maly, too: Iowa Plays Virginia Tech In ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Monday, May 14, 2012

Iowa Plays Virginia Tech In ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Iowa's basketball team will play at Virginia Tech on Nov. 27 as part of the 2012 ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Iowa is 2-9 in the Challenge after losing, 71-55, to Clemson a year ago in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes did not take part in the event in 2003-04 and 2004-05. This year marks the 14th year of the event.

“We always look forward to this event and this year is no different,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “Anytime you play an ACC opponent on the road, you know it will be difficult. We have a great deal of respect for Virginia Tech. This will be a good road test for our basketball team early in the season.”

Iowa has played Virginia Tech twice before, losing both meetings in Challenge games. The Hokies edged Iowa, 69-65, on Nov. 29, 2006 in Blacksburg, Va., and 70-64 on Dec. 1, 2009 in Iowa City.

Iowa is 11-24 all-time against ACC schools, while Virginia Tech is 18-14 against current members of the Big Ten Conference. The Hokies have played every Big Ten school except Michigan State and Northwestern.

Virginia Tech is coached by James Johnson, who will enter his first season as the program’s head coach this fall. Johnson spent the last five years on the Hokies’ coaching staff. He was an assistant coach from 2007-11 before being promoted to associate head coach prior to last season. Johnson also has coaching stints at George Mason (2005-07), Penn State (2003-05), College of Charleston (2002-03), Elon (2000-02), Old Dominion (1997-2000), Hargrave Military Academy (1996-97), Longwood (1995-96) and Ferrum (1993-95).

The Hokies return nine lettermen, including two starters, from last season's team that finished 16-17 overall and 4-12 in ACC action. Eighteen of Virginia Tech’s games a year ago were decided by five points or fewer (6-12), including 10 contests by 10 points or less (5-5). The Hokies return four of their top seven scorers from last year. Erick Green returns for his senior campaign after leading the Hokies in scoring (15.6), assists (88), steals (41), field goal percentage (.438), free throws made and attempted (101-of-122), and minutes played (34.5). The guard, who scored double figures in 30 of 31 games, was a second team all-ACC selection. Forward Jarell Eddie ranked third in team scoring (9.1) and second in rebounding (4.8).

Iowa was 18-17 last season, finishing tied for seventh in the Big Ten with an 8-10 league record and advancing to the second round of the NIT. Iowa returns five of its top six scorers from a year ago. The Hawkeyes lose their top scorer from 2012, Matt Gatens (15.2 ppg), but return junior Roy Devyn Marble (11.5), sophomore Aaron White (11.1), junior Melsahn Basabe (8.2), junior Zach McCabe (7.8) and sophomore Josh Oglesby (6.4). White, who was one of only 16 student-athletes name to the Kyle Macy Freshman All-America team, was also the team’s top rebounder (5.7), while Marble led the squad in steals (53) and Basabe in blocks (36).

Virginia Tech is 2-5 in the Challenge, including a 1-2 mark in home contests. The Hokies have lost their last two Challenge games by the same score since beating the Hawkeyes in 2009. Virginia Tech lost at Minnesota a year ago, 58-55, and at home to Purdue in overtime, 58-55, in 2010.

The Big Ten won the 2012 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, 8-4, picking up its third consecutive Challenge title and retaining possession of the Commissioners Cup. The Big Ten set a conference record for wins and tied the record for wins by either conference in the Challenge. Four of the Big Ten’s eight victories came on the road, also setting a Challenge record.

Iowa-Virginia Tech is one of six three-time Challenge matchups, with the others being: North Carolina-Indiana (2001 and 2004); N.C. State-Michigan (2003 and 2006); Ohio State-Duke (2002 and 2011); Minnesota-Florida State (2004 and 2007); and Purdue-Clemson (2003 and 2007).

The 2012-13 Challenge schedule:

Tuesday, Nov. 27

Minnesota at Florida State

North Carolina at Indiana

NC State at Michigan

Maryland at Northwestern

Iowa at Virginia Tech

Nebraska at Wake Forest

Wednesday, Nov. 28

Purdue at Clemson

Ohio State at Duke

Georgia Tech at Illinois

Michigan State at Miami

Boston College at Penn State

Virginia at Wisconsin

[This story was written for Ron Maly by Matt Weitzel of Iowa's sports information staff].

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.