LADIES LOVE OBSCURE RIVALRIES: INDIANA vs. IOWA?

by Dan Tella, draspate@indiana.edu

In the state of Indiana basketball is life. If there is anything I have learned in my past four years of college it is that fact. So to say that these past couple of years at IU have been unacceptable would be an understatement. Yet even during the down years at major college programs, there are still the major rivalries that keep fans interested. For example, whenever Duke was bad North Carolina was very good, keeping Duke fans interested as they hoped to play "spoiler" to their bitter rivals. Indiana’s major rival has always been Purdue, but over the past years Purdue has been terrible, showing no signs of even relative improvement. With Purdue in a dormant state for at least the next half decade, the door is open for a new in-conference rivalry.

Keep this in mind: obscure rivalries don't merely exist in the smaller conferences and lower divisions. Any time any of the numerous balding analysts for ESPN spend too much time paying lip service to an overhyped rivalry, a different rivalry awaits like The People Under the Stairs, ready to cause fans to feel guilty for not turning their attention sooner. Before you even attempt to try to figure out who IU’s new rival is, I’ll just tell you. It's Iowa. Yes, the Hawkeyes. And here is why...

The answer is disgustingly simple and rests on the shoulders of one, well-groomed thirtysomething. The reason, my friends, is Steve Alford. Steve Alford will soon be wearing the good old Red and White, and living in Bloomington, IN. Yes, one man can create the next great Big Ten rivalry. To start with, Hawkeye fans are passionate about their sports teams. The Hawkeyes are currently second place in one the toughest conferences in the nation, and have beat IU in both their showdowns. Thus, losing your coach to a proven inferior team in your own conference would enrage surely any fan, especially the surly Hawkeye faithful. Hawkeye fans have stuck behind Alford during some up and down years that featured a 14-16 campaign during his first season in 2000, and only two twenty-win seasons (not including this season). It looks as if this will be only his second season finishing with a winning record in the Big Ten. How can Iowa fans not hate Indiana after Alford sells them out in the off-season and moves to central Indiana? Here is a coach that these fans have stuck behind during a streaky tenure, and he leaves you for a team that you wiped up and down the court two times in the previous season. If this does not give Iowa fans enough reason to hate the Hoosier nation, then I do not know what will.

Many of you reading this article are probably asking yourself why Alford would leave Iowa to go coach at Indiana if his team is better. First of all, Iowa is a senior dominated team (start three seniors and two juniors) and they are built for this year. Indiana has a wide range of underclassman talent such as D.J. White, Robert Vaden, Ben Allen and A.J. Ratliff. On top of the immediate future, Alford will be able to succeed in the long run at Indiana as well. How about this for a future recruiting line: “Hi, I was on the last Indiana National Champion team and I was an All-American. I am pretty sure that I know what it takes to succeed at the collegiate level at Indiana University.�

Imagine Iowa fans having to watch their ex-coach do a better recruiting job at Indiana in his first year then he ever did in his 6-plus seasons behind their bench. On top of all this, I have not even mentioned the number one reason Alford will coach at Indiana next season. He is a God in Indiana and you can not put a price tag on being worshipped on a college campus. Just ask Matt Leinhart why he stayed another year at USC. Hoosiers love their basketball and Steve Alford is Hoosiers Basketball. Imagine Errek Suhr being 5 inches taller, an All-American, and the floor general of a National Championship team. If the movie Hoosiers slept with Bob Knight, they would reproduce Steve Alford.

Angry Hawkeye fans watching their program try to rebound as Hoosier fans embrace their favorite alum with open arms is going to be a viciously unavoidable building block in a great rivalry for as long as Alford wants to coach at Indiana. Unless he strangles somebody, he will be untouchable in Bloomington. So grab your buddies and tell them what you learned. But if Alford doesn't end up leaving for Bloomington, tell them you read it on espn.com.