Despite last year’s 14-16 record, Iowa basketball fans have high hopes for Steve Alford’s second season as coach. Iowa has already sold 14-thousand-500 season tickets for Carver-Hawkeye arena which means just one thousand seats are open. He says the enthusiasm and excitement is appreciated and he’d like to pack even more people in.A highly touted class of eight newcomers has Alford expecting major improvement. He says last year was a great first year, but not typical of what the University is used too, because it was a losing season.Alford says with the Big Ten featuring more youth this season, there are chances for teams to climb the ladder. He says that could make things interesting on the road. Alford says Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin look to be the favorites at the start of the season, with several teams, the Hawkeyes included, looking to compete for the title.