Think back if you will, Cyclone fans, to early in the current college basketball season. Everyone was predicting success for the ISU women’s team, but optimism for men’s hoops was tentative at best.

Coming off a mediocre rebuilding year in ’98-’99, the Cyclone men seemed to be playing well. After a painful opening loss to Drake, they had pushed their record to 3-2 with an impressive neutral-court victory over Arkansas and had a very strong showing against top-ranked Cincinnati.

As December broke, Iowa State hosted the annual Cyclone Challenge and embarrassed two more opponents, Mississippi Valley State and Sam Houston State.

Sitting down on press row for the second game, I enjoyed the feeling of Cyclone dominance and just wondered how long it would last.

As time was running out on the Bearkats, Iowa State’s media relations staff began distributing all-tournament ballots. The media in attendance were asked to select the best players from the previous two days of competition.

Unfortunately, voting for the all-tournament team was out of the question for me. I’d covered both of Iowa State’s contests from start to finish, but I’d only seen a half of the Montana State-Sam Houston State matchup and even less of the Montana State-Mississippi Valley State game.

In fact, I was joined by only three members of the working media for the exciting twenty minutes of Delta Devil-Bobcat basketball that I watched. The stat sheets for the two “meaningless” games also drew cobwebs in the media room.

The truth is, no one cared about these other teams, and no one cared how they performed in the Cyclone Challenge.

Having said that, dozens of reporters and broadcasters were eager to fill out ballots for the all-tourney team. They just chose to ignore everyone but the home team in their voting.

What’s worse, they didn’t exactly pay close attention to Iowa State. A little-known shooting guard named Kantrail Horton went 7-for-8 on the weekend with four three-pointers, nine rebounds, three steals, 11 assists and only two turnovers.

Lacking the pizzazz of a Jamaal Tinsley or the name recognition of a Martin Rancik, Horton was the only Cyclone starter not selected to the all-tournament team.

While such balloting seems like a joke to me, I have to wonder what reason there is to believe that the voters for the AP and Coaches’ polls are any better informed.

If the media covering ISU wouldn’t take the time to watch two extra games and read a couple of box scores, what reason have we to believe that pollsters are closely following the progress of 318 individual NCAA teams?

The answer’s a simple one, and for ISU fans, an obvious one. There’s no reason to believe it. The truth is, they’re not.

Coaches such as Patrick Flannery of Bucknell and Joe Mihalich of Niagara spend their week recruiting, watching film, preparing their teams to play and traveling to and from games.

And then on Saturday, they break down as many as 700 other games to decide who the top 25 teams in the nation are? Give me a break.

At most, these coaches glance at top 25 scoreboards and maybe throw in an extra vote or two for teams they’ve played. In fact, judging by their performance this year, such a strategy would be a major improvement.

The Cyclones were not a threat last year, and popular opinion had them in the same boat for this campaign. In fact, the buffoons that put together CBS Sportsline’s poll didn’t even pick Iowa State to finish the season in the top 200. The Cyclones kicked off the year ranked No. 228, considerably below the likes of Alcorn State and Delaware.

Well, these preconceived notions are apparently not easy to break. With an overall record of 16-3 and a mark of 4-1 in one of the nation’s elite conferences, the Cyclones are struggling to draw pocket change from the voters.

With their only loss in nearly two months coming in double-overtime at the hands of the nations’ No. 18 team on a hostile court, the Cyclones continue to be locked out of either Top 25 poll.

The sad part is, no one’s trying to justify their exclusion.

The AP journalists and NCAA coaches that make the decisions simply have yet to figure out that Iowa State exists.

You’d be hard-pressed to find 10 teams in either poll that could come to Ames and post a victory. Temple? Tulsa? Vanderbilt? You’ve got to be kidding me.

You think Rice’s coach, Willis Wilson, checks the ISU box scores before he casts his vote each week? Judging by the Owls’ record over the past several seasons, you have to wonder if coaches such as Wilson can even read a box score.

The Cyclones deserve a lot more respect than they’ve received in recent weeks. The unfortunate truth is, they’ll be hard-pressed to get it, fighting through the laziness and ignorance that floods the polling process.

When coaches like Larry Eustachy tell you they don’t put a lot of stock in the AP and Coaches’ polls, it’s not just an attempt to avoid a tough question. They simply realize the idiots with whom they’re dealing.

Fortunately for the Cyclones, they’ll have a rare opportunity on Saturday to show the world just how good they are. When the Jayhawks return to Kansas double-digit losers, even the mighty pollsters will have to give Iowa State its due.

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Ron DeMarse is a senior in liberal studies from Muscatine.