1999-2000 basketball season

Editor’s Note: The 2000 men’s basketball team came from low preseason expectations to win the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles. The Cyclones went to the Elite Eight before losing a close game to Michigan State. This was the most successful ISU men’s basketball team since the Cyclones made an appearance in the final four in 1944.

The 2000 men’s basketball team is possibly the most exciting, talented and successful men’s basketball team to ever wear the cardinal and gold.

The team featured All-American forward Marcus Fizer’s power underneath with 22.8 points per game and first team All-Big 12 selection Jamaal Tinsley’s (also named an All-American in 2001) electrifying drives and ball handling skills.

The team also included defensive and three-point specialists Kantrell Horton and Michael Nurse, along with forwards Stevie Johnson, Martin Rancik and Paul Shirley.

Although the 2000 Cyclones are remembered as one of the best ISU teams ever, expectations were pretty low for the team going into the season.

Iowa State was coming off of a 15-15 season, 6-10 in the Big 12, in coach Larry Eustachy’s first year at the helm for the Cyclones after relying heavily on Marcus Fizer in 1999. Preseason polls picked Iowa State to finish no higher than seventh in the Big 12, and one magazine had them in last place.

Enter Tinsley, a little-known point guard from Mount San Jacinto Community College, who had honed his ball handling skills playing on the playgrounds in Brooklyn, N.Y. Tinsley was able to help take some of the pressure off Fizer, averaging 11 points per game. More importantly, however, Tinsley contributed 6.6 assists, 2.6 steals and one block per game, serving as the spark plug for the Cyclones.

Although the Cyclones went on to set the school record with 32 wins and a .865 winning percentage, the season started off inauspiciously. In the second game of the season, Iowa State fell to in-state rival Drake in an ugly 48-44 game in which the Bulldogs lead almost all throughout.

The team bounced back quickly from that setback, however, heading straight to Hawaii for the Big Island Invitational, where they made it to the championship game before falling to then No. 1-ranked Cincinnati 75-60.

From there, the team reeled off a school record 13 wins in a row and rode that momentum to a 26-4 regular season record, including a regular season Big 12 Championship. They followed up that success with three straight wins in the Big 12 Tournament, knocking off No. 15 Oklahoma in the championship game, 70-58 for the school’s first conference championship since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997.

The Cyclones received a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region of the NCAA tournament. After a minor scare in the first round by 15-seeded Central Connecticut State (a 88-78 win), the Cyclones rolled their next two opponents, beating Auburn by 19 and UCLA, who was labeled “the hottest team in the country,” by a whopping 24 points.

The Cyclones’ magical 2000 season came to an end in the Elite Eight against eventual national champion Michigan State.

Iowa State led for most of the game, including an eight-point lead in the second half. The Spartans were able to come back, however, taking a lead with just under three minutes left, a lead they would not give up as they went on to an inflated 11 point win.

The Cyclones finished the season ranked third in the final coaches poll.

“I told our team we have nothing to be disappointed about and to hang out heads about,” Eustachy said after the loss. “This is one of the toughest teams I have ever seen. This team was picked to finish last in the Big 12 by one magazine and they ended up five minutes away from the Final Four.”