Iowa basketball coach Steve Alford said Monday that senior Greg Brunner will be ready for the Big Ten tournament opener on Friday. Brunner injured his ankle in the final regular season game victory against Wisconsin. Alford says Brunner is walking on the ankle and will be 100 percent by Friday. Alford says Brunner could tape it up and go now if he had to, but they’ll let him take it easy until Friday and he’ll be ready to go.
While Brunner won’t be going full out in practice, neither will any of the other Hawkeyes. Alford says they can’t afford to overwork the team at this point. Alford says you have to prepare to play three games in three days, so he says the practice will be slow in going at each other. Alford says it’s a matter of going through things to stay sharp. Iowa is the number two seed in the tournament and will face Minnesota or Michigan on Friday in Indianapolis.