Photos credit of Imagn Images
Around this time of year, I reflect back to that March night in 2000 at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Iowa State-Michigan State in an Elite Eight battle. NCAA Tournament title-game atmosphere among 21,000-plus fans. Unmatched intensity among players and coaches.
Midwest Regional. Winner goes to the Final Four at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
Midwest Regional. Drivable sites from Des Moines. Final Four in Indy.
Sound familiar?
Second-seeded Iowa State started that memorable 2000 Big Dance by beating Central Connecticut State and Auburn in the regional’s first two games at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Then came a Sweet 16 victory against UCLA, setting up an Elite Eight showdown against No. 1-seed Michigan State.
Iowa State’s Larry Eustachy against the Spartans’ Tom Izzo. The Cyclones’ Marcus Fizer and Jamaal Tinsley and Michael Nurse. Michigan State’s Morris Peterson and Mateen Cleaves and Charlie Bell.
One coach (Izzo) got a technical. The other was ejected with 9.9 seconds to play.
Iowa State didn’t win, losing 75-64, in a high-octane game that included controversial calls, fiery coaches and entertaining play during which physicality at times bordered on postseason exhaustion.
“I didn’t even comb my hair today, because I knew it would be a dogfight,” Nurse told reporters.
“This should have been played in the Final Four,” Izzo said in an arena hallway after the game.
You name it, this game — the first of what would become four second-seeded Iowa State teams in the 2000s — had it.
Some have said that season was Iowa State’s best to legitimately reach its first Final Four since 1944, but I don’t know. I still wonder what would have happened if Georges Niang wouldn’t have broken a bone in his foot during an opening-round victory against North Carolina Central in the 2014 tournament.
The Cyclones persevered, beating North Carolina (without Niang) by two points in the East Region’s Round of 32, then headed to New York’s Madison Square Garden to open the Sweet 16 against Connecticut.
This time, Fred Hoiberg’s team wasn’t as fortunate, losing 81-76 in the Big Apple against a UConn team that would go on to win the 2014 national title.
That Cyclones team included Melvin Ejim, who averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds. It included DeAndre Kane, Dustin Hogue, Naz Mitrou-Long, true freshmen Monte Morris and Matt Thomas — and Niang, a sophomore starter who averaged 16.7 points.
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2014 Iowa State Rotation:
DeAndre Kane, Melvin Ejim, Georges Niang, Dustin Hogue, Naz Mitrou-Long, Monte Morris, Matt Thomas.
2000 Iowa State Rotation: Marcus Fizer, Michael Nurse, Jamaal Tinsley, Stevie Johnson, Kantrail Horton, Brandon Hawkins, Paul Shirley, Martin Rancik.
2001 Iowa State Rotation: Jamaal Tinsley, Martin Rancik, Jake Sullivan, Kantrail Horton, Paul Shirley, Shane Power, Richard Evans, Tyray Pearson.
2026 Iowa State Rotation: Milan Momcilovic, Joshua Jefferson, Tamin Lipsey, Blake Buchanan, Killyan Toure, Jamarion Batemon, Nate Heise, Dom Pleta.
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Ejim will have his jersey hung in Hilton Coliseum’s rafters sometime during the 2026-27 season. Niang and Morris were good enough to hopefully sometime soon have their jerseys alongside the school’s all-time greats, also.
The 2014 team, that showed many flashes of greatness, was en route to big things — until Niang, an every-game starter, broke his right foot.
The current Cyclones, T.J. Otzelberger’s fifth since making this program relevant again, can be similarly great. And possibly even better.
It enters Friday’s 1:50 p.m. game against Tennessee State in St. Louis’ Enterprise Center having beaten Arizona State and Texas Tech by a combined 71 points in the Big 12 tournament — before losing a buzzer-beater instant classic against 1-seed Arizona.
This 27-7 team is as healthy as any team during the postseason. The adjusted offensive rating, per KenPom, is 21st nationally. The defensive ranking is fourth. Multiple national college basketball “experts” predict the Final Four for T.J. Otzelberger’s team.
Settle back, Iowa State fans, and enjoy what could be one heck of a wild ride.
(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at [email protected] or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)
