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Posted: Thursday October 24, 2002 10:09 PM Updated: Thursday October 31, 2002 4:19 PM Iowa Hawkeyes
The following preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the most thorough preview available of the upcoming season, order the 2002-03 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518. Team Preview | Blue Ribbon Analysis
High expectations can be a double-edged sword for a college basketball team. On one hand, they can serve to motivate a team to reach loftier heights than they ever dreamed possible. On the other side of the equation, however, high expectations can lead to self-doubt as soon as something goes wrong on the court. Every missed shot, every road loss, every upset takes on added significance and can cause players, coaches and fans to wonder what's going wrong in a program that was supposed to be nothing but positive. That, in essence, was the 2001-02 Iowa Hawkeyes season in a nutshell. Coach Steve Alford's squad was ranked No. 10 in the nation in Blue Ribbon's preseason poll last year, and the team did get off to a strong start. But once the Big Ten season rolled around, the Hawkeyes hit a rut and couldn't get out of it. "We were 13-4 at one time, and I thought we were an awfully good basketball team," Alford said. "But the warning signs were there during the non-conference season. We were able to get away with some things in the non-conference season that we were not able to in the Big Ten." The season started strong with road wins at Iowa State and No. 2 Missouri, but the hints of what was to come were there as well, including a two-point loss at Northern Iowa, and once the conference season started, the Hawkeyes stumbled in a big way. They slipped to a 5-11 record in the Big Ten, good for a tie for eighth, not exactly what the Hawkeye faithful expected.
Not even a now-patented run at the Big Ten Tournament title could salvage the season for Iowa. Under Alford, the Hawkeyes are 8-2 in the conference postseason tournament, and last year was no exception as Iowa looked to win its second straight Big Ten tournament title, its only hope to reach the NCAA field of 65. After throttling Purdue in the first round in Indianapolis, the Hawkeyes then defeated conference co-champions Wisconsin and Indiana in a quarterfinal and semifinal, only to fall short against Ohio State in the championship game. That loss relegated the Hawkeyes to the NIT, where they bowed out in a first-round, homecourt loss to LSU. It was a fitting end to a disappointing season, one that started with much promise but ultimately didn't lead where Alford had hoped seniors like Luke Recker and Reggie Evans would take Iowa. "There was a lot of pressure on those kids," Alford said. "For the first time in about 20 years, Iowa basketball had Top 10 expectations, and we didn't handle that bull's-eye on our backs very well." The senior class wasn't a "class" in a traditional sense, which made it more difficult for it to provide leadership and guidance needed for a national power. "Luke had been off for about nine months [recovering from an injury], Reggie Evans was in his second year on campus, and Ryan Hogan was a transfer, too," Alford said. Alford fully admits the players weren't the only reason the team didn't reach its goals last year. He said one of the biggest problems on the court was that the offense went away from the things it does best to focus on Recker and Evans. "We want to keep trying to push it, exploiting break opportunities so the defense has to guard the transition first," he said of his preferred offensive style. "In the halfcourt offense, we need to do more screening and cutting. We got away from that last year. It was the most talented team I've had in 11 years, and I think we got away from the little things you have to do to make an offense work. That's a mistake we made as a coaching staff last year, and we want to get back to that this year." Hawkeyes fans were ready for big things from their team, thanks in part to Alford's preseason tour of Hawkeye booster clubs throughout the state. "I'm a marketing major, and I marketed the team big," Alford said. "Maybe that was a mistake. I think we weren't really ready for that kind of exposure yet. "But so far this year everything's been positive with our fans. Like the staff and the team, they're disappointed that we didn't meet expectations. But the good, educated fan knows that two years ago we won 23 games, which is fourth-best in school history, and last year we won 19 games. In 100 years of Iowa basketball, only 19 teams have won 19 games, so it wasn't a bad year." This year's club will have to find a way to replace 60 percent of its scoring and 50 percent of its rebounds from last year, including leading scorer Recker (17.1 ppg) -- whose last-second shots beat Wisconsin and Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. Evans led the team with 11.1 boards a game and was second in scoring (15.4 ppg). Also gone are guard Hogan and forwards Duez Henderson and Rod Thompson, who chipped in a combined 12 points and 3.5 boards per game last year. Alford thinks this year's team will have better balance because the other players on the court won't have Recker and Evans to lean on. "Last year we were a team with two players scoring in double figures," said Alford. "I would hope that this year we can get three or four scoring in double figures consistently and be a little bit harder to play against. I like our athleticism, and we have good size at every position. Even though we will be young, there are some dimensions that we have improved upon." The leading scorer and rebounder returning is 6-foot-7 junior forward Glen Worley (7.3 ppg, 4.1 ppg). The Iowa City native started in 11 games last year and led the team with 31 blocked shots, but his propensity for foul trouble cut into his minutes. "He's improved each year and will play a bigger role this year," said Alford. "He has double-double potential every night." Worley is part of a junior class that will have to provide a great deal of leadership, because the team's two seniors have earned one letter between them. "This class was highly touted going in, but they've played in the shadow of Reggie and Luke for two years," Alford said. "It will be interesting to see how they play out of that shadow." The other members of that class are 6-foot-11 junior Jared Reiner (3.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg) and 6-foot-9 junior Sean Sondeleiter (2.2 ppg, 2.1 rpg), who should continue to share duties at center this year, and 5-foot-11 junior Brody Boyd (3.9 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.8 apg). Reiner led the Hawkeyes in field-goal percentage (.532) and was also second in blocked shots (25). He gained invaluable experience over the summer touring with a team of Big Ten players on an 11-day, five-game trip to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Reiner averaged 6.2 points and 4.8 rebounds on the trip as the Big Ten went 4-1. Like Reiner, Sondeleiter shot 50 percent from the field a year ago. And he also showed an ability to make 3-pointers (3-for-9, 33 percent). Boyd's 34 3-pointers were second on the team behind Recker last year. Boyd was hampered by injuries at the start of the season but came on strong, especially in his outside shooting, as the season progressed, and he looks to be Iowa's main outside threat this year. Senior Chauncey Leslie (6.1 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.1 apg) is a 6-footer who can play both guard spots, while 6-foot-4 sophomore Pierre Pierce (7.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.3 apg), who started 32 games as a freshman, should expand his role this year. "Last year Pierce was more of a point guard and a distributor, and this year he can shift to his more natural position and be a guard, so he should do some scoring for us," Alford said. The team's other senior is 6-foot-1 Josh Kimm, who transferred from Kansas State and can play either guard position. Kimm’s father Bruce was hired as manager of the Chicago Cubs in July. "The first couple of games it did seem surreal," Kimm told the Iowa City Press-Citizen. "Every time you turn on the TV and you're watching ESPN, you can see him. It's like, 'There's my dad.' And he's in the big papers, like the [Chicago] Tribune. I'm proud of him." Another newcomer to the program, 6-foot-3 freshman Jeff Horner, should be in the point guard mix immediately. Horner is Iowa's reigning Mr. Basketball and was a three-time all-state selection at Mason City. Last year he pumped in 31.5 points per game and averaged 8.6 assists and became the first Iowa Class 4-A player to score 2,000 points in his career. He was ranked No. 55 in PrepStars’ list of the top 100 seniors in the country. Red-shirt freshman Marcellus Sommerville, who might haved pushed for playing time this year, left the team in August. He’s the seventh player to leave the program in Alford’s tenure, but none of those were starters. The other two freshmen on the team are a pair of 6-foot-7 forwards -- Greg Brunner from Charles City (Iowa) High School and Josh Rhodes, a native of Santa Cruz, Calif. Brunner averaged 24 points and 15.6 boards a game as a prep senior and ranked 46th in the country by PrepStars. Rhodes was No. 86 on PrepStars’ list and averaged 20 points and 12.8 boards as a senior at Santa Cruz High. Horner, Brunner and Rhodes all have a shot at playing time on a team short on experience. "We have to find out where the newcomers fit into the mix," Alford said. "How much did the red-shirt season help Marcellus? Our freshmen, who are all highly touted, we have to find out where will they fit in. Our biggest question mark might be the junior class. They've had two good years of learning and have gotten off to a good start. But they will play a new role over the next couple years, and we have to see who will step into a bigger role on a bigger stage." A non-conference schedule that includes games at Tulsa and Florida State and home games against Missouri, Iowa State and Northern Iowa should provide a strong test for the young Hawkeyes and give Alford a good idea of what he's got to work with going into the Big Ten season. "We've just got to keep improving," Alford said of his team's preseason goals. "We're young, but we don't open until Nov. 24, so we've got nearly five weeks of practice before our first game. The biggest key is what we do in those five weeks, how the kids pick up things and improve." The Hawkeyes are short on experience, especially players who know how to put the ball in the hoop. But they do have a nucleus of solid, if unspectacular, players and a coach who is a proven motivator. Alford won't get out-coached on many nights, and with national expectations once again nonexistent, the pressure is off the Hawkeyes to do much but play hard, learn and let their talent take over. In a conference where a sleeper seems to come out of nowhere every year to push for the conference title, you never say never. It's not looking like a banner season in Iowa City this year, but would you bet against Alford?
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