As the 1998-99 Cyclone men’s basketball season officially came to an end yesterday with their exclusion from any postseason bid, this would be a good time for a season in review.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Marcus Fizer. The sophomore from Arcadia, La., averaged 18.0 points on the year to go along with 7.6 rebounds. He was named first team All-Big 12 and showed more of a willingness to pass out of the double team as the year went on.

He clearly made an improvement on the defensive end from his freshman year and backed down from nobody the entire year.

#PLAY OF THE YEAR

Without a doubt, the pick and roll that set Fizer free against Kansas. The big man got an uncontested dunk with :54 left to give the Cyclones the final margin for victory in a thrilling contest.

GAME OF THE YEAR

Again, this one has to go to Kansas. In front of a sellout crowd, the Cyclones beat the Jayhawks on the final day of the season, 52-50.

The nod also has to go to the Western Illinois game. The contest featured Michael Nurse, six days after being hit by a truck, coming off the bench to erase an 18-point second half deficit and give the Cyclones the win.

Number three on the list would be the Nebraska game, which was another defensive struggle won by ISU in front of a big crowd and a national TV audience.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER

This would go to Martin Rancik, who averaged 10.3 points on the year. He also showed the ability to come through in the clutch with several shots down the stretch that were critical to victories.

Although he remains tentative on the offensive end, he is clearly a hard worker on both sides of the ball. Because of the lack of height on the squad, Rancik was often pressed into guarding the other team’s big man, and he performed admirably in his duty.

OFFENSE

The offense largely struggled most of the year. The Cyclones had only one player, Fizer, who was a threat to score on the inside. It would have been very interesting to see what he could have done with an outside threat.

Speaking of perimeter struggles, the guard play was suspect for most of the year. Although Nurse shot the ball well, he was not able to create for the rest of the squad as often as coach Larry Eustachy would have liked.

Rodney Hampton line-drived his way to 33 three-pointers, but shot only 31 percent in doing so and was not respected enough by opponents to detract attention from Fizer.

Paris Corner bounced back from his mid-season suspension to play pretty well down the stretch. He showed signs of filling the potential that the highly-touted recruit has.

Lamar Gregg is clearly not a Division I player, particularly on the offensive end. While early in the season he showed the ability to stop his opponent, Eustachy evidently couldn’t see past his shortcomings on the offensive side. Call him the bizarro Jerry Curry.

In the frontcourt, Fizer and Rancik were solid.

Klay Edwards was a bit of a disappointment in his senior year. Although he finished strong, Edwards didn’t provide the kind of play that had been his signature the year before.

Stevie Johnson had a very good year on the boards. The junior from Beaumont, Miss., quickly developed into a crowd favorite by grabbing 8.2 rebounds per game in the conference season and almost three of them were on the offensive end.

And when there was a game that was played up-tempo, you could count on him for at least a double digit-scoring game. Johnson no doubt would flourish in a fast-breaking offense a la TCU, but his shortcomings are made obvious in the half-court offense.

Hilton fans pleaded for him to take the ball to the hole wherever he got it, and when he did he was largely successful. Perhaps in his senior year he will put it all together as people who have been following him since his arrival have expected.

Tony Rampton is Tony Rampton. ‘Nuff said.

A positive aspect of the Cyclone offense was the free throw shooting. Iowa State led the Big 12 in this category, knocking down 70 percent of the freebies.

Martin Rancik was very good on the line, shooting 87 percent from the line on the year.

Also making a big improvement was Marcus Fizer, who shot 74 percent from the line.

DEFENSE

This is the only reason why the Cyclones managed to finish .500 at 15-15. They led the Big 12 in scoring defense, giving up only 60.6 points per game.

They also held opponents to 40 percent shooting, good for fourth in the Big 12.

They also rebounded the ball well, as they outrebounded opponents by an average of 3.6 boards per game, good again for fourth in the conference.

OVERALL

This season has to be considered a success. The Cyclones ended with three more wins than last year, which is a significant feat when you consider what Eustachy had to work with in his first year.

The most intriguing thing for next year will be the three newcomers, all of whom could start.

Travis Spivey started all of Georgia Tech’s games as a freshman last year and will be a major contributor.

Paul Shirley overcame a cracked pelvis to practice with the team for most of the second semester and should be much stronger come fall.

Kantrell Horton is the big question in the group. There are many who felt that Horton could’ve stepped in at the off guard and contributed right away.

Next year should be better than this, and an NCAA bid shouldn’t be wishful thinking.