There is a new science in the world of sports – bracketology.

Bracketology is the process of predicting the field of the NCAA basketball tournament and filling out postseason tournament brackets. The concept was invented by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi while he ran the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

In the newest “Bracketology” post by Charlie Creme on www.espn.com on Monday, the Cyclone women are predicted to be seeded ninth in the tournament, set to play the ACC’s Georgia Tech in the first round.

As Creme said on the site, however, “winning at Nebraska on Wednesday would be most hopeful” for the Cyclones’ chances of making the NCAA Tournament.

Fennelly said his team even being “on the bubble” is an amazing accomplishment after the injuries it had sustained.

“I think the discussion on March 1 that this team is possibly a team that is going to contend for an NCAA tournament is one of the greatest stories we’ve ever had here,” Fennelly said. “It has nothing to do with me – it has to do with the young people on this team.”

Sophomore point guard Alison Lacey said the Cyclones are just happy to have something to play for right now.

“We’re just happy that we’re being talked about right now,” Lacey said. “We weren’t going to have any excuses – even though we lost Toccara [Ross] and Nicky [Wieben]. We weren’t going to say that was why we couldn’t make NCAA’s.”

Cyclones enter rematch as a better team

Iowa State dropped a 82-72 game to Nebraska on Jan. 19 in Ames, but both teams are in different positions than they were at that point in the season.

That was the Cyclones’ first game without junior forward Nicky Wieben, who tore her ACL in the previous game against Texas. They trailed 20-5 early on, but were able to get the lead down to two – but could not got over the top.

“Everyone is a little more secure in what their roles are now,” Fennelly said. “That was the first game after Nicky’s injury, and everyone was kind of in a new spot.”

Junior forward Amanda Nisleit said the team members have matured a lot together.

“Now, we kind of know different roles,” Nisleit said. “When people have been injured, people have a lot more experience forward Nicky Wieben, who tore her ACL in the previous game against Texas. They trailed 20-5 early on, but were able to get the lead down to two – but could not got over the top.

“Everyone is a little more secure in what their roles are now,” Fennelly said. “That was the first game after Nicky’s injury, and everyone was kind of in a new spot.”

Junior forward Amanda Nisleit said the team members have matured a lot together.

“Now, we kind of know different roles,” Nisleit said. “When people have been injured, people have a lot more experience than they’ve had in the past – so we’ll see what happens.”

Nebraska was 3-1 in the Big 12 at that point, and Iowa State had dropped its second straight game and was 1-3 in the conference. The Cyclones, however, have won their most recent two games, while the Cornhuskers have lost four of their last six.

Nebraska coach Connie Yori said her team is not much different than it was during their last matchup that game, but Iowa State – and its defense especially – have improved drastically.

“Iowa State is doing a great job of making their opponents shoot the right shots – or the wrong shots, in their opponents’ eyes,” Yori said. “They really lock their opponents down, and that’s clearly been a focus, based on what I’ve seen.”