Steve Alford

One of the greatest stars in Indiana Basketball history, Steve Alford played high school ball at Chrysler High School in New Castle, where he won the title of Mr. Basketball in 1983. Arriving at Indiana University the next year, Alford made an immediate impact and was named team MVP for the first of four times in his career, and the Hoosiers upset Michael Jordan and the North Carolina Tarheels in the NCAA tournament.

Alford was named first team all-Big Ten in each of his next three years. Despite missing the NCAA's as a sophomore, he was named to the NIT all-tourney team, and honors continued to roll in: as a junior he was named an All-American, and as a senior he led the Hoosiers to the 1987 national championship.

He scored 2,438 points in his career, an Indiana record at the time, and is the fourth best free-throw shooter by percentage in the history of the NCAA.

After college, Alford played a few years in the NBA before moving on to coaching. He had great success at Manchester College and Southwest Missouri State, and Hoosier fans were hoping he would be Bobby Knight's replacement when that coach was finished coaching. But before that occurred, he accepted an offer to become the head coach at the University of Iowa, which would have made it difficult at any time to return to his alma mater. However, his won-lost record at Iowa was less than stellar and eventually he moved on to the University of New Mexico. He may well be the most popular player ever at Indiana University.