Almost any ISU fan would love to sink their critical teeth into this year’s Iowa Hawkeye men’s basketball team, seeing as how it hasn’t even come close to living up to its pre-season expectations.

I’m not going to lie to you, I grew up a Hawkeye fan. It wasn’t until my oldest brother began attending Iowa State in 1991 that my whole family began to make the switch.

By the time my other brother and myself enrolled here, my dad had given all of his Hawkeye stuff, including hats, flags, mugs and sweatshirts, to my uncle.

When people around me begin talking about Cyclone basketball history, I can’t participate. Instead, I’d bring up old Hawkeyes such as Roy Marble and Bobby Hansen, and people look at me like I’m Osama bin Laden or something.

Naturally I can’t call myself a Hawkeye fan nor do I have any desire to any more, especially when you consider how much money my family has given to Iowa State.

And my support for Iowa teams pretty much stopped when they fired basketball coach Tom Davis and football coach Hayden Fry.

I will admit I did like Iowa basketball coach Steve Alford when he was at Southwest Missouri State.

And I was impressed with his Hawkeye team from last year.

But this year has shown the true colors of both Alford and his team. Unlike ISU head coach Larry Eustachy, Alford hasn’t proven that he is a good coach. The only thing he has shown is his recruiting ability.

In an attempt to rally his team, Alford has tried some different coaching methods. He decided to bench his star player, Reggie Evans, for missing class, which is fine except he did it a game late.

The message this sends is that if you miss a class, you will be benched the second game after you do it. Either that or Alford just isn’t that bright.

I’ve said for a few years now that Eustachy is one of, if not, the best coach in college basketball.

His accomplishments the past two seasons exceeded expectations and his approach to both the game and his players is one to be recognized.

Alford, on the other hand, has two All-American caliber players and a supporting cast with great amounts of talent. But Alford’s relationships with his players and the chemistry of the team have proven to be poor.

The Hawkeyes may struggle to get a bid to the NIT tournament at the end of the season when they were ranked in the top 10 at the beginning of the season.

Of course, it is wrong to put all the blame on the coach. Think about this: Where would this Hawkeye team be if Eustachy was its coach? I would put money on the fact that they would be better than 4-10 in the Big Ten and 15-13 overall.

Then again, it’s hard to ask that question considering Evans probably wouldn’t last on a Eustachy team as he is one of the laziest players in college basketball.

Iowa has fallen to 4-10 in the Big Ten Conference, which isn’t much better than Iowa State’s 3-10 record in the Big 12. But when you look at each conference, most of the dominant Big Ten teams haven’t lived up to their expectations, while the Big 12 is proving that it is one of the toughest conferences to play in, much like Big 12 football.

Many will and have formed new opinions on Eustachy because of the way the Cyclones have struggled this season. But I am truly impressed with the job he has done.

When you look at the overall lack of experience and the young age, what the Cyclones have done is impressive.

The fact that they hung around in so many games but couldn’t pull out victories shows this.

Needless to say I’m excited for the next couple years as players such as Jake Sullivan, Shane Power, Marcus Jefferson, Omar Bynum, Jared Homan and Ricky Morgan get older and more experienced.

Eustachy has not only formed great relationships with his players, but he has instilled the value of never giving up into them. And even though the record doesn’t show it, I can guarantee you Eustachy and his players are having a great time this season.

I wonder how good of a time the Hawkeyes are having.

By the way, if Iowa State played the Hawkeyes right now in Hilton, I’ve got 20 bones on the Cyclones.

Kyle Moss is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.