EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Facing the prospect of playing the nation's top basketball team, it sure was an unorthodox method of preparation. But there were the Southwest Missouri State Bears on Monday sweating it out on their home court at the Hammons Student Center in a heated battle.

Of Wiffle ball?

"We wanted to relax and enjoy each other and enjoy what we had done in the first and second rounds," coach Steve Alford said of the school's wins over Wisconsin and Tennessee. "It's spring training, so we decided to play Wiffle ball. And we had a lot of fun doing it."

Hey, don't knock it. That unusual approach from a coach who is his father's boss (Sam Alford is an assistant coach) and who is known to chest-bump his players during games has worked at SMS -- the name the school would prefer to be called.

Alford has led the Bears to the first Sweet 16 berth in school history and has become one of the hottest young coaching prospects. Alford, a three-time Big Ten first-team player at Indiana, is rumored to be a top candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant Iowa job.

"I don't want to take anything away from our kids," Alford said, when asked about a possible move to the Big Ten. "So that's not something that I'm thinking about right now."

What Alford, 33, is thinking about is preparing his team for its biggest test yet, facing top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Duke team in a regional being described as the "Duke Invitational." In taking over SMS four years ago, Alford revamped the school's schedule, but at no point had he led his team against an opponent like Duke.

"It's a David vs. Goliath type of atmosphere," Alford said. "We have to hope that our slingshot is as potent of stones as David's.

"When you're in a position where you're one and done, there's no such thing as a moral victory. Just as Duke has a mind-set of winning, our mind-set is of winning."

Alford has a long history of winning, as a player from his high school days at Chrysler High School in New Castle, Ind., where -- playing for his father -- he averaged 37.7 points as a senior in 1983. He won Indiana's Mr. Basketball award and was named the high school national player of the year.

That summer, Alford won a gold medal with the South squad in the Olympic Festival, a team led by tonight's coaching opponent -- Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. Alford played four years under Bob Knight at Indiana where, as the starting point guard, he was a consensus first-team All-American as a senior, when the Hoosiers won the 1987 NCAA title.

"They taught me a great deal about passion and work ethic," Alford said about playing for his father and Knight. "I don't try to be my father. I don't try to be coach Knight. I might take something from them as individuals, but I have to have my own personality."

His entrance into the coaching ranks came after a five-year career in the NBA, mostly with the Dallas Mavericks. After getting cut by the Sacramento Kings in 1991, Alford returned home, where he briefly joined his father as a volunteer coach at New Castle. Within a month, Manchester (Ind.) College called and asked if he would be interested in coaching at the Division III school.

Taking over an 0-8 team in the 1991-92 season, Alford was 20-8 in his first full season of 1992-93 -- the school's first winning season since 1977 and first 20-win season ever. By 1995, Manchester was playing for the Division III national title.

Alford took over SMS in 1995, at 30. He made demands on the university for improvement, demands he said were needed for the desired goal of elevating the school from its mid-major status.

"We wanted more money to support recruiting, we wanted to change the marketing, change the logos and make upgrades to the locker room and weight room," Alford said.

"Without the school's support," Alford said, "our program would not even be close to where it is today."

Which is in a position for a shocking upset.

"You've got to be aggressive, and you have to go in with the mind-set of trying to win," Alford said. "We can't start the game on our heels. If we're in awe at 7: 35, by 7: 45 -- like a lot of teams this year -- its going to be over with.

"I think as a young boy you dream of being No. 1 and playing No. 1. Now we get the opportunity."

Pub Date: 3/19/99