When Vanderbilt beat Iowa State 84-65 Saturday in Denver, they ended what could have been the greatest season in the team’s history.

Also over are the careers of four seniors, Gintar‚ Cipinyte, Sarah Robson, Erica Haugen and Megan Taylor. They may be the hardest to let go as they have gripped fans for the last four years, seeing more success than any other group of Cyclones before them.

A choked-up Bill Fennelly promised that what they had done at Iowa State would never be forgotten.

Fennelly will keep his promise, but even if he didn’t, it would be unlikely that anybody could ever forget a player like Taylor, who is the all-time leading rebounder and scorer in school history, and is loved by all Cyclone fans from the youngest little boy to the oldest woman.

And how could we forget Haugen, who does all the little things that make a team one of the top 16 in the nation? Defense, rebounds, steals, scoring or whatever Iowa State needs, she can do.

But the year is over, and it is now time to look ahead, but not before looking back one more time to cover the highs and lows and point out some things to watch for next year. Indeed, it will be like the Oscars for the women’s basketball team.

And the awards go to .

Team MVP:

This is really a tough call; when you have a team this good, it could go to anybody.

Four Cyclones were named to the All-Big 12 team, and they all have led the team at different times in the year. Yet the one player who has stood out all season and posted double-doubles in 17 games is Angie Welle. In fact, Welle averaged a double-double with 18.3 points per game and 10.1 rebounds.

Welle was an inside force and played great defense while she managed to stay out of foul trouble, which is imperative to the Cyclones’ winning.

Best supporting player (off the bench):

This year the nod goes to redshirt freshman Erica Junod, who doesn’t know that she is only 5 feet 7 inches tall. She can rebound with the best of them on the team and has an outstanding jumper, too.

In a game that Iowa State won 81-52 against Kansas State, Junod led the team with 12 rebounds. She claims that she gets lucky bounces, but she can board and next year she will get a lot more playing time to show off her skills with the loss of Haugen.

Best game:

Easy, the Big 12 tournament Championship game.

The Cyclones had lost the regular season crown, even though they were the only team to beat the champs, to Oklahoma.

Iowa State got a chance to beat the Sooners again and won in dramatic fashion as the game went down to the wire.

An errant three at the buzzer by Oklahoma and the Cyclones won their second consecutive Big 12 Tournament title, 68-65.

Runners up in this category would be Texas Tech in the Big 12 tourney and the Cyclones’ regular season win at Oklahoma.

Most disappointing game:

No, not the loss to Vanderbilt. The loss to Kansas in Lawrence.

In every other game the Cyclones lost, they were beaten by the better team, except for Kansas.

The Cyclones beat themselves by shooting 4-17 from beyond the arc and turning the ball over 19 times. Kansas isn’t better than Iowa State, period.

Most exciting player:

Lindsey Wilson.

At the men’s games, I saw signs that said `Fizer who?’ Clearly Paul Shirley and Martin Rancik aren’t better than Marcus Fizer. I never saw a `Frese who?’ sign at women’s games (out of respect to Stacy) but clearly when Wilson is done at Iowa State she will have been the greatest point guard to play here.

She developed her game tremendously during this season and ended up on the third-team All-Big12. She finished second on the team in scoring with 14.7 points per game and led the team in assists with 165, not to mention she is impossible to guard and has ankle-breaking moves.

She gets to the basket at will and decides to score or pass to the open player, and if she improves as much next year as she did this year, she will be totally unstoppable.

Write this down; she will be an All-American next year too.

Best team leader:

Chalk this one up for Taylor. Yeah, she can score and she can board, but it’s the way she handles herself on the court. She hustles for every play, she never quits and she is all over the floor.

When it comes to what Fennelly wants his team to be, Taylor is the poster girl.

Most likely to replace Taylor:

Junior-to-be Holly Bordewyk and senior-to-be Kelly Cizek should step right in.

Bordewyk is athletic and plays with as much hustle as Taylor, and although Cizek isn’t a three-point threat, she is automatic from 17-feet in. Redshirt transfer Mary Cofield can hit the three and shoots lights out in practice, and if that transfers over to games, Cyclone opponents are in some trouble.

Hey, nobody can replace Taylor, but look at it this way. Who thought the team would be as good without Frese, Francis and Huelman? But it was. Fennelly has built a great program and it isn’t going to get bad, only better.

Biggest surprise:

Tracy Gahan.

We all knew she was good and she could score if she would just shoot, but with Gahan the Cyclones were able to kill two birds with one stone because she is as good a rebounder as any on the team.

She averaged 7.7 boards per game and had 14 three times this year.

At the beginning of the year the team wondered who would step up and score and who would step up and rebound. Gahan did both.

The scoring was expected, the rebounding, that was a surprise.

Next year’s outlook:

Look for the Cyclones to be right back where they are, in the top three of the Big 12.

Oklahoma and Texas Tech are both returning strong teams, losing one key player each, so they will be tough. The bright side to that is they will both be coming to Hilton, where the Cyclones’ chances of winning will increase.

If Iowa State can win those two games and avoid the upsets they can regain the regular season crown, without Taylor and Haugen.

The other bright spot is that next year the Cyclones will host the Midwest regional, so it is likely that Iowa State will play four home games on the road to the Final Four.

One final note, credit is due to Bill Fennelly. He has handled the program with class, he wins and loses with dignity and is an all-around good guy.

He has been approachable and very easy to deal with even though this is just a college paper. The same can be said for the whole team.

As the lights dimmed at the Pepsi Center late Saturday night, and only media, team and family remained, I walked by the coach and congratulated him on a great year.

He thanked me for all of my time and for coming to the games.

The only response I could think of:

“No Coach, thank you.”

Jeremy Gustafson is a senior in journalism and mass communications from Ogden. He is co-sports editor of the Daily.