Justin, one of the new proprietors of The 12th Manchild, seems to be a relatively nice guy, so we decided to have a little talk about tomorrow night's first round matchup between the Cyclones and Aggies.

CC: Are the Aggies where you thought they should be right now? The season has been awful volatile.

12MC: IMO, no way, this season has been a dissapointment so far.  I think a lot of Aggie fans are jumping to conclusions about Turgeon, but losing an All-American point guard is huge.  That being said, there is no excuse for this team to not be in the tournament.  We have 2 four-year starters in Joe Jones and Dominique Kirk, an NBA player in Josh Carter, and a future lottery pick (somehow) in DeAndre Jordan.  This problem has been consistency which at somepoint has to fall on the coach.  I thought the Aggies would be the 3rd best team in conference and about a 5 or 6 seed in the dance.

CC: What scares you the most about the game?

12MC: What scares me is I have no clue which A&M will show up.  Is it the team who beat Tech by 40 or lost to the same team by 20?  I also am afraid of us looking ahead to playing KSU and taking y'all for granted.  From watching y'all, it seems as if y'all have about 3 guys who on any night could potentially go off for 25.

CC: Way to work "y'all" in, haha.

12MC: Figured I would help the stereotype in any way possible.

CC: What's the key for A&M?

12MC: The Ags MUST get the ball inside to Joe Jones, Brian Davis, and Deandre Jordan.  A&M too often goes through 4-16 minute scoring droughts and there is no reason for that when you have those 3 post players.  We must feed the ball inside and get these guys to the FT line.  A&M must also defend the pick-and-roll better than it has recently to keep the game low scoring.  Finally, Josh Carter must score 10+ points.  When he doesn't score, we don't win.

CC: Are you worried about the Ags looking ahead?

12MC: I am not that worried about us looking ahead to KSU.  I HOPE the players knows what is at stake.   If they don't, then that is sad because you are right, a loss and we are done.  If we lose to KSU, I still think we are in.  I'm hoping the coaching staff and seniors can instill into the team how important this game is.

CC: What's your prediction for Thursday night?

12MC: I think A&M realizes what is at stake and they play well, winning by 10 (60-52).

CC: I predict Iowa State 68-65, as payback for all of the Sedrick Johnson hoopla.  Speaking of which, did Aggie fans have a tough time believing that someone, especially a 4-star recruit, could spurn A&M for the frozen tundra?

12MC: Yes. Yes. and Yes.  It was tough for everyone (including myself) to comprehend my a guy who wasn't even looking at ISU until 2 weeks before signing day would go all the way up to Ames (hey, it is a long way up there).  That being sad, he is a kid who can make his own decision and unlike some Aggies, I wish him the best of luck and hope he does well at ISU.

CC: Good luck, but not enough to win.