Seth Davis Critiques UI Basketball Program

The 2001-2002 underachieving season and the Pierre Pierce debacle pretty much destroyed Alford here. I don't think Iowa fans ever could get over those two things.
 
Meh, its Seth Davis.


And it appears that Alford is still as dooshy as ever. You werent successful here Steve because you won one "freaking" NCAA tournament game the whole time you were here.
 
Seth Davis said:
If Alford were the coach at his alma mater, Indiana, and he took the team to the NCAA tournament three times in eight years and failed to reach the Sweet 16, that could rightly be characterized as a disappointment. At Iowa, however, that was very impressive.
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I tend to disagree with this statement, compared to his predecessor Alford's NCAA tournament record was a real disappointment, and his "7 winning seaons" we we're in the top 3 maybe once in that span.

In contrast during the Tom Davis era Iowa was in the top 3 for winning % in BigTen play. And made it to the Sweet 16 3 times, which also included an elite 8.
 
Not the whole picture of course, but the focus was Alford not Iowa. Alford did not live up to expectations, and winning the BTT is not the same as winning the regular season BT.

As i stated in another thread, it was best for both parties to split ways.
 
Ihawk209 said:
Reading between the lines, Seth Davis blames Iowa's facilities, fan base, and administrative support

I wish that his assessment included successful seasons before 1999. He also fails to acknowledge the PP turmoil.

In summary: Wild Bull Pumfus (right context?)

Fans too quick to condemn coaches, Huskies' top player, more mail - Seth Davis - SI.com
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No doubt Iowa fell behind in facilities.

Fan support is a far different matter. When you are a pompous arrogant arse with Iowans they need a whole lot of wins and more than 1 in the NCAA's to support you.

As far as the administration see the above pompous, arrogant arse reference and not enough wins.
 
FromFry2Ferentz said:

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I tend to disagree with this statement, compared to his predecessor alfords NCAA tournament record was a real dissapointment, and his "7 winning seaons" we we in the top 3 maybe once in that span.

In contrast during the Tom Davis era Iowa was in the top 3 for winning % in BigTen play.
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I think Alford was ok as an Iowa coach and wasn't awful like some people think he was but...

It's not as simple as he took Iowa to the tournament 3 out of 8 years. It ignores underachieving in the Big Ten, late season collapses in which they lost to inferior teams to keep them out of the tournament and the fact that Iowa was a really good program prior to Alford as far as tournament appearances go.
 
Swing and a miss by Seth Davis.

He may be right that Alford wasn't awful at Iowa. Davis also has a valid point regarding the practice facility. Davis' comments regarding athletic department support are only half-truths in that the AD was a bit hamstrung by the Pierce incidents and dwindling attendance.

As stated above, Davis is right that Alford wasn't awful at Iowa, but Davis missed the point in that Alford was awful compared to what Iowa basketball had been for 20 years prior to his tenure.

That piece was either ill-informed, intentionally deferential toward Alford, or flat-out revisionist.
 
bcl20 said:
The 2001-2002 underachieving season and the Pierre Pierce debacle pretty much destroyed Alford here. I don't think Iowa fans ever could get over those two things.
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The sad thing is, Alford & Co. had a chance to rebound in 2006. Multiple "Iowa boys" in the starting lineup, an undefeated home record, 2nd place in regular season, BT tournament champs. But the first round exit was just too much for a lot of Iowa fans to handle. It's a shame that season is looked back on with contempt. Hopefully someday it isn't. Horner, Brunner, and Haluska deserve better than that.
 
burky247 said:
The sad thing is, Alford & Co. had a chance to rebound in 2006. Multiple "Iowa boys" in the starting lineup, an undefeated home record, 2nd place in regular season, BT tournament champs. But the first round exit was just too much for a lot of Iowa fans to handle. It's a shame that season is looked back on with contempt. Hopefully someday it isn't. Horner, Brunner, and Haluska deserve better than that.
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I agree with all of that and I think Alford would have gotten it going honestly but I understand why he left too. I probably would have and I was excited when he left just because he was so polarizing and it was bad for the program really.
 
"We had seven winning seasons and we won two Big Ten [tournament] titles," he said. "If you look at the history of Iowa basketball, I think they've won four or five Big Ten titles of any kind. Yet, the reality is we weren't successful there."
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FIFA

(Fixed it for Alf)

I also like that Alf said they won two Big Ten titles, but the author at least inserted (tournament) to maintain any semblance of truth.
 
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We won two big ten tourney's, but let's not pretend those are equivalent to real big ten titles, Steve. One is a weekend of lucky bounces another is 2 and 1/2 months of hard work.
 
While Seth Davis is well respected, he clearly didn't do his homework on this piece. If he were an Iowa fan during the Alford era (which BTW was the first coach since Tom Davis) then he'd know that Alford was #1 bigger than himself, #2 mediocre at best, #3 not the right guy for many other reasons.

He goes and coaches for NM, who has extremely low academic standards....and to be honest, I'm not sure how 22 wins a year (which is higher than what it should be because of his 28 or whatever win season a few years back) is anything to write home about.
 
FromFry2Ferentz said:

​
I tend to disagree with this statement, compared to his predecessor Alford's NCAA tournament record was a real disappointment, and his "7 winning seaons" we we're in the top 3 maybe once in that span.

In contrast during the Tom Davis era Iowa was in the top 3 for winning % in BigTen play. And made it to the Sweet 16 3 times, which also included an elite 8.
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Mr. Davis also made the NCAA tourney 9 of his 13 years at Iowa plus the NIT 2 yrs so 11 of 13 yrs in post season play... Yeah Alford's 3 tourneys in 9 yrs was good-enough-for-Iowa-my-a$$-Mr-Seth-f'ing-Davis.
 
BradBanks02 said:
We won two big ten tourney's, but let's not pretend those are equivalent to real big ten titles, Steve. One is a weekend of lucky bounces another is 2 and 1/2 months of hard work.
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The problem is...if Alford would have won a regular season title but then got beat in the first round of the BT Tournament, people would have still diminished the accomplishment. They would have argued that the regular season is just for seeding and it's the tournament that gets you the automatic invite.

For the life of me, I can't understand why some fans didn't or haven't embraced those two titles. As a Hawk fan, they rank in the Top 10 of my all time favorite moments of Hawkeye basketball.
 
I don't think that is true Burky since a regular season Big Ten champion is going to be seeded higher than a hot middle of the conferece finisher every time.

As for why the fans don't embrace the BTT titles. I think it is directly linked to Alf crowing about them as Big Ten Conference championships, and never qualifying them as BTT championships.
 
burky247 said:
The problem is...if Alford would have won a regular season title but then got beat in the first round of the BT Tournament, people would have still diminished the accomplishment. They would have argued that the regular season is just for seeding and it's the tournament that gets you the automatic invite.

For the life of me, I can't understand why some fans didn't or haven't embraced those two titles. As a Hawk fan, they rank in the Top 10 of my all time favorite moments of Hawkeye basketball.
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I personally loved them, along with the run in the 2002 tournament where they lost to the cheating Buckeyes (the two buzzer beaters in that tourny by Recker were magical in a way). That said, I also understand them for what they are.

I will say that the 2004-05 season may have well been a championship season. They won the BTT, finished in second in the conference and were one game behind the team they beat twice that year (if I am right on the standing, if they counted tournament games towards the standings that would pretty much have put Iowa tied with OSU with them getting a tie breaker in my eyes). They also received a high seed that year. Too bad Northwestern State happened....
 
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