Saturday, March 25, 2000
Iowa State reborn after UC loss
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The breeze blew sternly off the Pacific, though not quite hard enough to wash away the heavy cigar smoke or the air of uncertainty weighing upon Larry Eustachy. He had no idea what sort of basketball team Iowa State would become and little reason to expect it would be the sort of team he wished to coach. But the beer was cold.
Eustachy sat on the hotel terrace in Hawaii with Cincinnati Bearcats coach Bob Huggins and several others that night in November and, for more than three hours, revealed plenty of his dry wit but little about his team that suggested it would today stand 40 minutes removed from the Final Four. If the Cyclones (32-4) defeat Michigan State (29-7) at 7 p.m. today at the Palace of Auburn Hills, they are headed to Indianapolis and the RCA Dome next weekend.
“When you're sitting there with Huggins, he'll depress anybody,” Eustachy said. “He's got all these great players and he's telling me how bad his team was, so I figured I had to join in and tell him how bad our team was, because we were going to play each other.”
The Cyclones arrived in Hawaii just before Thanksgiving for the Big Island Invitational with no sense of their potential. They had lost their first Division I game at Drake, 48-44. Marcus Fizer, who would become a first-team All-American, scored 13 points. Power forward Stevie Johnson, the 6-foot-3 wonder who became a matchup predicament for nearly every opponent, was just dispassionate enough Eustachy benched him for all but 11 minutes of the three Hawaii games.
When Iowa State landed on the Big Island before the start of the tournament, though, Eustachy promised the players they would have the opportunity to scuba dive, snorkel, ride motorbikes and enjoy the pleasures of paradise so long as they committed themselves to two-a-day practices.
Iowa State defeated Hawaii-Hilo and Arkansas in the first two games and wound up against the top-ranked Bearcats in the finals. UC allowed a 16-point lead to slide to five inside the final minutes, then pulled away to a 75-60 victory by making free throws down the stretch.
“We got some great practices in, and we got through Arkansas, who our team didn't think we could beat just off the name,” Eustachy said. “I showed them how they could do it, and they did it to perfection. Against Cincy, we were right there with two minutes to go, and Marcus played right with Kenyon Martin.
“We came back with a lot of confidence. That tournament turned our team around.”
Iowa State has lost only twice since the Bearcats got them, and both of those were in overtime, on the road.
“That was a great bonding time for us,” Fizer said. “It gave us a sense of getting to know each other. We were able to get closer, and after that, our season just began.”
When Eustachy conceived this team, it was not as extraordinary as it has become through circumstance.
He decided it would be best to employ three small guards, with 6-1 veteran Michael Nurse joined by 6-1 redshirt junior Kantrail Horton and 6-3 junior-college recruit Jamaal Tinsley at the point. As it stood then, 6-9 Paul Shirley and 6-8 Martin Rancik figured to consume most of the minutes alongside star forward Marcus Fizer.
Injuries removed both of the big men during the course of the season, however, and Johnson's renewed commitment convinced Eustachy ISU could survive the Big 12 Conference as an undersized outfit.
“I knew I could do some things to help our team,” Johnson said. “I felt like I let those guys down. I wanted to get on the practice floor and prove to Coach that I can do some things to help this team out.”
Iowa State survives its lack of size because of Fizer's scoring and versatility, the penetration delivered by Tinsley and, most important, the commitment to Eustachy's principles.
On defense, the Cyclones prevent fast breaks and use their quickness to stay in front of opponents, daring them not to grow impatient. In the regional semifinals Thursday, UCLA became desperate.
The offense is built around forcing opponents to collapse when Tinsley drives the lane, which creates opportunities along the perimeter and for Fizer inside.
Michigan State may be able to slow Fizer by limiting his touches as it did Syracuse center Etan Thomas in the regional semis, but against Tinsley, star point guard Mateen Cleaves faces perhaps the greatest defensive challenge of his career.
“This is not a game of individual matchups,” Eustachy cautioned. “It is our team versus their team.”
Iowa State's team has come a long distance.
Eustachy no longer needs to blow smoke about the Cyclones.
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