My gosh I miss the old Big Ten. This game is so much more fun to watch than the garbage game that is played today. Up and down the court. Players allowed to move. No football on hardwood. Outside shooting is probably worse than today, but mid-range and interior game is probably better. Even the refs are easier to watch.
1993 Iowa vs MSU on ESPNU
- Thread starter Herky T Hawk
- Start date
Kenyon Murray and Monter Glasper went home that night and rolled out with a W!
A.C. Earl was such a smooth runner!
A.C. Earl was such a smooth runner!
Our shooting was so bad this game. Makes you wonder how we came back. MSU not taking advantage of the 45 second clock really helped.
I remember my dad telling what happened to Chris and remember watching the game with him.
It's starting to get dusty in my house all of a sudden.
It's starting to get dusty in my house all of a sudden.
I thought it was interesting on how worn out the ball they used was, I've had better looking driveway balls.
Wade Lookingbill was that teams version on Nick Baer
Yes, imagine this past year's team with him at SG. The shot he hit to send it to OT was ice cold. And his ball handling late in OT when MSU was fouling was pretty dang good. He knew he needed to keep the ball as Smith wasn't a great FT shooter.
He really was. I was thinking that same thing last night when it got to OT and watching him wreak havoc in the press and on defense. He looked like controlled chaos.
Watched that game for about the 8th time last night - it was a very special game.
But I came away wondering how that team scored as well as they did in that game (or any game). Many times they had one shooter on the floor - Val Barnes. Kevin Smith, Kenyon Murray, Wade Lookingbill, James Winters - none of them could hit the side of the barn from the inside, yet they found ways to score, and score a lot in that game. Earl had range to 12 ft., but that was about it.
Amazing game.
But I came away wondering how that team scored as well as they did in that game (or any game). Many times they had one shooter on the floor - Val Barnes. Kevin Smith, Kenyon Murray, Wade Lookingbill, James Winters - none of them could hit the side of the barn from the inside, yet they found ways to score, and score a lot in that game. Earl had range to 12 ft., but that was about it.
Amazing game.
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Chris Street is the "What if?" for Tom Davis. I don't think it's far-fetched to say that his passing changed the direction of the program under Davis.
For a whole host of different reasons, does Alford's run at Iowa go differently I f Recker doesn't blow out his knee?
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Dr. Tom said that Chris dying changed him and caused him to mellow out a lot as a coach. He was never as demonstratively excitable/angry as Knight was, but it sounded like he was pretty demanding of his players before that. It is too bad Minnesota cheated because the 1997 team would have won the Big Ten title otherwise and there’s no way that Bowlsby could have gotten rid of him. Then Nick Collison possibly comes to Iowa and who knows what happens from there. We could have maintained our position in the conference at the time that Wisconsin decided to start really caring about basketball.
As for the Recker comment, I still say that was Alford’s best team at Iowa before Luke, and then a few days later Ryan Hogan, went out for the season. After the great comeback win against Indiana that was Recker’s last game we were in position to challenge for the conference title. Recker, Evans, and Oliver were all All-Big Ten first team caliber, especially if Iowa finished higher in the standings than they did. Plus our great freshman class of Reiner, Sondy, Boyd, Scott, and Worley weren’t being asked to do too much. Just fill their roles on the team. That 2001 team had three future NBA players on it. The 2006 team that most people will consider Alford’s best team had none that played a minute in the NBA.
But Alford’s failed run at Iowa all revolves around his reaction to the first Pierre Pierce incident. Losing games he shouldn’t have is one thing, but he alienated a huge amount of the fan base with his actions and comments adamantly defending Pierce. Even if he won a Big Ten title in 2006 instead of finishing 2nd and made an elite eight run instead of losing in the first round, a lot of people would still have wanted him gone.
Man. This brings me back to being a kid. Watching now on DVR just starting. Iowa owned MSU in recent past time to get it back now..
I can't disagree too much with what you said about what happened with Pierce. The main thing I'll say in Alford's defense was that the university's reaction to it as a whole failed utterly. I remember that within a week of the news breaking, the UI Prez, Bowlsby and Alford all gave separate statements, each of which at least partly contradicted the others. Alford, as the coach, was stuck in a very difficult situation where you have to somehow stand by your player, or else risk alienating everyone else...but still be respectful of the victim. We do forget that Alford was only about 40 years old or so and still learning on the job (although, he's never shown me that that he learned very much from this). He had a chance with the '06 team to rehabilitate his image with a run in the tourney but obviously failed and was on thin ice after that.
Some of these stories about "what if's" is a reminder of how razor thin things are at Iowa. Lose a key player and things go south.
At MSU, they lost Langford and almost made it to the FF. It must be nice to have lots of talent to fall back on.
And, think about recruiting ... what if Moss had "become" a Val Barnes? The talent looks similar, but Barnes was a stud. Moss, not so much. Or, what if Dom Uhl had blossomed? That guy was pretty athletic, and he started well. Dale Jones was always injured, but had talent. Ahmad Wagner had athleticism and power, but couldn't quite put it together.
KF seems to find, and/or develop, diamonds in the rough. For whatever reason, Fran hasn't really done that as often.
At MSU, they lost Langford and almost made it to the FF. It must be nice to have lots of talent to fall back on.
And, think about recruiting ... what if Moss had "become" a Val Barnes? The talent looks similar, but Barnes was a stud. Moss, not so much. Or, what if Dom Uhl had blossomed? That guy was pretty athletic, and he started well. Dale Jones was always injured, but had talent. Ahmad Wagner had athleticism and power, but couldn't quite put it together.
KF seems to find, and/or develop, diamonds in the rough. For whatever reason, Fran hasn't really done that as often.
Watched that game for about the 8th time last night - it was a very special game.
But I came away wondering how that team scored as well as they did in that game (or any game). Many times they had one shooter on the floor - Val Barnes. Kevin Smith, Kenyon Murray, Wade Lookingbill, James Winters - none of them could hit the side of the barn from the inside, yet they found ways to score, and score a lot in that game. Earl had range to 12 ft., but that was about it.
Amazing game.
Game was a bit different then. Iowa got to the line a lot (7th most free throw attempts in the country) and rebounded pretty well. Definitely would have been Sweet 16 material or better with Street. Iowa was legitimately pretty good on defense with both he and Earl on the team. Earl and Street could both block shots and make it hard to score near the basket.
But it was not a good shooting Iowa team. They made just 32% of 3's and didn't shoot that many. Opponents make 80 more 3's for the season than Iowa did.
