Full ISU-Mich. St. 2000 Game

[flander1649]

Prior to today, I have never gone back and watched the game - probably the worst day of my entire life (so far) - especially since I was watching it in IA City and an in-law of my brother's was watching with us and gloated over the MSU win.

I watched the game today until the "Blarge" call - I couldn't bear watching anymore. I forgot all of the blunders that occurred after the Izzo technical: the 3 second call on Shirley (no way was that 3 seconds); Shirley's fall in the lane - negating the "and one" free throw by Fizer (bone-headed play by Paul); the illegal pick on Fizer (absolutely HORRIBLE call); then the "blarge" - unbelievable call. Oh, what could have been.......

Plus just the terrible first half ISU played just turnover after turnover. ISU should have ran them out of the building in the first half without all the TO's.

[MookInLincoln]

Yeah..... I was going to watch the big win over UCLA after watching the two losses but I guess it doesn't work.

Didn't work for me either

[CRcyclone6]

wow! 2000 vs MSU, 2001 vs Hampton. Holy ****, why don't I play my wedding video from 2001 and make it a trifecta!! Pain is not a good thing!

[swarthmoreCY]

The Hampton loss does not bother me much anymore.
MSU 2000 and UCLA 97 are still painful....what could have been.

[CloneFan4]

Paul wasn't the only one crying (Nurse and Fizer also) but he was the only one bawling

I had some tears forming myself but fortunately was upstairs and far from any camera.

This only made me love Pauly even more. He truly cared for the team and despretely wanted to make it to the Final Four. I was 7 when this all happened and I remember bawling my eyes out. Had the Iowa State uniform with the Fizer jersey and was pumped when it looked like we had pulled away when we were up 9. Watching this today was gut-wrenching and I didn't even notice that I had my hand covering my mouth in shock until the end of it all. It just kills me still to this day.

[LindenCy]

I don't think I am ready to watch it again yet.

[CtownCyclone]

Bitter, bitter memories. Senior in high school, had good ol' Moo U picked to win it all. Larry going crazy there at the end - like others, I forgot how classy Izzo was when LE was rolling out. Not even going to bother watching Hampton.

[cayin]

Plus just the terrible first half ISU played just turnover after turnover. ISU should have ran them out of the building in the first half without all the TO's.

Indeed. Tinsley was so careless in the first half. He kept trying to make the fantastic play instead of the easy play. If he would have settled down and let that game come to him we would have ran them out of the gym. I remember some Hawk fans in my office flipping me some crap after that game. They were saying stuff like ISU's crap doesn't work against the Big 10. I just ask them honestly if they thought MSU could have come into to Iowa for a regional final and play in front of 20,000 Iowa State fans and pull off a win? The right answer is NO WAY IN H#LL!!

[Psyclone Brian]

I don't mind posting, that I needed to see a psychologist for nearly 3 weeks after that game. I'm not so sure anymore that the officiating crew was the only thing to blame in that one... Allowing MSU to play with the highest probability of reaching that game in Auburn Hills was admittedly errant among NCAA officials following the tournament. As crazy as it sounds, you'll have a very difficult time getting me to accept the fact that there wasn't a conspiracy governing the outcome of that game. I want more than anything a chance to face Izzo atleast one more time before he calls it a career. (In Ames) would be nice, but wherever this matchup will take place... I just want him to have the balls enough to bring the trophy with him, and let's play for it one more time.

[cstrunk]

I finished watching it earlier for the first time ever. I never followed ISU sports until several years later.

It seems to me that while the refs had some weird/bad calls, I don't think that they were favoring MSU that much more than us. MSU had a lot of players in foul trouble. We lost (well, threw away) that game because of turnovers. We also looked very tired at the end.

[ketchupnmustard]

The Michigan State loss was worse for me than the Hampton loss. MSU was the only team left in the tourney that "could" have beat ISU and it took a whole heaping helping of "home cookin'" for them to do it. Oh what could have been?

Just a week prior to the Hampton debacle a pretty sucky Baylor team gave ISU a sound drubbing in the 1st round of the Big 12 tournament. You could almost feel the Hampton thing coming.

[cayin]

I finished watching it earlier for the first time ever. I never followed ISU sports until several years later.

It seems to me that while the refs had some weird/bad calls, I don't think that they were favoring MSU that much more than us. MSU had a lot of players in foul trouble. We lost (well, threw away) that game because of turnovers. We also looked very tired at the end.

Watch it again, watch the first half. Yes MSU was wracking up fouls, but that is because the were fouling A LOT. They were fouling so much the refs could not call everything and they actually got away with a lot too. While it is true we had a lot of mindless turnovers, our guys were being pushed, pulled, checked, bumped.

[cayin]

I don't mind posting, that I needed to see a psychologist for nearly 3 weeks after that game. I'm not so sure anymore that the officiating crew was the only thing to blame in that one... Allowing MSU to play with the highest probability of reaching that game in Auburn Hills was admittedly errant among NCAA officials following the tournament. As crazy as it sounds, you'll have a very difficult time getting me to accept the fact that there wasn't a conspiracy governing the outcome of that game. I want more than anything a chance to face Izzo atleast one more time before he calls it a career. (In Ames) would be nice, but wherever this matchup will take place... I just want him to have the balls enough to bring the trophy with him, and let's play for it one more time.

I don't understand the hate for Izzo. It is not his fault. He is great friends with LE. He gave ISU props after the tournament on national tv. He said ISU was the toughest team they faced in the tournament and said that game felt like the national championship game. He came on the LE show with Pete Taylor and was a great guest. The banter between he and LE was hilarious.

[The_Architect]

Just a week prior to the Hampton debacle a pretty sucky Baylor team gave ISU a sound drubbing in the 1st round of the Big 12 tournament. You could almost feel the Hampton thing coming.

100% correct. I still remember this clearly as I was attending ISU at the time and went to all the games. A few weeks before the B12 tournament, LE criticized the team after we beat Baylor by 15 or so in Hilton. He was saying that we were soft and relied on the 3 pointer too much.

After that, the team no longer bombed away from 3 and tried to force an inside game, which we just weren't built for. We go blown out at Texas and struggled the rest of the regular season. By the time the B12 tournament rolled around, the team was completely out of juice. I still blame LE for that partially because he demanded that we quit shooting the 3 so much which was clearly what we were best at (Horton, Sullivan, Power).

[jdoggivjc]

The Michigan State loss was worse for me than the Hampton loss. MSU was the only team left in the tourney that "could" have beat ISU and it took a whole heaping helping of "home cookin'" for them to do it. Oh what could have been?

Just a week prior to the Hampton debacle a pretty sucky Baylor team gave ISU a sound drubbing in the 1st round of the Big 12 tournament. You could almost feel the Hampton thing coming.

And silly me, I ran ISU to the Final Four anyway...