Dunk of the Decade, End of Another Alford NIT Run

You may have seen this on one of the ESPNs. If you frequent www.marchtomadness.com, you’ve probably already seen it.

This is a Wyoming player taking dunking to a new level. You decide if the level is higher or lower.

Steve Alford: Coach of the Year

A champion once more

Steve Alford is the men’s basketball Coach of the Year  in the Mountain West Conference.

Alford got his first regular-season Division I conference title as a coach Saturday when his New Mexico team earned a share of the MWC title with BYU and Utah with its win at Wyoming.

Monday, he got his first D-I conference Coach of the Year honor. New Mexico, a so-called basketball school, hadn’t won a regular-season league-title since 1994.

From this article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/ncaa/03/09/alford.mwc.ap/?eref=sircrc

Alford’s two Lobos teams have won 14 road games. New Mexico won a total of 14 road games over the previous seven seasons.

Now it’s on to the MWC tourney in Las Vegas and another game against Wyoming.  It feels like time for a poll.

Steve Alford is in First Place – and Screaming at Midcourt

Steve Alford and assistant coach Craig Neal, apparently unhappy about something in New Mexico's NIT loss at California last March

They take college basketball seriously at New Mexico and Utah.

New Mexico Coach Steve Alford, a person with whom Iowa Hawkeyes fans are familiar, had a little to-do with Utah Coach Jim Boylen Tuesday night in Albuquerque.

From the Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_11831091?source=rss

New Mexico’s Steve Alford had to be restrained by his assistant coaches, screaming as furiously at midcourt as he was at Utah’s Jim Boylen. Boylen, meanwhile, shouted back, and gestured menacingly with his finger for Alford to come over to his side of the floor.

“He’s competitive, I’m competitive,” Alford agreed. “We’re all trying to win a league championship. I think he’s out on the floor; he thinks I’m out on the floor. He thinks I’m nuts; I think he’s nuts. That’s just being competitive. It’s all part of the game, and it’s all fun. His staff’s holding him back, and my staff’s holding me back, so it all turned out well.”

On the same night Iowa was going down to its 13th Big Ten loss in 17 games with some of the remnants of what Alford left behind in Iowa City, his Lobos beat Utah 77-71 to tie the Utes for first place in the Mountain West Conference at 11-4.

Both teams have one MWC games left, and Brigham Young, 10-4, is also in the title mix.