I'm as big of a Mike Nurse fan as there is, and this is no way a draw. At least in terms of potential and talent level.
Toure is 85% as tenacious as Nurse (which is absolutely saying something) and clearly more talented.
Best 1 through 5 ever
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Toure is 85% as tenacious as Nurse (which is absolutely saying something) and clearly more talented.
Yep. Best hands down. Stevie, Nurse, and Horton were awesome players. To go all with 2 AA's.
Nothing against the guys this year, but you play that elite eight game anywhere but the Spartans back yard that 00-99 team more than likely has a national champ banner hanging in Hilton.
My company is headquartered in East Lansing and I went there a few months ago for ongoing learning, and talked to a trainer that was a die hard Michigan State fan, and that still remembered every play from that game in Auburn Hills. He said that was the best Michigan State team of all time and, even given that, thought if those two teams played ten times it’d be split. Lots of respect.
There have been more talented Iowa State squads but none has or likely ever will have as much overall grit and top-end talent as Fizer and Tinsley.
There have been more talented Iowa State squads but none has or likely ever will have as much overall grit and top-end talent as Fizer and Tinsley.
MSU and Iowa State were the best two teams in the tourney that year. There were two 8s and a 5 along side MSU in the final four.
Two of the regions were a complete blood bath for the higher seeds. One had 4, 6, 7, 8 remaining. Another 4, 6, 8, 10.
While we drew Michigan State in Detroit...
* UNC played #7 seed Tulsa to go to the final four
* Wisconsin beat #6 Purdue to go to the final four
*. Florida had the most respectable run beating #4 seed Illinois, #1 Duke, and #3 seed Okie State to get there
We roll any of those other teams in the final four.
Really hard to say at this point. 1-2 have to go to Fizer/Tinsley, though Jefferson/Lipsey might be the closest comparison we've seen. 3-5 seems to be more of a tossup at the moment. 6-10 go to this years team as 2000 only went 6-7 deep (hard to believe how many minutes those guys played and were still there to the bitter end).
All means nothing until we are discussing in April though...
All means nothing until we are discussing in April though...
Morris, Kane, Hogue, Ejim, Niang was a pretty dang lethal 1-5. Without the Niang broken foot I think that team goes to the Final 4. They were playing so well!
I could totally see Toure not combing his hair because he knew it was going to be a dog fight.
That being said Toure is more gifted athletically but Nurse was a more lethal shooter. He shot .423 from deep his senior year on 2.7 makes a game.
1996-97 is up there. Not much roster depth, but the common starting unit, damned tight:
Holloway
Willoughby
Cato
Bankhead
Pratt
Holloway
Willoughby
Cato
Bankhead
Pratt
Imagine Barry Stevens with a 3 point line given like 75% of his shots were 20 footers or longer.
Guy would volume score throwing up long 2 point jumpers
Yeah, this team would give people a lot of problems.
Nurse was also a senior and could shoot the lights out. Don't think I would take Shirley over Buchanan. Horton and Milan is a tough one. Horton was a dog and could also shoot the lights out. Milan is a lot bigger. Probably Milan.
I was too young to recall this team. How did they underperform so badly with this line up?
They are really great 1-5 but what makes this team really special is how connected they are on defense 1-8. There is little drop off. It’s relentless. All the offense has to do is show up as long as the defense is locked in.
Johnny was really a good coach at home, and he was not on the road. Horrible road team
Also Mizzou and OU had great rosters. Waymon Tisdale is still the best player I ever saw play college ball.
Throw in hall of fame coaches at Mizzou, OU, KSU, it was one of the best conferences at that time and is comparable to the top half of today's Big 12. Lot less teams though, but they would beat the crap out of each other
ISU had no depth either.
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As tough as Nurse and Horton were, I think people forget that Stevie was a pretty good Big 12 Linebacker for ISU as well. You've got that guy on the court with Fizer, Tinsley, Nurse and Horton? That wasn't a basketball team. That was a group of BAMF's you wouldn't want to meet in an alley that just happened to be really good at basketball.
Luck plays a big part of this. Kenyon Martin's Cincinnati was hands down the best team that year until he broke his leg late in the season.
A team that people probably forget about was the 2018-19 that won the Big 12 tournament, and then lost in the first round to a weak Ohio State team.
Shayok (NBA draftee)
Horton-Tucker (NBA)
Jacobsen
Wigginton (NBA)
Weiler-Babb
Halliburton (NBA all-star)
Cam Lard
Needless to say, we should have fired Prohm at halftime for wasting this much talent.
Shayok (NBA draftee)
Horton-Tucker (NBA)
Jacobsen
Wigginton (NBA)
Weiler-Babb
Halliburton (NBA all-star)
Cam Lard
Needless to say, we should have fired Prohm at halftime for wasting this much talent.
I feel like this topic has come up the last 2-3 seasons which is fun since it means there's been some nice success.
'99-00 will win with not just talent but the synergy particularly the last month of the season was a spectacle.
They basically played 7 or 8 but Paul Shirley was a bench player that had a cup of coffee in the NBA and a guy like Brandon Hawkins was some very solid depth.
'99-00 will win with not just talent but the synergy particularly the last month of the season was a spectacle.
They basically played 7 or 8 but Paul Shirley was a bench player that had a cup of coffee in the NBA and a guy like Brandon Hawkins was some very solid depth.
