It's a good-news day for Iowa State sports

Two unrelated news items from Ames greeted me this morning. Neither is earth-shaking, but both are good for Iowa State athletics.

The first came my way via Iowa State's sports information department, the second via an Ames Tribune story by Travis Hines.

1. ISU has set a school-record for football season tickets sold with 40,600. 

That breaks last year's record of 40,547 and it marks three straight years of increases.

Iowa State's season ticket base has increased more than 20% during the Paul Rhoads era and 81 percent since Jamie Pollard became athletic director.

2. Iowa State's men's basketball team will be on ESPN's Big Monday twice in the 2013-14 season.

For the second straight season, the Kansas-ISU game in Hilton Coliseum will have a national audience. That will come early in the Big 12 schedule, on Jan. 13.

Also, the Cyclones' game at Oklahoma State on Feb. 3 will be on ESPN. Kansas and Oklahoma State will surely be the top two teams in preseason prognostications about how the conference will shape up.