Five seniors and a host of newcomers will be the key this season as the ISU men’s basketball team will attempt to duplicate last year’s success and fill the void left by All-American Marcus Fizer.The Cyclones finished the 1999-2000 season with an incredible 32-5 mark, and were ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll, and No. 3 in the final Coaches’ Poll. This was an amazing feat for a team that was expected to finish in the Big 12 basement, and last by one preseason magazine. The Fizer-led team did much to disappoint their skeptics, as they went on to win the Big 12 regular season championship, the Big 12 Tournament, and making a run to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. The team eventually lost to National Champion Michigan State.Now, the task ahead of last season’s AP and United States Basketball Writers of America National Coach of the Year, Larry Eustachy and his staff will be finding a mix of players to replace the departed trio of NBA Lottery Draft Pick Fizer, guard Michael Nurse, and forward Stevie Johnson. This threesome accounted for more than half the team’s scoring and over a third of the rebounding.Lucky for Eustachy, senior point guard and former Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Jamaal Tinsley and senior shooting guard Kantrail Horton will return to the backcourt to haunt the Big 12 and the rest of country. Tinsley is considered the nation’s premier point guard by most preseason publications, and is a frontrunner for the Wooden and Naismith Awards, which honor the nation’s best overall player. Horton can be counted to chip in at least 8.7 points and 4 rebounds (his averages from 99-00), along with providing ever-important senior leadership.Down low, seniors Paul Shirley, Richard Evans, and Martin Rancick will try to pickup where they left off last season, with stellar defense and rebounding. Replacing Fizer in the scoring column will be a daunting task; this is where the newcomers come in. Freshman sharpshooter Jake Sullivan hopes to make an impact early at the shooting guard spot, and is expected to do just that, as he is ranked one of the nation’s top incoming freshman recruits. Power forward Tyray Pearson, a first-team Division 1 National Junior College All-American while at Kankakee Community College in Kankakee,IL, will be expected to score, as well as rebound.The other newcomers are guard Zach Fortune, center Andrew Skoglund, and forwards Omar Bynum, Shane Power and Marcus Jefferson. Fortune was last year’s Mr. Basketball in the state of Nebraska, and Skoglund is the tallest player in ISU history, standing at 7-1. Bynum comes to Ames via Indian Hills Junior College in Ottumwa, and has three years of eligibility remaining. Power, a finalist for Indiana’s Mr. Basketball Award, turned down Purdue, Miami (FL.), Southern California, and Alabama to play for Iowa State, and is also a big-time scoring threat. Jefferson, a native of East Chicago, IN, and a transfer from Providence College will be forced to sit out the season due to NCAA rules.Eustachy enters his third season at Iowa State with a career mark of 206-106, and a 47-20 record as the head of the Cyclones. He is joined on the bench by assistants Randy Brown, Terry Carroll and Leonard Perry.The new-look Cyclones first action will be in exhibition play on Nov. 8 against Next Level Sports. The regular season opens on Nov. 21, against Morningside College. A date with Iowa on Dec. 9 in Iowa City highlights the non-conference schedule, and Big 12 play begins Jan. 6 at home versus Oklahoma. The Cylcones will visit Oklahoma State on Jan. 8, Missouri on Jan. 13, Kansas on Feb. 5, and play host to Missouri on Feb. 11 and Kansas on Feb. 17. All games will be televised on ABC, CBS, and ESPN picking up the marquee matchups.