Iowa men's basketball media day 2010

Holy cow! A post not about football or beer!

I apologize for The Quiet Man’s dearth of variety lately. I have two big posts unrelated to beer or football in my “to write” queue and hope to have them up sometime soon. In the meantime, though, I will throw the blogosphere a bone about Iowa men’s basketball.

Yesterday was the team’s annual media day — a happy-go-lucky meet and greet for coaches, players, and reporters. It must be hell for longtime sports journalists: year after year it is the same old clichés, same old sound bites, same old high expectations. When you are 0-0, the sky is the limit. However, the well-worn pre-season enthusiasm at this year’s Hawkeye men’s media day was apparently genuine. The CRG’s Scott Dochterman wrote, “Happy days are en vogue at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.”

With a crop of players slimmed and toned by a rigorous off-season schedule, Fran McCaffery is ready to unleash his “controlled up-tempo” style utilizing the hardwood’s entire 94-foot length. (Hence the “94” on the cake in the picture. That photo is priceless.) All season I will be seated in section MM, just to the right of the midcourt stripe, watching what I hope will be the birth of an Iowa basketball renaissance.

The Althon Sports 2010-2011 season preview predicts the Hawks will finish in the Big Ten’s cellar, and I can’t argue with that. It may be another tough year, especially since the conference is stacked with talent. But it should be nothing like the agony and downright humiliation of last season; I think the Hawkeyes will notch two or three more conference wins. The Iowa men will be unable to compete with the Boilermakers, Spartans, and Badgers, but I think their new style of play and experience from last year will cause a lot of problems in the Big Ten’s middle and lower tiers. (We have by far the most experienced backcourt in the entire league.)

Nobody knows what to expect from this team, include me, so I am very eager to see what kind of product officially hits the court November 14 against South Dakota State.