https://iowa.n.rivals.com/news/tuesdays-with-torbee-49
---
In retrospect, the Iowa basketball team’s toe-stubbing loss at Penn State last Wednesday seems unsurprising.
Sure, the struggling Nittany Lions aren’t a great team and the Hawkeyes have notched much more difficult road wins in more hostile venues earlier in the season. But looking back at several factors, we should have seen this one coming from a mile away.
First of all, the Hawks were playing a third game in seven days, just prior to a much-needed break in a grinding Big 10 schedule. Two of the games were on the road, with Penn State being one of the longest road trips for Iowa in the conference, with a wonky tipoff time of 5:30 p.m. Central due to television necessities. Long road trips seem to be a bit of a bugaboo for Top 10 teams this year, with Kansas dropping one of its few games all the way out in Morgantown, W.V. (also at a weird tip time), Iowa State faltering at Texas Tech, and most remarkably of all, Maryland being buried by one of the worst Minnesota Gopher teams of all time after traveling halfway across the country.
Now, all this road trip/fatigue talk isn’t meant to be excuse making. Iowa played poorly against Minnesota at home prior to laying a stinker in Happy Valley, so clearly some issues have been developing on what was heretofore a legitimate Top 5 type team. But I believe one would have to be somewhat basketball-ignorant to not see that the long season has taken a toll.
That’s why I feel fan reaction to both the PSU loss and the sluggish effort against Minnesota has been a bit overboard. Many folks have used that loss as evidence that Iowa is unlikely to make it out of the second round of the NCAA tournament or compete for a regular season Big 10 title. What I find interesting is that such bold negative predictions are made so easily after an unexpected loss, yet no one was ready to proclaim Iowa a sure-fire Final 4 team after trouncing Michigan State at home or overcoming an 18 point deficit in West Lafayette to defeat Purdue. I guess doom saying is a growth industry.
Here’s the thing: the college basketball season is a marathon. And especially this year, where no elite team looks unbeatable, upsets can and will happen. Within a span of 24 hours of Iowa dropping a game at Penn State, the #3, #4, #5, and #6 teams in the country all lost – with one of them taken out by a team previously winless in its conference. No better evidence of parity could be presented.
The hope is Iowa’s week off brings the players back refreshed, re-focused and ready for a four-game stretch run where they control their own destiny in terms of a conference championship and a high tourney seed.
I’m hopeful the extra time has also given the coaching staff time to make adjustments to how opponents have attacked Iowa. Specifically, both Minnesota and Penn State appeared to strategically risk foul trouble in order to disrupt Iowa’s flow and transition offense. They turned both games into grabby, pushy, mucked up whistle fests – and it worked for PSU and darn near worked for the Gophers.
In some ways, I’m glad Iowa will be playing more talented teams coming up than Minnesota and Penn State. No one left on the schedule is likely to view Iowa has having a large talent disparity, so I don’t expect them to adopt the hack-a-Hawk strategy as enthusiastically. That said, every opponent remaining is definitely dangerous.
I think we will know by the end of Wednesday night whether Iowa is a contender or a pretender for an elusive regular season title. The Badgers are one of the hottest teams in the conference right now, and will come into Carver looking to re-assert their place among the Big 10’s top tier.
Now, it’s up to the Hawkeyes to say their turn is now.
Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and follow the 12Saturdays podcast @12Saturdays.
---
In retrospect, the Iowa basketball team’s toe-stubbing loss at Penn State last Wednesday seems unsurprising.
Sure, the struggling Nittany Lions aren’t a great team and the Hawkeyes have notched much more difficult road wins in more hostile venues earlier in the season. But looking back at several factors, we should have seen this one coming from a mile away.
First of all, the Hawks were playing a third game in seven days, just prior to a much-needed break in a grinding Big 10 schedule. Two of the games were on the road, with Penn State being one of the longest road trips for Iowa in the conference, with a wonky tipoff time of 5:30 p.m. Central due to television necessities. Long road trips seem to be a bit of a bugaboo for Top 10 teams this year, with Kansas dropping one of its few games all the way out in Morgantown, W.V. (also at a weird tip time), Iowa State faltering at Texas Tech, and most remarkably of all, Maryland being buried by one of the worst Minnesota Gopher teams of all time after traveling halfway across the country.
Now, all this road trip/fatigue talk isn’t meant to be excuse making. Iowa played poorly against Minnesota at home prior to laying a stinker in Happy Valley, so clearly some issues have been developing on what was heretofore a legitimate Top 5 type team. But I believe one would have to be somewhat basketball-ignorant to not see that the long season has taken a toll.
That’s why I feel fan reaction to both the PSU loss and the sluggish effort against Minnesota has been a bit overboard. Many folks have used that loss as evidence that Iowa is unlikely to make it out of the second round of the NCAA tournament or compete for a regular season Big 10 title. What I find interesting is that such bold negative predictions are made so easily after an unexpected loss, yet no one was ready to proclaim Iowa a sure-fire Final 4 team after trouncing Michigan State at home or overcoming an 18 point deficit in West Lafayette to defeat Purdue. I guess doom saying is a growth industry.
Here’s the thing: the college basketball season is a marathon. And especially this year, where no elite team looks unbeatable, upsets can and will happen. Within a span of 24 hours of Iowa dropping a game at Penn State, the #3, #4, #5, and #6 teams in the country all lost – with one of them taken out by a team previously winless in its conference. No better evidence of parity could be presented.
The hope is Iowa’s week off brings the players back refreshed, re-focused and ready for a four-game stretch run where they control their own destiny in terms of a conference championship and a high tourney seed.
I’m hopeful the extra time has also given the coaching staff time to make adjustments to how opponents have attacked Iowa. Specifically, both Minnesota and Penn State appeared to strategically risk foul trouble in order to disrupt Iowa’s flow and transition offense. They turned both games into grabby, pushy, mucked up whistle fests – and it worked for PSU and darn near worked for the Gophers.
In some ways, I’m glad Iowa will be playing more talented teams coming up than Minnesota and Penn State. No one left on the schedule is likely to view Iowa has having a large talent disparity, so I don’t expect them to adopt the hack-a-Hawk strategy as enthusiastically. That said, every opponent remaining is definitely dangerous.
I think we will know by the end of Wednesday night whether Iowa is a contender or a pretender for an elusive regular season title. The Badgers are one of the hottest teams in the conference right now, and will come into Carver looking to re-assert their place among the Big 10’s top tier.
Now, it’s up to the Hawkeyes to say their turn is now.
Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and follow the 12Saturdays podcast @12Saturdays.
