Sorry, Hawkeyes. No. 5 seeds at Big Ten struggle
Iowa was a No. 5 last year, and that didn't work out too well
Mike Hlas
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Mar 7, 2016 at 12:11 pm
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/sorry-hawkeyes-no-5-seeds-at-big-ten-struggle-20160307
I don’t want to discourage you Iowa basketball fans, but being the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten tournament hasn’t been a good thing.
The all-time winning percentage of fifth-seeds in the tourney is only the ninth-best of all the seeds. Crazy, huh?
Of course, that includes No. 13 seeds, which are 2-1 all-time since Penn State was the first 13th-seed last year and promptly won twice.
No. 5 seeds are 11-18. No. 6 seeds, on the other hand, are 28-16.
No fifth-seed has ever won the tourney, and only one — Ohio State in 2009 — has reached the title game in the first 18 Big Ten tourneys.
In fact, only one team seeded lower than fourth has won the tourney. That was Iowa in 2001, which was a sixth-seed. It is the only team to win four games in a single tournament, a feat this year’s Hawkeyes will need to accomplish to win the tournament.
In 2001, Iowa avoided the top two seeds in the most upset-riddled tourney in the Big Ten’s history. It beat No. 4 Indiana in the championship game.
Those were better days. The Hawkeyes haven’t advanced to the tourney semifinals since 2006, when they won the event for the second time. That’s nine straight years of never seeing Saturday at the event. To get to Saturday this year, they’ll need to bump off either Illinois or Minnesota, then No. 4 Purdue.
Iowa has been the fifth-seed on three occasions in this tourney. It lost each time. The first two times were in the first two years of the tourney, 1998 and 1999. Those were against fourth-seeds. Last year, Iowa didn’t get to the 4/5 game. It lost to 13th-seed Penn State.
Fifth-seeds are 3-0 against No. 12 seeds.
Should Iowa beat either No. 12 Illinois or No. 13 Minnesota (it will be Illinois. Minnesota got routed at Rutgers Saturday.) and get No. 4 Purdue Friday, history says it will be a tossup. The fourth-seed has won nine times and lost eight.
Iowa is 15-16 in the tournament.
Only seven teams have won the tourney. Ohio State has won five times, Michigan State four, Wisconsin three, Iowa and Illinois two, Michigan and Purdue one.
That’s right, Indiana has never won it. Or Rutgers.
The record for rebounds in a Big Ten tourney was set by Iowa’s Reggie Evans in 2001 and still stands at 51. Second-place? Evans’ 44 in 2002.
The tourney record for points in a tourney is also a Hawkeye’s. Luke Recker scored 91 in 2002.
Iowa was a No. 5 last year, and that didn't work out too well
Mike Hlas
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Mar 7, 2016 at 12:11 pm
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/sorry-hawkeyes-no-5-seeds-at-big-ten-struggle-20160307
I don’t want to discourage you Iowa basketball fans, but being the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten tournament hasn’t been a good thing.
The all-time winning percentage of fifth-seeds in the tourney is only the ninth-best of all the seeds. Crazy, huh?
Of course, that includes No. 13 seeds, which are 2-1 all-time since Penn State was the first 13th-seed last year and promptly won twice.
No. 5 seeds are 11-18. No. 6 seeds, on the other hand, are 28-16.
No fifth-seed has ever won the tourney, and only one — Ohio State in 2009 — has reached the title game in the first 18 Big Ten tourneys.
In fact, only one team seeded lower than fourth has won the tourney. That was Iowa in 2001, which was a sixth-seed. It is the only team to win four games in a single tournament, a feat this year’s Hawkeyes will need to accomplish to win the tournament.
In 2001, Iowa avoided the top two seeds in the most upset-riddled tourney in the Big Ten’s history. It beat No. 4 Indiana in the championship game.
Those were better days. The Hawkeyes haven’t advanced to the tourney semifinals since 2006, when they won the event for the second time. That’s nine straight years of never seeing Saturday at the event. To get to Saturday this year, they’ll need to bump off either Illinois or Minnesota, then No. 4 Purdue.
Iowa has been the fifth-seed on three occasions in this tourney. It lost each time. The first two times were in the first two years of the tourney, 1998 and 1999. Those were against fourth-seeds. Last year, Iowa didn’t get to the 4/5 game. It lost to 13th-seed Penn State.
Fifth-seeds are 3-0 against No. 12 seeds.
Should Iowa beat either No. 12 Illinois or No. 13 Minnesota (it will be Illinois. Minnesota got routed at Rutgers Saturday.) and get No. 4 Purdue Friday, history says it will be a tossup. The fourth-seed has won nine times and lost eight.
Iowa is 15-16 in the tournament.
Only seven teams have won the tourney. Ohio State has won five times, Michigan State four, Wisconsin three, Iowa and Illinois two, Michigan and Purdue one.
That’s right, Indiana has never won it. Or Rutgers.
The record for rebounds in a Big Ten tourney was set by Iowa’s Reggie Evans in 2001 and still stands at 51. Second-place? Evans’ 44 in 2002.
The tourney record for points in a tourney is also a Hawkeye’s. Luke Recker scored 91 in 2002.
