By now you’re used to mea culpas after failed predictions – but I sure felt smart last night at halftime of the Ohio State-Tennessee game. In fact, I still don’t really know what happened with the Vols – they weren’t content to hoist up threes in the first half, and that in turn opened up their perimeter game. In the second half, they just fired away – and OSU got right back in it. Mike Conley and Ron Lewis were superb, additionally. A fun game to watch.
I also was wrong about Southern Illinois – they were prepared, focused, and completely able to impose their tempo and style against Kansas. That was a great game, between two very good teams, and hopefully – you see this coming – the next coach of Iowa. I also was wrong about Tony Falker’s name, but, small steps. A missed layup and errant pass off an offensive rebound will haunt this Saluki squad, but by no means should they hang their heads in shame.
Pitt-UCLA was predictably boring. In fifty years, let’s just say there won’t be any textbooks devoted to the Ben Howland or Jamie Dixon lineage of coaching. I like defense, too – but not their sluggish styles. Ugh.
And that brings us back to A&M vs. Memphis – great game, also (are all four regional sites painting their floors the same way?), and you really feel for Acie “I Fought The” Law, missing a crunch-time lay-in. Ouch.
So we’re looking at regionals of 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3, and 1 vs. 2 if seeding holds. Which, in itself, would be somewhat remarkable. I’m still feeling the Vandy upset, and hope tonight’s slate of games matches the quality of Thursday’s action.
To close, we’ll return to mammoth Steve Alford coverage. Even in departure, Alford can’t admit any mistakes, refuses to acknowledge anything other than his narrow viewpoint, and whimpers away from Iowa City not as a complete failure, but certainly with no shred of class – of course, this is no surprise to any of us. Most striking to me, as Steve-O departs for a blip on college basketball’s radar, is this:
Players trickled out of the locker room until about 6 p.m., many declining comment. Junior Seth Gorney suggested that part of Alford’s motivation had little to do with the lure of New Mexico’s mountain vistas or the quality of his contract.
“He wanted to get his family out of this negative environment,” Gorney said. “He said it’s better off for his family. I guess around here he was getting slandered, and out there they are big-time with basketball. Whereas here it’s football with some basketball. He’s going to a school where basketball is the main sport.”
Ouch. Here’s my problem (besides the fact that Alford is just common-sense-retarded enough to think he’s being slandered, and his center is moronic enough to repeat it; or also the fact that Gorney is almost certainly one of Andy Katz‘ sources – this notion showed up almost verbatim in yesterday’s story). Here’s the problem – when Steve arrived at Iowa, the football team was 1-8, mired in change, and nearly all of Hawkeye Nation was infuriated that the athletic department missed the boat on hiring Kirk Ferentz over alumnus Bob Stoops.
Alford had Hawkeye Nation for the taking. He had a solid class recruited by Tom Davis, and he overcoached them into a Big Ten title. He had a passionate fan base waiting to pledge allegiance to him. He responded by treating fans, the media, and even University and state colleagues with utter contempt.
And now, he cites Hawkeye football’s success as his main reason for failure. Steve, wake up. This is the reason Hawk fans treat Kirk Ferentz as a god, but your unaccountable ass as a cheat, a failure, a hypocrite, or whatever. Now, Alford may not be any of those things to a T -
But he is forgettable. Good riddance.
Side note: I know we’re having some good times here, and readership and clicks are actually up considerably since the redesign and domain change. However, MFG is (physically) moving into a new abode next week, and also is (again, physically) attending a three-day conference away from computer. Might be sparse for a minimum of seven days, but we’ll try to wrap some loose ends up Sunday night. So you know.
