Today will be Iowa’s first win-or-go-home regular season game since 1968 or 1952, depending on whether you view the 1968 Big Ten Playoff game as postseason or regular season. With the NCAA tournament expanding in 1975 and again in 1985, and the Big Ten Tournament beginning in the early 90s, there have been few chances for Iowa to play a regular season game that if they lose it their season is over but if they win they play on. But that’s what they have Sunday at Nebraska, made possible by the Big Ten beginning to exclude the bottom 3 teams from its conference tournament this year.
Iowa tied OSU for first place in 1968, and lost a playoff game to them in West Lafayette’s new Mackey Arena. Since this was played at a neutral site and they called it a playoff (only one team per conference made the NCAA tournament back then), I’m going to consider this “postseason”. Which means Iowa’s last win-or-go-home regular season game came when they lost the 1952 season finale against Wisconsin to finish a game behind Illinois and miss out on a chance for a one game playoff. When Iowa won the conference and went to the NCAAs in 1955, 1956, and 1970 they had already clinched at least a share of the conference title. The 1986 team won its regular season finale then earned an 11-seed, so maybe if they had not won that game they would have missed the NCAA - but they surely would have gone to the NIT.
To make matters more interesting Sunday, Nebraska is in the same boat as Iowa, because losing to the Hawks would also knock them out of the BTT. It’s been a bleak season that can use any kind of special interest, so hopefully the Hawkeyes can win this “historic” matchup in Lincoln and continue their journey to Indy, and maybe even beyond. We're only 12 wins from a natty!
Link about that 1968 playoff game - anyone on here remember that? I wasn't born for a few more years:
www.cleveland.com
Iowa tied OSU for first place in 1968, and lost a playoff game to them in West Lafayette’s new Mackey Arena. Since this was played at a neutral site and they called it a playoff (only one team per conference made the NCAA tournament back then), I’m going to consider this “postseason”. Which means Iowa’s last win-or-go-home regular season game came when they lost the 1952 season finale against Wisconsin to finish a game behind Illinois and miss out on a chance for a one game playoff. When Iowa won the conference and went to the NCAAs in 1955, 1956, and 1970 they had already clinched at least a share of the conference title. The 1986 team won its regular season finale then earned an 11-seed, so maybe if they had not won that game they would have missed the NCAA - but they surely would have gone to the NIT.
To make matters more interesting Sunday, Nebraska is in the same boat as Iowa, because losing to the Hawks would also knock them out of the BTT. It’s been a bleak season that can use any kind of special interest, so hopefully the Hawkeyes can win this “historic” matchup in Lincoln and continue their journey to Indy, and maybe even beyond. We're only 12 wins from a natty!
Link about that 1968 playoff game - anyone on here remember that? I wasn't born for a few more years:
1968: When Cinderella was really a Buckeye
Courtesy of The Ohio State UniversityOhio State's most improbable run to the NCAA Final Four came in 1968, when the Buckeyes squeaked into the tournament in a Big Ten title playoff and eventually won the consolation game against Houston for...
