Favorite Iowa State men's basketball team

[Cloned4Life]

Seems like “start slow” is ISU’s M.O. when it loses in Sweet 16.

Halftime scores:

1986
N.C. State 40
Iowa State 29
Final: 70-66

2014
UConn 36
Iowa State 26
Final: 81-76
—> a little closer at times in first 10 minutes

2016
Virginia 45
Iowa State 31
Final: 84-71

2024
Illinois 36
Iowa State 26
Final: 72-69

Exceptions:
1997
Iowa State 37
UCLA 25
—> Increased lead to 16 early in 2nd half … in some ways, it’s worse than slow-start defeat.

2022
Miami 32
Iowa State 29
—> Although U opened game 7-0

Please excuse the Woe-Is-Us thread derailment. Back to the main discussion, in progress.

Appreciate this! Tough to stomach, but reality often is...

I remember that UCLA game like it was yesterday. Dedric was on fire there for awhile. Dollar's layup over Cato still absolutely crushes me. I think I dropped to my knees when that went in. Cannot believe how perfectly he dropped in that layup over a 6-11 shotblocker.

 

[ExCyment]

99-00. Tinsley Fizer and crew were so good.

91-92 i believe with Hoigberg and Julio.

 

[dawgpound]

2013/14 Team to this day is still my favorite team of all time.

DeAndre Kane, Ejim, Niang, Morris, Hogue, Naz, Matty Thomas....

DeAndre Kane was such a boss. Even on just one year he is my favorite Cyclone of all time. I loved that team

 

[Cyclonepride]

What was your favorite Iowa State men's basketball team?

Mine was the 1995-1996 team with Cato, Willoughby, Bankhead, Jacy, etc. Going into the season, they were a bunch of unknowns and ended winning the final Big 8 tournament. That team was also some of my earliest memories as a fan.

Love that one, love the Tinsley/Fizer team, the 85/86 team that beat Michigan to get to the Sweet Sixteen.

My sneaky good favorite team that came to mind was the 91/92 team with Thigpen and Bayless, joined by the freshman class of Fred, Julo and Loren Meyer. That game against 2 seed Kentucky in the second round of the tournament was one of the best games I have watched. That team holds a special place in my heart because we had a couple rough years prior and I came into that year hopeful, but with fairly low expectations.

 

[ScottyP]

I was too young to remember Loren Meyer much, but from what I've heard, he never really reached his potential. I think he missed a year due to being hit by train as well but a little too young to remember.

 

[cyclones500]

Love that one, love the Tinsley/Fizer team, the 85/86 team that beat Michigan to get to the Sweet Sixteen.

My sneaky good favorite team that came to mind was the 91/92 team with Thigpen and Bayless, joined by the freshman class of Fred, Julo and Loren Meyer. That game against 2 seed Kentucky in the second round of the tournament was one of the best games I have watched. That team holds a special place in my heart because we had a couple rough years prior and I came into that year hopeful, but with fairly low expectations.

'91-92 also featured the now-famous Orr-to-Vitale "We kicked your a**!" during Selection Sunday.

 

[VeloClone]

Appreciate this! Tough to stomach, but reality often is...

I remember that UCLA game like it was yesterday. Dedric was on fire there for awhile. Dollar's layup over Cato still absolutely crushes me. I think I dropped to my knees when that went in. Cannot believe how perfectly he dropped in that layup over a 6-11 shotblocker.

I was in the Alamo Dome and it sure looked like they executed the screen the on ball defender and draw a foul to perfection on the ensuing in bounds play but the ref decided to not make the call and just wait a half second more and call a 5 second count.

 

[brokenloginagain]

'91-92 also featured the now-famous Orr-to-Vitale "We kicked your a**!" during Selection Sunday.

Think about how easy it was to be a talking head back then.

No internet, hardly any games on TV, Orr's criticism that they didn't have to do anything, go to practice etc. was spot on! You really could just make *&^%$ up on a nightly basis.

 

[cayin]

2000, should have been national champions

Behind that team, 1986. First sweet 16 team and unbeaten in Hilton

Honorable mention- 1995/96. I like this team because they were not expected to be any good. Finished second and watching them beat KU in dramatic fashion at Kemper to win the Big 8 tournament was one of my favorite Cyclone memories

 

[VeloClone]

2000, should have been national champions

Behind that team, 1986. First sweet 16 team and unbeaten in Hilton

Honorable mention- 1995/96. I like this team because they were not expected to be any good. Finished second and watching them beat KU in dramatic fashion at Kemper to win the Big 8 tournament was one of my favorite Cyclone memories

That 2000 team was ahead of its time. Eustachy was playing a true 3 guard lineup with two forwards (mostly) and no center (Tinsley, Nurse, Horton, Johnson, Fizer). (Sometimes they had Rancik or Shirley in for Johnson which did give them a little more size and closer to a center in the lineup.) This meant that often a player like Stevie Johnson, a converted guard, was guarding a power forward and the stout guard Kantrail Horton was guarding a small forward when the 3 spot was really still a forward's position.

What they didn't have in size they made up for in toughness. Many teams tried to lean into their size advantage but found they couldn't bully the Cyclone squad and were giving up a lot while trying to guard the quicker ISU lineup. Many were forced to play left handed and go small to try to match up a little better, an uncomfortable proposition for a lot of those teams.

 

[Al_4_State]

What was your favorite Iowa State men's basketball team?

Mine was the 1995-1996 team with Cato, Willoughby, Bankhead, Jacy, etc. Going into the season, they were a bunch of unknowns and ended winning the final Big 8 tournament. That team was also some of my earliest memories as a fan.

That’s the team that made me a fan.

 

[CyGuy5]

Definitely not the best team by any means, but the 2011-12 team with Christopherson and Royce White is up there for me. That was really the first “good” Iowa State team that I could remember seeing during my lifetime. Was there when Thug Life kissed center court on senior night so that’s engrained in my memory (as is sitting in the Knapp Center watching them lose to Drake)

 

[ISUChippewa]

It's very recent, but I think the 2021-22 team (TJ's first year) is right up there for me.

Captain Obvious here, but the previous season when we won all of 2 games was just horrendous to suffer through as a lifelong fan. My expectations were rightfully low, and I remember feeling I would be happy with a 10-win season (which still would have been 5x the previous win total). Instead we took the whole damn country by surprise in the non-conference and finished it undefeated, beating ranked teams like Xavier and Memphis in the early season NIT and just annihilating Iowa. The Big 12 season was a challenge and we cooled down quite a bit, but still got some big road victories against teams like OSU and TCU.

I remember feeling disappointed that we only got an 11 seed, but I was also happy with the draw to being playing close to home. Getting to the Sweet 16 was unimaginable before the season started, but we did it.

And that season was a great prelude for what was to come under TJ...

 

[madguy30]

Love that one, love the Tinsley/Fizer team, the 85/86 team that beat Michigan to get to the Sweet Sixteen.

My sneaky good favorite team that came to mind was the 91/92 team with Thigpen and Bayless, joined by the freshman class of Fred, Julo and Loren Meyer. That game against 2 seed Kentucky in the second round of the tournament was one of the best games I have watched. That team holds a special place in my heart because we had a couple rough years prior and I came into that year hopeful, but with fairly low expectations.

Forgot about Bayless. I was a kid so don't remember everything but was at the Iowa game that year when Fred dunked on Earl.

That's also the season I referred to earlier in the thread where this happened.

 

[AlaCyclone]

Seems like “start slow” is ISU’s M.O. when it loses in Sweet 16.

Halftime scores:

1986
N.C. State 40
Iowa State 29
Final: 70-66

Charles and Shackelford are two words one should never say to my wife!
She is still bitter.

 

[CySmurf]

Being a student during Grayer, Hornacek, LaFester, Sam Hill, Elmer Robinson, Ron Virgil...and of course, Johnny Orr. It was a lot of fun!

 

[cyclones500]

Behind that team, 1986. First sweet 16 team and unbeaten in Hilton

I forgot ISU went unbeaten at Hilton that season. Nice nugget.

 

[danvillecyclone]

2020-2021

2-22 (0-18)

That team got the real Job done.

Bye bye Steve
Hello TJ

 

[AlaCyclone]

I am partial to the 1991-2 MBB Team!

 

[SerenityNow]

95-96 1st
99-00 2nd
24-25 3rd