IOWA #25 in AP Poll
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Damn, Iowa loses a home game against an unranked Michigan and then FINALLY wins a big game at Ohio State and it's enough to put Iowa into the top 25. It's neat and all but now they need to prove they belong tomorrow against Michigan State (who is now unranked).
Damn. I was really hoping for a ranked Michigan St to come into carver. I guess I can't complain since we are ranked now. We just need to win it now
Honestly did not see a spot in the T25 ranking coming today, despite the thread last night about Davis voting Iowa 24th.
MSU is #26 in the poll.
Huge game tomorrow nite.
Come out and play "pissed off"...as
Connor implored his teammates before the OSU game.
Huge game tomorrow nite.
Come out and play "pissed off"...as
Connor implored his teammates before the OSU game.
now we just gotta win tomorrow and hold serve at home
And only one game off last year's record through 26 games. Crazy. (I know the schedule has not included the same quality of wins but that's technicalities)
Maybe it's just me, but it seems this Iowa team, for reasons that escape me, has been given the benefit of the doubt by almost everyone all season long, and this latest ranking may be the most recent example. I mean, for example, Iowa now has ONE Quad 1 win. Wisconsin has NINE. Iowa played one of the weakest nonconference schedules imaginable, but it doesn't seem to matter. Iowa just lost to a mediocre Michigan team @ home, but it doesn't seem to matter.
I'm not complaining about being ranked. It just surprises me. Look at where Iowa would be if they had simply beaten PSU and Michigan, both in the conference and the national rankings.
But the Hawkeyes can recoup those losses to a large extent by winning most of the tough games remaining, such as @ Michigan and/or @ Illinois and, of course, running Sparty and the munchkin out of the gym tomorrow night.
I'm not complaining about being ranked. It just surprises me. Look at where Iowa would be if they had simply beaten PSU and Michigan, both in the conference and the national rankings.
But the Hawkeyes can recoup those losses to a large extent by winning most of the tough games remaining, such as @ Michigan and/or @ Illinois and, of course, running Sparty and the munchkin out of the gym tomorrow night.
Maybe this is finally the year that they break through and play a game on the second weekend of the tourney. Doesn't seem likely, which is why it will happen.
You can kind of talk yourself in circles about NET.
Iowa isn't good because they haven't beaten enough good teams. Says who, the NET. What is NET, an objective metric put together by the NCAA to help with tournament seeding. What does the NET say about Iowa, they're good.
Maybe NET rankings put too much into bad loss avoidance- compare Rutgers and Iowa, but it's hard to argue Iowa doesn't have enough quad 1 wins, when the thing that determines what a quad 1 win is, is fairly high on Iowa.
Iowa isn't good because they haven't beaten enough good teams. Says who, the NET. What is NET, an objective metric put together by the NCAA to help with tournament seeding. What does the NET say about Iowa, they're good.
Maybe NET rankings put too much into bad loss avoidance- compare Rutgers and Iowa, but it's hard to argue Iowa doesn't have enough quad 1 wins, when the thing that determines what a quad 1 win is, is fairly high on Iowa.
In half of Iowa's losses they've seemed to beat themselves... So by definition those are quad 1 wins. Problem solved.
Hopefully, but it all depends on the matchups. Iowa basically needs to find a way to secure a 6, 7, 10, or 11 seed and stay off those 8-9 lines. The Hawks always seem destined to meet Gonzaga, which is the one team I don't think Iowa has any shot against.
It's interesting. I've always questioned our NET ranking due to lack of Q1 wins and a supposedly soft non-con SOS. Yet, if/when this Iowa team defends and rebounds in addition to the offense, they also pass the eye test IMO.
Absolutely. But maybe Ahron Uhlis and Joe T are being overlooked a bit for their key roles in that Ohio State win. Uhlis got off to a rough start against the Buckeyes, but instead of being yanked like he and others usually are--I was begging for him to be benched--Fran stayed with him. And Uhlis, and the Hawkeyes, responded. So great decision by Fran.
Perhaps Uhlis and Joe T finally found themselves in Columbus. Despite the heroic efforts of the Murray twins, had Uhlis and Joe T not performed so well for so long, Iowa still would not have a Quad 1 win.
Iowa's guard play has been a vicious roller coaster most of the season, especially in the Big Ten, even within individual games. For the Hawkeyes to maximize their considerable potential, more consistent performances from all the guards will be required. Ahron and Joe T are trending in the right direction at the right time. Nobody better to continue that against than the baby bully and his Spartans tomorrow night.
I think there’s a writer who mostly copies Kenpom with a few exceptions. Jesse Newell who got in hot water with Auburn fans for ranking them very low when they weren’t #1 one week.
We got 59 points in the poll. MSU got 58. 8 more people voted for them, but several guys ranked us high enough that it didn’t matter.
We got 59 points in the poll. MSU got 58. 8 more people voted for them, but several guys ranked us high enough that it didn’t matter.
Yes, I looked up the top 20 NET and there was Iowa. Based on Quad 1 performance, Iowa is a dog....but the Quad 2,3,4 record is good and there are no terrible losses. The stuff in the background that isn't pubished with the NET ranking--stuff like margin of victory/loss home and away must be playing into high Iowa NET ranking. The wins on road at Virginia and OSU are great victories at tough places to play.
I did read that iowa is considered by Kenpom to be an "unlucky" team in that they've lost a lot of the close ones that were 50/50 type games...that bad luck was hallmark of Fran teams for his first 6-7 years and I tend to blame lack of defense and lack of strong guard play as source of the bad luck, along with some truly bad luck. Certainly that call at Rutgers was BAD luck and this year's team is more capable at defense than past Fran teams. Perhaps we are due for some good luck. Playing Kris Murray more is a form of increased luck.
If I was an ISU fan, I'd be questioning NET ranking system.
A few factors:
- Lots of teams about the same once you get past the top 8-10.
- Iowa is loved by the computers. Beating bad teams by really big margins has helped.
- No bad losses (arguable at Penn State, but other good teams have lost there too), so that doesn't penalize you with the computers or the pundits
- Keegan Murray is on the team, which means national folks might pay a bit more attention to this team than otherwise.
- If you watch Iowa play in a given game (other than ISU) there are at least periods in the game where they "look" like a good team.
If, huge if, Iowa can go 4-1 down stretch they might get off 7 seed line in the NCAA tournament.
Even worse regarding the choke job in Ames.
BTW...I'm not wrong, they still won their first ten games.
Yikes!
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Yes, despite JBo's 10 bagger the other night, I am of the belief that we need to trade his "offense" for more quickness and defense. As long as there is requisite scoring on the floor from the usual suspects. I thought Ulis and Joe played great together, especially with Kris, Keegan and PMac.
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