against West Virginia for the conference’s automatic bid.
Iowa State entered the Big 12 Tournament finale after beating Oklahoma State and TCU. WVU beat Texas and then squeak by Kansas State to set up their third meeting with the Cyclones this season.
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West Virginia jumped out early, but Iowa State fought back to take a six-point lead at halftime. The Cyclones would counter every Mountaineer punch with their experience and avenge two regular season losses and claim their third tournament championship in four years.
Nobody should want to play ISU right now. The team has won nine of their last 10 games and beaten some of the nation’s best in that stretch. They are top 50 in defense this season, which is a sharp departure from the offense-only Cyclones under Fred Hoiberg. This team has proven it can stop the likes of Kansas and Baylor when it needs to in crunch time.
Senior All-American Monte Morris leads the Cyclones with 16.3 points and 6.2 assists, but three other double-figure scorers give this team more weapons than most teams can stop. Even the bench unit of Donovan Jackson and Darrell Bowie are capable of lighting up the scoreboard for the eight-deep Cyclones. This team is absolutely lethal from most anywhere with shooting splits of 47/40/70. The Big Dance is strange, but ISU might be a popular Final Four pick with the way they are playing.
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Coach Steve Prohm has worked wonders with this team. The second-year coach has seemingly pushed all the right buttons and gotten the most out of his veteran roster. There is so much to love about this team. The most important thing to remember is that they are playing their best ball at the right time. The sky is the limit for ISU at this point.