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Dec 17 ESPN Bracketology: Iowa is on the bubble & the 8th team out

12th is a very reasonable prediction. I'd be at least somewhat surprised if they don't exceed that though. I'm guessing more likely 9th (range of 11th to 7th).
Until they actually, consistently play better team D in meaningful games that's their ceiling. All the talk about improvement on D we've heard for years without seeing it. Show me.
Exactly. We have the same coaching staff as the last decade overall. Until we start making defense a priority from the TOP down we're never going anywhere come March to April.....
 
4 bold predictions from a Register beat writer:

(1) Josh Dix will make an All-Big Ten team.

(2) Brock Harding will finish top-5 in the Big Ten in assists per game.

(3) Pryce Sandfort will be Iowa's top bench scorer.

(4) Iowa will have its best 3-point team percentage since the 2020-21 season.

In 2020-21, four players shot 39% or better from deep, including three players who shot at least 44%.

Team 3 point shooting:
2020-21: 38.6%
2021-22: 36.3%
2022-23: 34.0%
2023-24: 35.1%


The Full story:

 
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Even I think that's a little over the top. Oregon? Illinois? Rutgers? MSU? On paper, those teams look better than us
 
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You think Illinois Rutgers and MSU are all clearly better than Iowa?
On paper Illinois and MSU are. Rutgers took something like the 10th best recruiting class last year. I watched them last nite and they don't scare me, Ill and MSU do but I haven't watched them
 
On paper Illinois and MSU are. Rutgers took something like the 10th best recruiting class last year. I watched them last nite and they don't scare me, Ill and MSU do but I haven't watched them
Might be picking nits, but I’m not sure I agree they’re clearly better. By a bit yes, but all 3 of those are winnable games imo.
 
Might be picking nits, but I’m not sure I agree they’re clearly better. By a bit yes, but all 3 of those are winnable games imo.
Illinois has won 7 of the last 8, and we play them in Champaign. That's not a great bet. We play RU at the RAC. Also not a great bet.

At least we get MSU at home.
 
10th in B1G ahead of Indiana and Wisconsin.

Happy James Corden GIF by The Late Late Show with James Corden


All I can say is we'd better make the most of our conference game opportunities, because the non-conference schedule is not going to do us any favors. Tex. AM commerce H is 357 out of 364 teams. Southern H is 261. South Dakota H 241. Rider H 263. Wash State N 171 (woah! Huge balls facing such a powerhouse in Moline! Much respect!) USC Upstate (what? who? huh?) H 349. New Hampshire H 330. New Orleans H 346....

Jeezus, that's pathetic. Creme Puff City, baybee! The Utah State game in KC is legit, and it's fortunate that the ISU game is forced on us by law, but even that's at home. Why schedule like that if you have 3 all big ten caliber players back? Why? At least we'll be well rested when Northwestern rolls into town.
 
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10th in B1G ahead of Indiana and Wisconsin.

Happy James Corden GIF by The Late Late Show with James Corden


All I can say is we'd better make the most of our conference game opportunities, because the non-conference schedule is not going to do us any favors. Tex. AM commerce H is 357 out of 364 teams. Southern H is 261. South Dakota H 241. Rider H 263. Wash State N 171 (woah! Huge balls facing such a powerhouse in Moline! Much respect!) USC Upstate (what? who? huh?) H 349.

Jeezus, that's pathetic. Creme Puff City, baybee! The Utah State game in KC is legit, and it's fortunate that the ISU game is forced on us by law, but even that's at home. Why schedule like that if you have 3 all big ten caliber players back? Why? At least we'll be well rested when Northwestern rolls into town.
Iowa needs and needed to win these games by at least 25+. Hopefully they gel and do that. You can really manipulate the NET.
 
Iowa needs and needed to win these games by at least 25+. Hopefully they gel and do that. You can really manipulate the NET.
Ok ....it's much harder to manipulate the NET blowing out a bunch of 300+ teams .... but that's really not even my point.

Even if you blow out every cupcake, is a schedule like that really setting up a team for success in the NCAA tourney?

Look at the way Purdue schedules for comparison:

Alabama H
Texas A&M N
Auburn Birmingham
Marquette Milwaukee
NC State California

Look at MSU:

Kansas in Atlanta
Uconn/Memphis in Hawaii
North Carolina/Dayton/Auburn

Look at Illinois:

Arkansas in KC
Alabama in Birmingham
Duke in NYC
Tennessee H
Mizzou in St. Louis

Shit even Wisconsin plays Marquette and has a home and home with powerhouse Arizona.

These are the types of schedules that really test teams and prepare them for the NCAA tourney.

What the hell is our schedule designed to do? Pad Fran's W/L record? Placate the ice cream eaters? Expand our brand/recruiting footprint to the Quad Cities and Sioux Falls?

Seriously though......I don't get it. What's the goal with this program? You have a good core of talent back. Why not set them up for post season success?
 
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10th in B1G ahead of Indiana and Wisconsin.

Happy James Corden GIF by The Late Late Show with James Corden


All I can say is we'd better make the most of our conference game opportunities, because the non-conference schedule is not going to do us any favors. Tex. AM commerce H is 357 out of 364 teams. Southern H is 261. South Dakota H 241. Rider H 263. Wash State N 171 (woah! Huge balls facing such a powerhouse in Moline! Much respect!) USC Upstate (what? who? huh?) H 349.

Jeezus, that's pathetic. Creme Puff City, baybee! The Utah State game in KC is legit, and it's fortunate that the ISU game is forced on us by law, but even that's at home. Why schedule like that if you have 3 all big ten caliber players back? Why? At least we'll be well rested when Northwestern rolls into town.
Admittedly, I’ve never been a huge fan of how Iowa has typically approached non conference schedules under Fran; he seems to prefer softer schedules with a couple of better games in the middle. I’m surprised WSU is that low, I’d thought they were supposed to be decent. Utah should be a solid opponent as well as Utah state. And to be fair, we don’t necessarily know who in the P4 programs wanted to play Iowa either.

I don’t hate this years noncon schedule - we’ve had weaker ones. I just wish he’d have more in the 100s and MAYBE 1 at best in the 300s to start. When we’ve talked about attendance issues before, the lack of recognizable opponents they bring to carver is high on that list as well.
 
On paper Illinois and MSU are. Rutgers took something like the 10th best recruiting class last year. I watched them last nite and they don't scare me, Ill and MSU do but I haven't watched them
Rutgers didn’t have Ace Bailey in that game who was out with an injury. Projected #2 pick in the NBA draft. Hard to believe their class was 10th with Bailey and Harper being 2nd and 3rd projected picks in the draft.

As for Illinois, I think they will be better later in the season. Best players are freshmen. Freshmen and sophomores scored 87 of the points in game one. It will depends on how the team gels.

I like Iowa better than MSU.
 
Rutgers didn’t have Ace Bailey in that game who was out with an injury. Projected #2 pick in the NBA draft. Hard to believe their class was 10th with Bailey and Harper being 2nd and 3rd projected picks in the draft.

As for Illinois, I think they will be better later in the season. Best players are freshmen. Freshmen and sophomores scored 87 of the points in game one. It will depends on how the team gels.

I like Iowa better than MSU.
MSU looked much better last nite, albeit against lesser comp. Kid we wanted in the middle looks different in a good way for them
 
Rutgers didn’t have Ace Bailey in that game who was out with an injury. Projected #2 pick in the NBA draft. Hard to believe their class was 10th with Bailey and Harper being 2nd and 3rd projected picks in the draft.

As for Illinois, I think they will be better later in the season. Best players are freshmen. Freshmen and sophomores scored 87 of the points in game one. It will depends on how the team gels.

I like Iowa better than MSU.
Rivals had Rutgers 2nd behind Duke for the 2024 class. 24/7 ranked Rutgers 4th for that same class. ESPN put Rutgers 2nd in their rankings. On3, Rutgers final ranking was 6th.
 
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Nov 5, 2024 Update:

Again, I know it's early, but in another thread we were talking about whether Iowa would really finish 16th or 17th in the B1G. In another thread, there were complaints that things were slow in this forum. And if you don't like this topic, just skip this thread for now.

As of Tuesday, Nov 5, Joe Junardi/ESPN essentially has Iowa 12th in the B1G.

Joe/ESPN projects the B1G getting 10 teams into the NCAA Tournament.

The 10 Teams & their Seed:
3 Purdue
5 Indiana
5 UCLA
7 Illinois
7 Michigan State
8 Ohio State
8 Oregon
9 Michigan (gets 1 of last 4 byes)
10 Rutgers (gets 1 of last 4 byes)
11 Maryland (one of last 4 in)



Others, on the Bubble:
Wisconsin...........3rd Team OUT
IOWA....................6th Team OUT


The Full Bracket

 
Nov 12, 2024 Update:

Again, I know it's early, but in another thread we were talking about whether Iowa would really finish 16th or 17th in the B1G. In another thread, there were complaints that things were slow in this forum. And if you don't like this topic, just skip this thread for now.

As of Tuesday, Nov 12, Joe Junardi/ESPN essentially has Iowa 11th in the B1G.

Joe/ESPN projects the B1G getting 10 teams into the NCAA Tournament.

The 10 Teams & their Seed:
4 Purdue
5 Indiana
5 Ohio State
6 Illinois
6 Michigan State
7 UCLA
8 Oregon
10 Rutgers (gets 1 of last 4 byes)
11 Maryland (one of last 4 in)

11 Michigan (one of last 4 in)



Others, on the Bubble:
IOWA....................2nd Team OUT
Wisconsin...........3rd Team OUT
USC.......................7th Team OUT


The Full Bracket

 
Sean is a Hoops Writer for the Field of 68 Daily. He is also an MLB/CBB writer for @ActionNetworkHQ and is the host of "The Field of 68 Mid Major Show."

The full text of the tweet:

I already liked this Iowa team, but the defense looks much improved — at least today.

That late game pressure gave Washington State fits.

Drew Thelwell was everywhere defensively late. Made some big plays.

Between Owen Freeman and Payton Sandfort, the Hawkeyes have enough star power to beat just about anybody in the Big Ten.

Love this Hawkeyes squad.



 
Nov 19, 2024 Update:

Again, I know it's early, but in another thread we were talking about whether Iowa would really finish 16th or 17th in the B1G. In another thread, there were complaints that things were slow in this forum. And if you don't like this topic, just skip this thread for now.

As of Tuesday, Nov 19, Joe Junardi/ESPN essentially has Iowa 11th in the B1G.

Joe/ESPN projects the B1G getting 10 teams into the NCAA Tournament.

The 10 Teams & their Seed:
2 Purdue
6 Indiana
6 Illinois
7 Ohio State

7 Michigan State
7 UCLA
9 Oregon
9 Wisconsin
11 Michigan (gets 1 of last 4 byes)

11 Rutgers (one of last 4 in)


Others, on the Bubble:
IOWA....................3rd Team OUT
Maryland.............4rd Team OUT


The Full Bracket

 
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And the schedule gets harder as I think it should

There are 364 D1 schools. KenPom currently ranks Iowa at #40.

On Jan 3 we play 100% conference games. Until then:

Nov 22 vs #49 Utah St (Kansas City)
Nov 26 vs #325 USC Upstate
Dec 3 vs #61 Northwestern
Dec 7 at #27 Michigan
Dec 12 vs #7 Iowa State
Dec 15 vs #359 New Orleans
Dec 21 vs #53 Utah (Sioux Falls)
Dec 30 vs #356 New Hampshire

Jan 3 at #39 Wisconsin
 
Iowa is the FIRST team out here.

 
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