Little known fact: Cyrus Tate's hands are albino.
I was sure I was reading this incorrectly, but I guess they're sticking with it--Cyrus Tate (the motherfucking Virus, baby! WOOOOO!) has been named Player of the Week in the Big 10. Frankly, we're startled; no Hawkeye has won the award since over a year ago, when Adam Haluska earned the honors in early February '07.
Tate's capping performance was a 26-point effort against the SPARTAAAANS looking for win number 300 for Izzo (TONIGHT! WE DINE AT PIZZA HUT!), and while the number is statistically impressive, he (like every other Hawkeye) was nowhere to be found while MSU was building up their lead in the first 10 minutes. Look, it's hardly his fault Iowa lost, but whoop-dee-shit, you know, you scored 26 points against a coasting Sparty, and Iowa was never even within a dozen points in the second half. We don't mean to come off so negative, but for crying out loud, would it kill the Hawkeyes to give the ball to the Virus in the first half for once?
All bitching and whining aside, it's safe to say that Tate is the third Hawkeye to make a gigantic step forward this season, joining Tony Freeman and the Gornstar. That's impressive. It's even more impressive because Tate was AWOL during the non-conference slate; true freshman Jarryd Cole was outplaying him. Now, that's not to say that Cole would be dropping double doubles like Amare Stoudemire all over the place if it weren't for the ACL tear (and holy god I hope that situation heals nicely; big men need knees), but it reinforces the fact that Lickliter's basically working with duct tape, popsicle sticks, and pipe cleaners out there. Help us Matt Gatens, you're our only hope.