The battle for state subordination is on the line tonight as the Iowa St. Cyclones host the Iowa Hawkeyes at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

Both the Hawkeyes and Cyclones have lost to the Northern Iowa Panthers (ISU at home by 6, Iowa on the road by 20), while ISU has also dropped one to the Drake Bulldogs, with Iowa's matchup against the Des Moines, IA school next on the schedule.

The home team is clearly better that their host. Though ISU (6-3) in 0fer the state, their talent level is unquestionably apparent. It is the gelling of a bunch of transfers that is limiting their progress.

And three of the transfers have knowledge with Iowa. Chris Babb and Chris Allen played against the Hawkeyes as members Big 10 schools while Royce White, another Big 10 transfer, never saw any action against the Hawkeyes. Combined Allen and Babb are 6-3 against the Hawkeyes, Allen 5-1 with really good Michigan State team, while Babb was 1-2 with poor Penn State squads.

Truthfully, ISU should run their brother out of the gymnasium. Iowa has one scorer, Matt Gatens, and he is really their only leading man because nobody else has stepped up. ISU has the three aforementioned transfers, plus JUCO transfer Tyrus McGee, sharpshooting Scott Christopherson and slumping Melvin Ejim. They simply have too much talent to let this one slip through their hands.

The game tips tonight at 7 p.m. CST and can be found on ESPN3.

It is only a day away. The Iowa State Cyclones will be playing in the biggest game for their program in nearly a decade. It was only two short months ago when fans voted this game versus the Michigan Wolverines to be the second-best non-conference tilt for any Big 12 team this season. I'm excited myself because I'm the only one on the site to officially pick ISU to play in the NCAA Tournament and a win in a meaningful basketball game like this would really turn some heads. Both teams are coming off losses earlier in the week, Michigan to Virginia and Iowa State to Northern Iowa, so this would be the perfect time for one of these schools to get back to business.

The preview of Iowa State vs. Michigan is coming after the jump.

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Royce White watched. As did Chris Allen and Chris Babb. But none of the three transfers sitting out per NCAA regulations could do a thing as the Northern Iowa Panthers upset the Iowa St. Cyclones 60-54 last season, handing the Clones one of their two non-conference losses on the season.

This year they're hoping for a different outcome.

The trio of transfers lead an ISU team in their in-state match-up tonight against the Panthers, as both teams have had an eerily similar starts to the season. Both are 5-1 and have four game winning streaks on the line tonight. Both are returning from 2-0 showings at the South Padre Island Invitational, where each defeated both the Rice Owls and Providence Friars. The Clones had the more dominating victory over Rice, winning by 27, compared to a narrow 4-point victory by UNI. But UNI got the better of Providence, taking home a 17-point win, while ISU won by 10.

Compared to the game last season in Cedar Falls, tonight's game in Ames will feature a drastically different Cyclone squad. The Clones top four scoring leaders are all new to this rivalry, as White, Allen and Babb are all D1 transfers and Tyrus McGee played in JUCO the past two seasons. The leading returning scorer from the game last year is Scott Christopherson (ironically a Marquette transfer himself), who scored 10 and pulled down five boards in that contest.

The Panthers are led by a pair of juniors, 6-9 forward Jake Koch and 6-0 guard Anthony James, and 6-1 senior guard Johnny Moran. During last year's game this trio led the Panthers with 12 points apiece.

So the winner? With Hilton Magic reincarnated and the talent level now wearing cardinal and gold, the Clones will get their revenge.

Iowa State fans, stand up! You've got yourselves a competitive team! YEAH! The season opener went well for the Cyclones who beat a solid Lehigh squad 86-77 in Ames. I was anxious to see how the new faces would play together in a regular season setting, and they did not disappoint. All four transfers who saw action today scored in double figures, but the one that stole the show was ex-Minnesota Golden Gopher Royce White. White controlled the paint all game long, scoring 25 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and rejecting three shots. If he plays like that even three-fourths of the time, then you might as well hand him the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Award to him right now and start calling him "The Mayor." 

Their opponent, Lehigh, is no cupcake on the schedule either. They gave the Red Storm all they could handle earlier this week at St.John's. They won the Patriot League regular season title a season ago and bring back C.J. McCollum, whose points per game average in 2010-11 (21.8) is tops in the nation for a returning player. Good for head coach Fred Hoiberg to schedule a non-freebie to start the year. 

Penn State transfer Chris Babb scored 10 points and dished out 5 assists, ex-Michigan State guard Chris Allen also scored 10 including 2-for-4 from the perimeter and former Southern Illinois forward Anthony Booker came off the bench for 10 more on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field. This is only game one of a long season, but a break here and a break there, Iowa State could find themselves in the NCAA Tournament come March. 

How will the Iowa St. Cyclones fare this season? What will their overall and Big 12 records be? Will they make a postseason tournament?

We'll answer all those questions, plus guess which teams they'll upset and which will upset them after The Jump.

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Last season the Iowa St. Cyclones began the season 13-2 against fairly inferior opponents, before going 3-13 in conference play to wind up 16-16 after a first round loss in the Big 12 tournament.

This season they have a fairly similar non-conference schedule, with the highlight being an in-state affair at home against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Clones do get to travel south of the border to compete in the South Padre Island Invitational, and travel to Ann Arbor for a game against Michigan, but this non-conference season should allow the fresh faced Clones time to gel before heading into conference play.

See the entire 2011-12 Iowa State Cyclones schedule after The Jump and come back tomorrow for our predictions on the outcome.

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It's oftentimes tough for a legend to return to the court where they made their name, but through one season as Iowa St. Cyclones coach, Fred Hoiberg still has the adoration of the locals.

The Clones started out of the gate like gangbusters during Hoiberg's inaugural season at the helm of his alma mater last year. Going 13-2 in non-conference play, there were whispers in Ames that ISU could make waves in Big 12 play, but a 3-13 conference record and first round exit from the Big 12 conference tournament ended their season with an even 16-16 record.

Though the Cyclones didn't have the season they were hoping for on the court, Hoiberg was hard at work raiding the waiver wire and bringing in a multitude of transfers.

As a former NBA player in three Midwestern towns, Hoiberg had the most success with former Big 10 players. Including former Michigan St. Spartans Chris Allen and Korie Lucious, former Minnesota Golden Gopher Royce White and former Penn State Nittany Lion Chris Babb, ISU will have seven transfers on this year's squad and it appears that Hoiberg is hoping for quick success with transfers, then building upon any momentum with grabbing high school freshman.

Nicknamed The Mayor, because he received write-in votes for the 1993 Ames mayoral election, Hoiberg has always been a larger than life figure in Central Iowa. If he can bring the same pride back to the Cyclones that resonated throughout the campus during his playing days, Hoiberg could find himself knighted by Clone fans.

Royce White was going to put the Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball program back on the national map. He was a native son and was ranked as the 19^th best recruit in the class of class of 2009 by Rivals.com... ahead of big names like Kansas' Thomas Robinson, San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard and Duke's Mason Plumlee.

Then he had a few lapses in judgment. He pled guilty to theft and disorderly conduct after an incident at the Mall of America and then left the team after an alleged theft of a laptop from a Minnesota dorm room.

Looking for a new place to call home, he landed in Ames with Iowa St. Cyclones' head coach Fred Hoiberg, whom he watched when Hoiberg was a guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"He's a very engaging kid, a very smart kid, and he fully admits to making a mistake," Hoiberg told CBS Sports. "Everybody involved with it, they all thought that he was genuine about it and that he deserved another chance. We're excited to have him on board."

So now that the talented redshirt sophomore is able to suit up in a Clones uniform, what can we expect? Well, if you ask Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen, we can expect the greatest player in the history of the program.

Not Jamaal Tinsley. Not Marcus Fizer. Not even Hoiberg. White.

Those lofty expectations - which were only fueled by White's 11.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 6.3 apg and 3.0 spg averages, while shooting 67.6 percent from the field, during ISU's trip through Italy this summer - have made Clone fans giddy as a schoolgirl.

And while it might be easy to shoot down Hansen's claim, the Mayor isn't doing anything to quell the assertion.

"The thing I like best about Royce is that he's a very unselfish player," Hoiberg also told CBS Sports. "You totally set your offense differently with Royce on the basketball floor. Use him as a facilitator, and you put him on the elbows, you let him attack and make plays. And he's a very willing passer."