Iowa Basketball

Boy, this is a subject that makes me sick to my stomach. You know that feeling when you go to a good restaurant, have an outstanding meal, and on the way home your stomach starts to turn on you. You start to get warm, you freak out when the stoplights turn red, and the closer you get home, the more your stomach hurts. You get to your front door and bull rush through that door like Adrian Clayborn and hit the bathroom door like it has a cyclone logo on it. Well, that is how I feel when I hear, see, and watch anything to do with Iowa Basketball. You may question my loyalty as a Hawkeye here, and that is fine its a free country, but I am not the only Hawkeye you could question.

I loved watching Iowa Basketball growing up on Wednesday and Saturdays on KDSM. Tom Davis and the full-court press. They would go on runs, making the other team turn the ball over consistently, and Carver was rocking. One game that sticks out to me was Iowa was playing Indiana, probably early 90's to mid 90's and Indiana just kept turning the ball over and Iowa got a huge lead, and it was awesome to see Bob Knight's face. Iowa was consistently making NCAA appearances, and winning at least the first round game. But Iowa wanted more, The University thought Iowa could be a powerhouse, and that they should be in Final Four's and contending. So Tom Davis was shown the door, and still took the team to the NCAA Tournament on his way out. So Iowa went out to get the second coming, the young, good-looking, awesome resume, the one to lead Iowa to the promise land. So Iowa Brings in Steve Alford and everybody in the state of Iowa is thinking, we are going to the Final Four in a couple of years, we just landed the top most sought after coach in the country. I remember being at an Iowa Football game, and Alford walked out of the tunnel by the student section and everybody was chanting Final Four!, Final Four! He hadn't even coached yet, and we were already drinking the Kool-aid. Then he goes to Madison Square Garden and knocks off #1 UCONN. Iowa Basketball is going to be the real deal, we are on our way. Boom, the real Steve Alford shows up. We learn as the years go by, that he can bring in some talent, but go nowhere in the NCAA tournament, struggle in the Big Ten season, but he kept reeling us in on the magical Big Ten Tournament Championships to get us to be very optimistic for the next season, only to be let down again. It was never Alford's fault, it was the players, he threw them under the bus, and took no blame. A legend was replaced by a schmuck. Then he runs out the door on a Big Ten team for a Mountain West team and makes it sound like he has hit the Jackpot because finally he will no longer be at a Football school. Someone forgot to tell him that Iowa can be good at both at the same time, and he had the chance, because Iowa Football wasn't very pretty when he arrived. To me Steve Alford has ruined Iowa Basketball, its not all his fault, but it was the beginning of what we have today. Our facilities are the worst in the Big Ten when it comes to basketball, who would ever think Northwestern would be ahead of us. Facilities are a big part in recruiting and being a top program. The fans started to not show up and care at the end of Alford's era.

So Iowa goes out and gets another coach that is having success at a mid-major conference. Coach Lickliter came into a bad deal, Alford left the cupboard bare, and the facilities are still lacking, but ground is breaking to change that. The other thing that didn't help is coach Lick plays a different style, my comparison to this is look at Michigan football. Coach Rodriguez has totally changed their style, it proved itself at West Virginia, but it has been a struggle for the maize and blue. Coach Lick was successful at Butler with his style, but it has been a struggle at Iowa with players leaving, getting in trouble, and just bad basketball. Can he do it, not sure, but the clock is running out with poor attendance. Even though its very painful to watch, one thing that I have noticed is Coach Lick I believe has done more with less talent than Alford did with a lot of talent. Alford would lose by an avg. of 20 to 30 points a game to Michigan state at East Lansing. Coach Lick can take 6 guys to East Lansing and only lose by 7 pts.

Iowa basketball wanted to be bigger and better after the 1998-99 season because 1st round wins in the NCAA tournament weren't good enough anymore. And now, we would do anything to even make the NCAA tournament.