Alford, Hawks hungry for NCAA tournament

12 December 2004

Steve Alford can feel the heat. But only from within, he insists.

In five seasons as the Iowa basketball coach, Alford has put the Hawkeyes in the NCAA tournament only once. He has a losing record in Big Ten games and several players have quit during his tenure.

Preseason magazines list Alford as a coach on the hot seat, a suggestion that his time might be running out if he doesn't produce. But he said that's not what's driving him as he prepares for the start of practice on Saturday.

''The pressure isn't from the magazines or what people say,'' Alford said Wednesday at the team's media day. ''I think the pressure is from, I want to go back to the (NCAA) tournament.

''I made a living as a player in the tournament. It's a heck of a lot more fun. I'd much rather be in the NCAA tournament. That's a fun tournament and I'm tired of not being in it.''

Iowa made its only NCAA tournament appearance under Alford in 2001 and no current Iowa players were on that team. The Hawkeyes were fourth in the Big Ten last season, their highest finish under Alford, but the conference was so lightly regarded they weren't chosen for the 65-team NCAA field and had to settle for the NIT.

''Obviously, you'd probably rather have 10 guys on your team that have NCAA experience,'' Alford said. ''And yet, I think this year we can use it to our advantage in that our guys are highly motivated because they want to taste that.''

That's exactly how they feel, junior guard Jeff Horner said.

''We haven't been the best team the last couple of years,'' Horner said. ''Everyone can make all the excuses they want, but we didn't get the job done and this is the year we should.''

With Horner, Pierre Pierce and Greg Brunner back, Iowa returns the top three players from last season's 16-13 team. All three are veterans used to playing a lot of minutes and if everyone stays healthy, they should have more help this season.

Adam Haluska is eligible now after sitting out a year following his transfer from Iowa State, where he started as a freshman in the 2002-03 season. The 6-foot-5 sophomore brings athleticism, rebounding, a good shooting touch and more size to the off-guard spot, which was filled last season by Brody Boyd, who got the most from his talent but was only 5-11.

''He's going to do a lot of great things for us,'' Pierce said.

The Hawkeyes hope to get a full season from sophomore guard Mike Henderson, who was limited to 10 games last year because of academic problems. Doug Thomas, a 6-8 junior college transfer, could be the most athletic big man Iowa has had in a while and two freshmen could see playing time up front - 7-foot Seth Gorney and 6-9 Alex Thompson.

With a deeper team, Alford hopes to be better defensively and play more man-to-man. The Hawkeyes may also be in a better position to handle the type of personnel losses they had last year.

Forward Nick DeWitz also was lost because of academics and transferred. Center Jared Reiner missed the last half of the season with a broken foot and senior center Sean Sonderleiter quit in late January.

''We're going to be aggressive offensively, we're going to be aggressively defensively - put as much pressure on people as we can. We've just to got hope that we can stay healthy and keep improving.''