CYber CYd with Bill Fennelly

In order to give Cyclone fans an inside look at the Iowa State women's basketball team throughtout the season, head coach Bill Fennelly and members of the ISU team will be posting a weekly blog at cyclones.com on each Tuesday throughout the school year.

Fans will have a chance to hear directly from Coach Fennelly throughout the season about how practice is going, how the team is doing during the season, and what he sees as the staples of the ISU women's basketball program. Players will talk to you each week about their perspective of school life, practices, games, and the daily hurdles of being a Division I student-athlete.

Coach Fennelly writes to you today to update you on the team's progress since the holiday break. Next week check back as Anna Florzak talks about her experience as a dual-sport athlete, competing in basketball and cross country. The Cyclones take on IPFW Wednesday before opening Big 12 Conference action against No. 21 Oklahoma State.

CYber CYd With Bill Fennelly

Happy New Year Cyclone Fans!

I hope that everyone had a great holiday season. We enjoyed a short break from school and hoops, but we are back at it hard as the calendar turns to 2009.

Following our win Dec. 21 over Minnesota, the players and coaches all took a few days away from practices and games to enjoy family and friends. The time basketball players get away from campus is short, but I am sure all of them appreciated the time. I was very pleased with how we came back to practice on Dec. 26.

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Since returning, the team has won our Cyclone Challenge with convincing wins over Niagara and North Dakota. We played well and it was good that we got to play our entire roster quite a few minutes in both games. It is great that all of our kids get to experience the great atmosphere at Hilton Coliseum as they all work hard in practice. I want to thank all of you who came to the games over the break. It is important to our team, and it is another way to showcase our program and community to the teams that come to the tournament from all over the country!

We opened what will be a VERY difficult 2009 portion of our schedule with a win over No. 19 Vanderbilt on Saturday. I thought it was an outstanding game by both teams as the level of competition and effort was like a postseason game. Our team played as hard as we could play, and we had to, and our fans were at their best as well. The energy in the building on Saturday is what makes Hilton such a special place to play. Our team feeds off that energy and no doubt it was a factor in the game.

We will conclude the non-conference portion of our schedule on Wednesday vs. IPFW. It is another chance to play at Hilton and our last game before we step into the Big 12 and compete in the nation's best conference. We open with a home game against No. 20 Oklahoma State and will follow that with road games at No. 6 Baylor and No. 15 Kansas State. Wow! Welcome to the Big 12!

I also want to take a moment to congratulate the voice of Cyclone women's basketball, Richie Fellingham (and his wife Alice) on his retirement as Director of Special Olympics of Iowa. Rich's contribution to that organization has been amazing and we wish he and Alice all the best.

Thanks as always for the great support you have given all of our programs. Welcome (back) to Coach Rhoads and his family, what a great addition to the Cyclone family. Also, keep rooting for all the sports as we enter 2009. Good luck to Coach Mac and men's basketball as they start Big 12 play, and remember our gymnastics team will open their season this Friday at Hilton.

CYCLONE FANS ARE THE BEST!

See you at Hilton!
Bill Fennelly

Players Mentioned

Anna Florzak

Anna Florzak

Anna Florzak

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