The 1997–98 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team represents

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

during the

1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball season concluded in the 64-team 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament whose finals were held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The Kentucky Wildcats earned their seventh national cha ...

. The

Cyclones In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

were coached by

Tim Floyd Tim Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. Floyd is also kn ...

, who was in his 4th season. They played their home games at

Hilton Coliseum James H. Hilton Coliseum, commonly Hilton Coliseum, is a 14,267-seat multi-purpose arena located in Ames, Iowa. The arena opened in 1971. It is home to the Iowa State University Cyclones men's and women's basketball teams, wrestling, gymnastics ...

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

and competed in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. They finished the season 12–18, 5–11 in

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

play to finish in 11th place. They lost to

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

in the first round of the Big 12 Conference tournament. At the conclusion of the season head coach

accepted the same position with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

Previous season

The previous season was the Cyclones first year in the newly formed

. The Big 12 conference was formed by the eight teams of the recently dissolved

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

and was joined by Baylor,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, and

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, all formally of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

which had dissolved following the 1995–1996 school year as well. The Cyclones finished the season 22–9, 10–6 in

play to finish tied for third place. They defeated

and lost to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

in the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and a #6 seed. In the tournament they defeated

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a Public university, public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is reco ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

to reach the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. The Cyclones saw individual success with Dedric Willoughby being names All-American Second Team, NCAA Tournament All-Regional Team, and first team All-Big Eight.

Offseason departures

Presesaon

Head Coach

was able to sign

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger ...

Marcus Fizer Darnell Marcus Lamar Fizer (born August 10, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. High school career Fizer played high school basketball at Arcadia High School in Arcadia, Louisiana. As a senior, Fizer was selected to play ...

. Fizer was the first, and to date, only McDonald's All-American to sign with

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. Floyd first started recruiting Fizer when he was coaching at

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Floyd was also able to replenish the back-court with Junior College transfers Jerry Curry, Tim Stevens, and Delvin Washington.

Preseason Poll

Incoming Players

Roster

Schedule and results

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Awards and honors

* All-Big 12 Selections :

(Third Team) * Academic All-Big 12 :

Paul Shirley Paul Murphy Shirley (born December 23, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Unicaja Málaga in the Spanish ACB. Shirley is noted for briefly maintaining an online journal (blog) while playing for the ...

(First Team) :Klay Edwards (Second Team) *Ralph A. Olsen Award :

* Big 12 Freshman of the Year :

* Big 12 Freshman of the Week :

(January 4th) :

(January 11th) :

(February 23rd) :

(March 1st)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997-98 Iowa State Cyclones Men's basketball team Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball seasons

Iowa State Cyc Iowa State Cyc