This is my favorite time of year when it comes to NCAA basketball, the
tournaments and who goes to the Big Dance. Once again it's not Iowa,
the Hawkeyes got smoked by Michigan 72 to 43. Again, one and done wait
till next year. Iowa State didn't do much better either, getting
smacked by Oklahoma State last night. Used to be that the Hawks would
find ways of getting into the NCAAs playoffs but that hasn't happened
now since 05/06 when they won 26 games, the big legacy of Steve Alford.
A
lotta hawk fans hate Alford, I'm not one of them. He did some good
things like winning the first big 10 tournament ever, but I never
forgave Alford for taking the players name's off their jerseys. And the
uniforms that Alford picked out are freaking ugly. But then again, you
have to feel for New Mexico Lobos, who lost their names and even more
uglier uniforms than the Hawks.
Then again the big blame should
be leveled on long gone AD John Bowlsby who forced Dr Tom Davis to
retire and his final season the Hawks did make the sweet 16 before Steve
came along. Alford left two seasons ago to take the New Mexico Job
when Reggie Theus made a ill fated decision to become Sacramento's head
coach (He got fired a season and half later) but Alford had become
Western Athletic Coach of the year with a 21-10 mark. More about him
later.
I got to watch Syracuse outlast UConn 127-117 in 6
overtimes! Managed to watch OT number 4 onward and it was a exciting
game for 5 before UConn ran out of gas and Syracuse with a lot of subs
finally pulled away for the win. I donno, it seems like I tend to root
more for Syracuse when I watch them at this time of year. Can't say why
I don't care much for UConn Huskies, must be their uniforms but it may
have been from 2006 when Johnny McNamara led them to the Big East Tournament Title but they got knocked off in the first round in the
NCAAs. But I seem to root for the Orangemen in the playoffs if the Iowa
Hawks or Arizona State Sundevils are not playing.
Seems like
when Alford left the Hawks, the cupboard was bare but actually Mike
Gatens and Jake Kelly didn't follow SA to New Mexico but we did lose
Tyler Smith to Tennessee and various injuries to the Hawks bigmen have
render Iowa useless these past two seasons. I still think Todd
Lickliter is a good coach and I still think he'll turn it around, but
next season most of the Alford leftovers from two years gone have graduated (JR Angle, we hardly knew ye) so from here on out, the
players will be Lickliter's. (with the exception of Petersen and Kelly
although Gatens would have been a hawk had I been a coach). Another
subpar 500 season and the Hawkeye nation will be screaming for Todd's
head. They play great defense but they live and die by the 3 point
basket and they have died a slow death when they do miss. They had good
moments such as beating Michigan at home and Penn State in OT and
Wisconsin but they didn't do much on the road and got their ass handed
back to them in a handbasket today from Michigan so they got their
revenge again. Wait till next year.
And although Alford did
great in the regular season, Wyoming beat them in the playoffs tonight
72-67 (the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas), and that may have
burst their bubble going to the big dance. And somewhere in Iowa City,
the Hawk faithful are dancing in the street on that.
Side note: New Mexico Lobos are in the Mountain West conference. Can't seem to get my damn facts straight.
