Plus Tinsley was able to take over games
This team has a lot of Nurse, Horton, Shirley, Rancik, Stevie Johnson types that are good at doing their job.
Could this team become the best team in Cyclone MBB History?
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This team has a lot of Nurse, Horton, Shirley, Rancik, Stevie Johnson types that are good at doing their job.
Making a list of players regarding 2000s toughness and omitting Horton is sacrilege.
Yeah, but overall year to year the Big 12 was really weak compared to present. Colorado and Nebraska were part of the reason we were only the 3rd to 5th best conference most years. Them leaving is part of the reason we almost instantly became the #1 conference. Big 12 back then was more like the Big Ten now, top heavy with a lot of easier wins in middle and bottom.
We always struggled @CU (weird empty gym, altitude) but they were an easy home win for most teams. There was also a miracle final shot win against Nebraska one of those B12 championship years but they are literally the worst program in NCAA basketball history and actively made our conference worse before they left.
This current team would cut through a lot of those 80s/90s/early 00s schedules like butter compared to the unprecedented meat grinder we have now.
Since CJones and Gilbert have come on strong I am really reminded of how that team had 3 guards where they were all bulldogs and they could all hit big shots (Tinsley/Horton/Nurse vs Tamin/Gilbert/Jones).
Obviously we don't have a Fizer (hardly anybody does) but we have more total frontcourt depth and Milan is probably a more skilled version of Rancik. All three of our big guys are better on defense and transition than Shirley.
While it is fun to compare, I recommend savoring every game while they are going on. Enjoy the ride as the season will be over soon!
Something that doesn't get mentioned much about that 1999-2000 team because of the defense and toughness...that team was good offensively. They averaged 77.8 PPG conference/78.3 PPG overall, shot 49% FG and 37% 3PT.
I think offense is an issue for the current team. I was looking back at the box score for Cinci game...it just struck me that ISU turned Cinci over 25 times and had a 14 TO advantage, but only won by 9 points. Well, the offense didn't shoot well from 3PT, and ISU left 10 or so points on the floor via "easy" misses (which seems to be a recurring trend). Fizer, Shirley, and Johnson were really good finishers around the hoop.
This could potentially be our best team ever. We have weapons @every position with depth and were starting to gel. Hang on it’s going to be a great ride.
Yeah, I was re-listening to the radio broadcast of @cincy.
We really were in a hornet's nest (listening to the crap their coaches and fans could be heard screaming) and only shot TWO FREE THROWS that weren't intentional fouls despite being the more aggressive team attacking the basket...yet comfortably won. When you comfortably win road games against top 50 KenPom teams only getting TWO FREE THROWS you've got something going.
Tamin is the only guy approaching national star status but every position is rock solid, team is very well constructed and almost everybody is a great defender. Tinsley was a bit of an unknown nationally going down the stretch that year too, ISU fans were starting to realize what they had but most national media didn't know or even were discounting him against their darling UCLA/Watson before that ISU blowout win.
You’re underestimating that frontcourt.
That team had 4 frontcourt players, so equal or better depth than this one imo. Shirley was equal on defense and transition as Jones and King. They didn’t have an athlete like Ward, but their defense and rebounding doesn’t take a backseat to this one
I've historically disagreed with many of our fans about Shirley. He was a fouling machine who wasn't good on defense and he wasn't athletic enough to maximize what Tinsley and Horton could do the way even Robert Jones is. He tried hard. I've never seen a player pick up fouls so fast. I do consciously disagree with you and would absolutely love to have any of our three bigs over him.
Stevie was great on defense and great in transition but didn't have the length of any of our guys including Milan.
I think most would agree with me that Milan and Rancik have same role but Milan is already a little better.
2000 team at KU
2001 team at KU
This is peak ISU basketball. Defense. Crisp passing. Intensity. Shooting. They always seemed in control. The moment rarely got too big and they had studs to close it out.
This year the one aspect I don’t see yet. Who’s our sure fire closer.
Ejim. Niang. Brockington. Fizer. Tinsley.
00-01 does get an unfair knock due to the early tournament exit. Also, though, it lost a 1v8 in the conference tournament. Those overshadow accomplishment of Big 12 regular season title. That tends to get lost in the mix, and it's not easy to do regardless of season/conference strength.
Even so, the postseason aspect puts separation between it and 99-00, and probably why it gets compared more closely to seasons like '13-14.
Edit - '14-15 also gets short-shrift side-by-side w/ 13-14 due to the first-round upset bounce. Seems natural to weigh end-of-season & tournament results heavily, but not always an accurate overall assessment.
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Gilbert has taken a couple of games over down the stretch. Milan has hit two shots to win the game, even though one came up .1 second short. I think the whole team has shown mental fortitude at the end of close games.
If this team is to be considered the best ISU team it has to make the Final Four. The 1999-00 team would probably still be a better team overall than this one, but this team would have accomplished something that team didn't.
The 2000 team didn't lose a Big 12 game except on the road in at least one overtime.
I remember in the Colorado road game, Jaquay Walls hit some ridiculous shot from well beyond the arc to send it to OT then scored like 15 points in OT. I think Tinsley fouled out and we struggled after that.
I would say they were not quite as deep as the current team but they didn't really need to be with Fizer, Tinsley, Nurse, and Horton all playing 33-35 minutes/game at their production levels. Those three guards were the best group in the country then you had Stevie, Shirley, and Rancik once he returned splitting time at the other bigs spot. Brandon Hawkins was a decent young guard off the bench for spot minutes and Rip Evans gave them some decent minutes in the frontcourt when rarely needed. It was a pretty deep team.
Fizer's numbers, which are of course good but weren't OMG-mindblowing that year (22.8 points, 7.7 rebs, 58% shooting) don't reflect how much he affected games, he was a dominant force that we definitely don't have the likes of this year. He also probably averaged 25 ppg for the last half of the regular season, he really came on.
I remember in the Colorado road game, Jaquay Walls hit some ridiculous shot from well beyond the arc to send it to OT then scored like 15 points in OT. I think Tinsley fouled out and we struggled after that.
I would say they were not quite as deep as the current team but they didn't really need to be with Fizer, Tinsley, Nurse, and Horton all playing 33-35 minutes/game at their production levels. Those three guards were the best group in the country then you had Stevie, Shirley, and Rancik once he returned splitting time at the other bigs spot. Brandon Hawkins was a decent young guard off the bench for spot minutes and Rip Evans gave them some decent minutes in the frontcourt when rarely needed. It was a pretty deep team.
Fizer's numbers, which are of course good but weren't OMG-mindblowing that year (22.8 points, 7.7 rebs, 58% shooting) don't reflect how much he affected games, he was a dominant force that we definitely don't have the likes of this year. He also probably averaged 25 ppg for the last half of the regular season, he really came on.
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The 2001 team only played 4 ranked teams all year including #24 Ole Miss in non conf.
This team will most likely face 10 ranked teams before the Big 12 tournament and most likely somewhere around 11 to 13 ranked teams total.
I have absolutely no problems comparing this team to the '01 team even if they don't get any Big 12 hardware, the conference is RADICALLY stronger now.
The 2000 team was at worst the second best team in the nation so yeah this team would possibly need to make the Final Four for me to think they are better.
I still play the "what if Fizer stayed one more year?" game in my head. It's very easy to picture that team as 2000-01 national champions, considering how close the 1999-00 team came, and how good the 2000-01 team was for most of that year until it ran out of gas at the end of the season.
