The three Cyclone basketball players who made you the fan you are today

[el tornado]

Hornacek, Thompkins, Grayer

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Tinsley, Sullivan, and Monte.

 

[Acer88]

I remember listening to Maury John teams the radio as a little kid. I have rooted for ISU basketball since that time. The hiring of Coach Orr made me the true Cyclone fan that I am today. Too many great players over the years to pick. There have been games each and every season since 1980 (except 2019-2020) to make me proud to by a Cyclone fan!

 

[FouchodeHond]

Harris, Stevens, Allen. Hornacek and Virgil are honorable mention. Allen guarding and dunking on Lohaus was outstanding.

 

[Cyclones8824]

George Monte Lindell

 

[Hondojr27]

Terry Woods
Justus Thigpen
Ron Bayless

 

[Die4Cy]

Hornacek, Thompkins, Grayer

Thompkins was probably my #4.

There are a lot of memorable role players. Floyd had a guy named David Hickman who he used to put in to foul the opposing teams best players as hard as he could. We called him the Hitman.

Stevie Johnson coming over from football to rebound for LE.

Shawn Bankhead, Kantrail Horton, Klay Edwards, Jared Homan.

Naz Long, legendary. Mike Nurse was a tough kid! Royce, might have been the most talented front court player to come through here.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Pete Taylor, with whom I suffered many awful losses and a ton of thrilling victories.

 

[SaraV]

I did not attend Iowa State, but married into this fandom, so mine are...

Marcus Fizer
Jamaal Tinsley
Georges Niang

(HM to DeAndre Kane, Naz, and Dustin Hogue's toothpick)

 

[ISU4Life]

I did not attend Iowa State, but married into this fandom, so mine are...

Marcus Fizer
Jamaal Tinsley
Georges Niang

(HM to DeAndre Kane, Naz, and Dustin Hogue's toothpick)

 

[Dr.bannedman]

niang, Kane, morris

 

[Cyforce]

Stevens, Grayer, Hornacek

 

[Nothingman]

Tinsley, Clark, and Niang.

 

[CycloneNorth]

Royce White
Lucca Staiger
Percy Gibson

 

[aauummm]

I go back before most of you : John McGonigle, Zaid Abdul-Aziz (Don Smith), and Bill Cain. Could add Jim Abraham's in there, too.

Zaid Abdul-Aziz still hold the Iowa State records for scoring average per game at over 20 ppg and rebounds per game at over 13 rpg!

1966 was my first year at ISU, so Don Smith (Zaid Abdul-Aziz) and McGonigle were Juniors. After watching Don Smith, who was probably the greatest Cyclone basketball player ever, I was hooked. The next year, Bill Cain joined them and made one heck of a trio.

 

[singsing]

Who are the three Cyclone basketball players who most contributed to your love of Hilton and Cyclone basketball? It doesn't have to be the greatest player you ever saw play or a huge statistical performer. Who did you watch play that made you identify as a Cyclone fan from the start, or turned you into the fan you are today?

For me coming of age as a sports fan, it was Barry Stevens, Jeff Grayer, and Justus Thigpen. I spent so many hours in the driveway pretending to be one of them. I saw Jeff Grayer in an airport once a few years ago and was too star struck to go talk to him. Justus was a junior the year I arrived at ISU, and put up some legendary performances that year including the famous floor shaker against OSU and a buzzer beater against KU. Barry was pure talent, so damn smooth. All were Flint guys Johnny got to come to Ames.

Who were yours?

I was at that game Thigpen went off in. Way under appreciated player! He started launching 3's. Oky State started defending him hard, and eventually had 2 guys on him. He just kept draining shots. Best individual performance I saw I at Hilton. My 3 would be Hoiberg, Niang, and Fizer.

 

[clonebb]

Homan, Vroman and baby hands Vic.

 

[clonebb]

Thompkins was probably my #4.

There are a lot of memorable role players. Floyd had a guy named David Hickman who he used to put in to foul the opposing teams best players as hard as he could. We called him the Hitman.

Stevie Johnson coming over from football to rebound for LE.

Shawn Bankhead, Kantrail Horton, Klay Edwards, Jared Homan.

Naz Long, legendary. Mike Nurse was a tough kid! Royce, might have been the most talented front court player to come through here.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Pete Taylor, with whom I suffered many awful losses and a ton of thrilling victories.

Didn’t Johnson go from bball to football?

 

[Die4Cy]

Didn’t Johnson go from bball to football?

Yeah, my bad.

 

[Cyclones03]

Hoiberg, Ejim, Niang

 

[AdRock4Cy]

Victor Alexander, Terry Woods, Kenny Pratt