Game Day
Iowa plays their first exhibition game at home Wednesday night against Upper Iowa University. The Peacocks, located in Fayette, are a Division II team that finished 10-15 last year. I don't know much about the current state of UIU's program, but I do remember attending a few of their basketball camps when I was younger. Current head coach Dave Martin was an assistant to Stu Engen (now at Minnesota State Moorhead) back then. Martin ran the defensive drills, and had a reputation as a real hardass. To me, he was one of those guys who you hated while he was yelling at you during practice, but who you ended up appreciating later on because he got you to put forth your best. Maybe that's not much different than most coaches; I don't really know, I threw in the towel on my basketball career pretty early.

Ok, irrelevant tangents aside, no one is expecting a close game. What we are excited for is a chance to see 40 minutes of Iowa running up and down the court against players not wearing black and gold, another chance to assess where our players are at, and evidence that our optimism for this season is rightly founded. It's an opportunity for Erek Hansen to further impress me with his improvements, for Pierre Pierce to fill up the box score against helpless defenders, and hopefully for the new guys like Doug Thomas, Carlton Reed, and Alex Thompson to start proving they deserve playing time later in the year.

Adam Haluska and Seth Gorney will be sitting out the game. Haluska could be back for Sunday's game against Laval University of Canada. Mike Henderson will take Haluska's spot and join Hansen, Pierce, Greg Brunner, and Jeff Horner in the starting lineup.

Game starts at 7:05. See you there!

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