Steve Alford's Knight Mare

Steve Alford has already benched his biggest, strongest, toughest player. A kid named Jacob Jaacks, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound center, Iowa's muscle.

Jaacks has been known to throw his elbows around relentlessly and thoughtlessly.

"That's not the way we do things in my program," Alford told Jaacks before the senior sat down and missed a start. "That's not the way we do things."

How many times did Steve Alford hear that from his college coach, Bob Knight, at Indiana?

"About a million," Alford remembers.

Tonight, Alford, Iowa's rookie coach, will take the Hawkeyes to Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., to play Knight's Hoosiers. Alford, Indiana born and reared, the point guard who helped Knight to a national title in 1987, the straight-talking Hoosier who stills wears his hair short and his clothes neat, should be the shining example of a Knight-produced player-coach-citizen, a disciplined, smart, fundamentally sound basketball man.

We would expect Knight to grab Alford in a bearhug, welcome Alford to the Big Ten coaching fraternity, beam with pride and think to himself, "Job well done."

Instead basketball fans across the Midwest are wondering if Knight will shake Alford's hand. Will Knight look Alford in the eye? What will the fans in Assembly Hall do? Will they cheer, these fans who idolized Alford the player and who gave Alford the coach a standing ovation once when he brought his previous team, Southwest Missouri State, back to his home state? Will they boo? Will they stay confused and silent?

For reasons Alford says are unknown to him, Knight has acted as if Alford does not exist ever since Alford was named Iowa coach.

Knight has never called Alford to congratulate him on the job. At the Big Ten media day in November, when Knight and Alford sat next to each other for four hours, Indiana and Iowa, linked by the alphabet instead of the past, not a word was exchanged. Not a hi, hello, how ya doing. Nothing.

Alford says he is confused by this. Knight says he has no time to worry about other coaches. "Do you realize how many guys I've coached against who either played for me or coached for me?" was the explanation the Indiana coach gave the Associated Press.

Big Ten people say there are many theories.

Is Knight resentful because Alford has been mentioned as his possible successor at Indiana?