If Fred Hoiberg had social media to contend with back in his playing days at Iowa State from 1991-94, he said he would have been a mess.

He averaged nearly 20 points his senior year, and was just seven points shy of a career mark of 2,000, but even “The Mayor” would have had his fair share of doubters and naysayers.

After Iowa’s loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 22, where senior Zach McCabe left a potential game-winning shot short, he was relentlessly attacked on Twitter and retaliated.

In light of the instance with McCabe, Hoiberg made his stance on the subject quite clear at his weekly news conference Feb. 24.

“I think it’s a disgrace,” Hoiberg said. “I think social media is going to be the end of us, I really do. I think it’s a joke that people can sit behind their computer and take a stab at a young kid that’s out there doing the best that they can.”

Newly ranked No. 15 Iowa State had experienced a smaller version of trouble with social media earlier in the season. Freshman shooting guard Matt Thomas was cold shooting the ball and had just been moved to the bench when he started receiving an overload of negative comments on Twitter.

Hoiberg advised him to shut it down to help him get where he needed to be, but it hasn’t just been Thomas that Hoiberg has tried to counsel, he’s had the talk with the entire team. Feb. 22, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery told his players to “shut down” their Twitter accounts in light of McCabe’s instance. 

“I haven’t done that with our guys,” Hoiberg said referring to McCaffery’s decision. “I’ve talked about them being careful. Not only with what they say but what they read, you can’t take too much on your mind.”

Melvin Ejim has experienced plenty of hate on Twitter throughout his four years at Iowa State. He said he “feels for Zach [McCabe]” and that it’s tough because it’s part of today’s world.

“It’s tough because when you’re on social media, you’re just a click away,” Ejim said. “There’s definitely times when you want to say stuff on social media to people who you know are just blatantly trying to be disrespectful and it’s hard to bite your tongue.

“I know firsthand how it is when people get on you and you feel like you have to retaliate.”

Georges Niang hears plenty of chirping from his 13,600-plus followers on Twitter, whether it’s about his “old man game” or the usual negativity, but he’s not bothered by it.

“You’ve got to take the good with that bad,” Niang said. “There are some true Cyclone fans out there and there are some fair weather fans out there. I love Cyclone Nation, so I don’t have anything against them.”

Iowa and McCabe’s situation is just an example of what can go wrong, the way Ejim called it being “one click away.” Hoiberg said it’s a disgrace, but it is part of the world we live in now.

“It’s something you’ve got to be conscious of and you’ve got to know that you can’t stoop down to that level because ultimately the only person it’s going to hurt is you or your team,” Ejim said. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s part of the game now, it’s not going anywhere.”