What Player(s) Got You Hooked On College Basketball?

[CYdTracked]

Stealing a conversation from The Drive on KXNO yesterday as I thought it was a good topic. What player or players first got you hooked on college basketball? Doesn't even have to be Iowa State players either could be any player or moment that you remember as when you started to follow college basketball on a bigger level. Can even include women's players too if you want.

For me probably was the Hoiberg and Loren Meyer team that got me hooked on ISU basketball and the Willougby/Cato team too. When I went "all in" hooked was definitely my freshman year in college in 1998 with Marcus Fizer and I loved watching Michael Nurse on that team too. I've had season tickets every year since 1998 minus the lost year during COVID when only a select few could get into games during 20-21 and I'm probably thankful I didn't have to sit through that 2 win season as I've seen some rough years before but not nearly as bad as that one was.

For the women I didn't watch or follow them at all until my freshman year in college and Angie Welle was probably that player that kept me going to games as she was a freshman that year too but Stacy Freese and Megan Taylor were fun to watch then as well. ESPN+ has been great to be able to catch their games now as I don't have the time to commit to season tickets to both them and the men. I still try to make it to a few women's games most years if I can.

 

[jbclone10]

Not sure of a specific year but these players pushed me from enjoying ISU BB to hooked on ISU BB.... Melvin, George and Scotty (kissing the floor).

 

[kkise]

Barry Stevens.

 

[Cyched]

Fizer & Tinsley

 

[DSMCy]

Tinsley and Fizer for ISU

I had a friend that was a big UNC growing up (bit of a bandwagon fan but most probably are in middle/high school).
I remember watching Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Brendon Haywood, Jason Capel, Joseph Forte, Julius Peppers and I thought those guys were the best ever

 

[Gunnerclone]

Justus Thigpen.

 

[mynameisjonas]

There wasn’t one player that got me hooked.

 

[JimmyChitwood]

Tinsley & Fizer.

 

[cyclones500]

I'm in the "older set." I started following ISU MBB before any specific player drew me to it, although I remember Uthoff being prominent around that time.

I have a special spot for the first wave of Orr players - 1st season w/ Ron Harris and Terrance Allen as freshmen, and "holdovers" like Lefty Moore. Obviously Barry Stevens (who came aboard the following season) and it was off and running.

For general non-ISU CBB, I'll have to think a little about that. It was back when only about 10 schools were televised with any frequency, so it would have been players on some of those teams.

 

[CRcyclone6]

Cyclone basketball - Barry Stevens. College basketball - Magic Johnson

 

[g4ce]

Niang and DeAndre Kane

 

[Cyclones8824]

I’ll show my age here but

Wiggington, Niang, Morris, Lard, Long, Thomas, Burton, Nader, Shayok, Jacobson, and even most recently Brockington.

 

[AgronAlum]

The Hoiball era. Didn’t care much about Iowa State or college sports in general until really after I graduated in 2010. The Hoiberg teams got me hooked.

 

[CycloneEggie]

Grew up in KC hating KU. Don't really remember the '88 KU championship, but know KU fans were insufferable. Vaguely remember the 1989 Michigan vs. Seton Hall game, but it really ramped up in the Early 90s. UNLV and Duke in that era were great, which brought in the Fab Five Era. I adopted Duke as my team in that era. Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, etc. By the time I went to ISU in the mid 90s I was hooked on NCAA basketball and the tourney and it was a nice era to be a Cyclone Fan as well. Dedrick Willouby, Kelvin Cato, Fizer, Tinsley eras. Always easy to root against Roy Williams as he represented the enemy of my enemies at KU and UNC. NCAA March madness is the Best Sporting Event of the year.

 

[HighLeakageCy]

Jess Settles *ducks*. For ISU it was Stinson, Blalock and Vroman.

 

[Drew0311]

Barry Stevens and Jeff Grayer

 

[DSM4Cy]

Holloway, Willoughby, Bankhead, Pratt, and Cato.

 

[West Cyde Clone]

It's got to be Rahshon Clark for me. I remeber pretending to be him while playing on the mini hoop back in the day.

 

[enisthemenace]

There wasn’t one player that got me hooked.

This is what I’m thinking. Weird question. I was hooked on sports before I grew to appreciate the people who played said sports at a high level. When you’re a kid, you don’t have a true appreciation for just how special these athletes are, so I think it would be strange for any one athlete to be the reason to truly be interested in a sport.

 

[isucyfan]

It was totally Jeff Grayer for me. I *was* Jeff Grayer shooting hoops on an 8 ft. hoop we had growing up. I made sure to get number 44 for my jersey on any basketball teams I was on.