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A new, old feeling: Looking forward to an Iowa basketball game

Mike Hlas, The CR Gazette –

All I ask from sports is what I ask from everything else in life, including my fellow humans. Namely, be interesting.

I liked the 2010 Iowa football team a lot more than the 2011 edition because it was far more interesting. Both were 7-5 in the regular-season, but the 2010 Hawkeyes were more newsworthy in getting there. I liked the 2009 Hawkeyes a lot more than the 2011 edition, too. More interesting.

Some years, it’s just not there. Even on very good teams. It’s no crime, just the way it is.

Iowa men’s basketball, as we know so well, hasn’t been genuinely interesting in a long time. Now, this is written at 2 p.m., and maybe six hours from now the Hawkeyes will lay an egg the size of Owatonna in Minnesota’s Williams Arena. No matter. After Iowa’s first two Big Ten games, I’m looking forward to watching it play the Gophers tonight.

I didn’t see the game at Wisconsin last Saturday because I was in transit coming home from Arizona, but the result told me all I needed to know. You win at Madison, you’re going in the right direction.

I did get to watch Iowa’s home loss against Purdue last Wednesday on television in Scottsdale, and found it entertaining. The Hawkeyes’ performance was flawed, yes, but they attacked on offense. I can handle flaws when a team is aggressive much more than if it is passive or stiff.

Minnesota isn’t Ohio State or Michigan State, but it’s a tough place to play. Iowa is an 8.5-point underdog, and with reason. But I’m going to watch, which isn’t something I would have been sure of many times over the last five years. And then Ohio State comes to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, and I look forward to covering it.

My remote won’t be stuck on the Iowa game, though. Texas is at Iowa State in the Cyclones’ Big 12-opener on ESPNU. Every game in conference play counts the same, but you sure want to start the Big 12 season with a win, especially at home.

Oh yeah, the Orange Bowl is on, too. West Virginia at Clemson. A game I wouldn’t watch in September is on in January. Boise State would beat either. Seacrest Out.

 

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