I found this interesting and I think if Iowa loses to UCLA they’re in even more deep do do…
- 11 Teams in the Projected Field (by Overall Seed): 13. Oregon, 14. Michigan State, 15. Michigan, 16. Illinois, 22. Purdue, 24. Wisconsin, 33. Maryland, 36. UCLA, 39. Nebraska, 40. Iowa, 42. Ohio State
Also Considered: Indiana
Biggest Change: Greetings, Hawkeyes
For the first time all season, the Iowa Hawkeyes have found their way into the projected field, albeit, with the type of bubble resume that can make a bracketologist's blood boil: zero great wins, but good enough metrics and zero bad losses.
Iowa did pick up two nice wins this past week, both at home. The Hawkeyes rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to beat Nebraska in overtime, and then they smoked a bubble-y Indiana team by a final score of 85-60.
They are now 5-0 vs. Quad 2, which is quite commendable. There are only 18 teams in the country with more wins against the top two Quads than the Hawkeyes have.
But they're winless against Quad 1 in four tries, including a 31-point loss to Wisconsin, and the only other seven games on their schedule were all Quad 4 wins by an average margin of 29 points.
All of a sudden, though, their metrics look great.
When I pulled resume data last Sunday, Iowa was not top 45 in any of the seven metrics, and was in fact 70th in KPI. But now? Ranking 52nd in NET is the only one in which the Hawkeyes aren't in the top 45, all the way up to No. 43 in KPI.
Behold, the power of trouncing a decent opponent by 25 points.
Can they now survive the dreaded West Coast road trip, though?
If the games don't get postponed due to the wildfires in California, the Hawkeyes are supposed to play at USC on Tuesday and at UCLA on Friday. And with nary a Quad 1 win to their credit, getting swept on that road trip would be a devastating blow to their case for a bid. (However, a win at UCLA would be massive.)
