The 1998-99 school year was marked by a number of intriguing events for Cyclone athletics. Obviously, the highlight was the women’s basketball team making it to the Elite Eight, but there were other highlights that made this year memorable.

The football team suffered through another lackluster year, but who could forget the 27-9 thrashing of the Iowa Hawkeyes in Iowa City?

I probably wasn’t practicing the best journalistic ethics when I willingly participated in the orgy at midfield after the game.

The team then followed the first win over their interstate rivals since 1982 with a 38-0 whitewash of the Ball State Cardinals.

For the first time in a long time, things were looking up for McCarney and his troops.

The next seven games typified what Cyclones fans have seen in the past 20 years or so: losses.

Some were frustrating, like the one to Texas Tech. Others were simply filthy, like the giveaway at Oklahoma. And then there was the annual pounding administered by Nebraska.

Don’t get me wrong- three wins is fabulous when one considers this is Iowa State. And there were some promising things that occurred.

How about Ennis Haywood? The brightest young player on the squad will probably not get prime-time carries behind established veteran Darren Davis.

The question is, will he be sitting because Davis is the better player or because of the name that appears on his back?

The men’s basketball team was alternately painful to watch and impossible to turn away from.

The team’s offense was brutal all year, as All-Big 12 forward Marcus Fizer had little help. However, the team made up for its shortcomings on the offensive end with solid defense and good rebounding.

The team season featured many ups and downs. Losing at Northern Iowa was a tough one to take, as was the pounding administered by the Hawkeyes.

Wins over Nebraska and Kansas showed that Larry Eustachy’s team had some potential, and a .500 season with this group has to be considered a success.

After the season, the team underwent a large upheaval as three players left the team while Eustachy recruited more backcourt members to fill out next year’s roster.

Although with Paul Shirley and mid-season addition Kantrell Horton the team looks better, I’m taking a skeptical wait-and-see approach.

The women’s team, on the other hand, was a complete joy to cover and to watch as a fan. The regular season saw the Cyclones absolutely roll through the home schedule.

Oddly enough, the highlight may have been the only close game, as Megan Taylor nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Texas.

And the post-season was almost too good to be true.

The run started with an exciting comeback win over Santa Clara while ISU played its best game of the year in dispatching a solid Oregon opponent in the second round.

The game against UCONN was the most improbable of them all, as the Cyclones came back from a seven-point second half deficit to upset the top-seeded Huskies.

While the season ended in a dissapointing fashion against Georgia, the players and coaches gave fans plenty to look forward to next year.

The team returns everybody, and expect numerous crowds of 10,000 more to cheer the squad on next year.

Then there’s the volleyball program. Well, at least it takes some attention from the football team, right?

By the way, I bet you didn’t know that I got hired here by virtue of my Pulitzer Prize-winning work while writing for the Guilford Voyager.

At least, that was what was on my application…

Anyway, it’s been a great year, and I’d like to take this space to thank everyone for making this possible. So thanks to everyone who made this possible. See ya later, suckers!

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Josh Flickinger is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Rockford, Ill. He likes the way you work it, Zo diggity.