After a 26-7 season and a second-place finish in the Mountain West Conference, coach Steve Alford has led Nevada to a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. Now with a more experienced group, the 59-year-old coach believes his team is in prime position to make a solid run in March.
The No. 10-seeded Wolf Pack will travel to Salt Lake City to take on No. 7 seed Dayton in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. After Nevada learned it earned a spot in the field, Alford met with reporters to talk about the opportunity.
During his media availability, Alford talked about his team's experience and maturity after having played in last year's tournament. That's when the former Indiana basketball star was asked if he went through a similar maturation as a player with the Hoosiers under coach Bob Knight.
"It was a weird maturation. We went to the Elite Eight, then we went to the NIT championship game, then we were upset in the first round and then we won it all," Alford said.
"But the Indiana thing, in that era, I mean it was almost built in. And Coach Knight had that thing built in from already winning two national titles and thousands of games. So, that was already a little bit built in."
Alford was a member of Indiana's 1987 national championship team. He averaged 22 points, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game for the Hoosiers that year.
Alford has coached at five programs at the Division I level — Southwest Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA and Nevada. He's led each program to the NCAA Tournament at least once.
Whether as a player or a coach, Alford has seen pretty much everything March Madness has to offer.
"Parody now, today, is incredible," he said. "I've been at every level. I've seen every level — first round, second round, Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four, national title. I've been very, very blessed.
"Anything we can just share with these guys, obviously we share with them. But this is their moment. It's their moment I want them to have fun with it and just stay focused. When they stay focused and driven, we're a hard out."
Nevada is 96-57 under Alford in five seasons. It will play Dayton at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 21 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament (TV: TBS).
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