alternitive history 1986 ncaa tournament

[Hawknick]

While watching the 1st round game against NC State I was thinking of what might have happened if Iowa had won (they should it was a 2 point game and they got some awful calls). The rest of the bracket was favorable, NC state made it to the elite 8 against Kansas. Iowa would have faced 14th seed Arkansas Little Rock in round 2 (of whom Iowa beat by 9 in the regular season), and 7th seed Iowa State in round 3. How might this have affected future seasons if Iowa had made a deep run in the NCAA tournament that year? Would the coaching change have taken place following the season? If not how would the next season have played out with the young players from this team going forward? Would the players that made huge improvements after this season been able to do that without Mr. Davis's coaching? What do you all think would have happened? Below is a video of the first round game vs NC State. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGVHLXqAuTg

 

[rchawkeye]

I was a 10 year old watching from the upper deck at the Metrodome. I don't remember much except the disappointment in the loss.

NC State broke our hearts again in 89, I believe, with Rodney Monroe and Chris Corchiani. Never realized before that NC State beat the Marble/Armstrong/Horton class in both their freshmen and senior seasons.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

I remember the game and to blame the officiating is just weak and is the go to excuse on this board it appears.. The truth is all Iowa had to do was hit its free throws and they Win the game easily.

 

[guffus]

Tom Davis made some really smart moves the next year and had that full court press system all game that took full advantage of the depth that Raveling had built up.

Moving Louhus to starting forward and Gamble to starting shoting guard seems obvious now , but was not obvious then.

The fact that Raveling never had an elite team at USC tells me he would not have taken Iowa to that next level that Davis did in 87.

But I am sure Raveling regretted bailing right before Iowa had that great season.

 

[Hawknick]

The way cause of the result of the game is not critical to this scenario. The point is the game was close. If this had been a win it could have lead to a tournament run. This could have had a major impact on the program one way or the other. Maybe there is still a coaching change, but Mr. Davis gets more of a recruiting bump that helps the program from 88-91. it is interesting to me to think of ways this could have played out.

 

[ssckelley]

No question Raveling could recruit, Iowa may have enjoyed some terrific recruiting classes had he stuck around as a Head Coach. I remember that 86 team had underperformed all season so I don't know if Raveling could have duplicated the success of the 87 team. Tom Davis was the right coach at the right time, if he would have had the recruiting skills that Raveling had Iowa may have been the "Kansas" of the midwest.

It is interesting to think about, the coarse of history may indeed had changed if Iowa would have beaten NC State.

 

[StatelineHawk]

I was at the dome in 1986 and watched Hornaceck hit a last secong shot to beat Miami of Ohio who had Ron Harper. Iowa's loss to NC ST. was even tougher to swallow after UA-LR beat ND. I have said this many times but I bet 80-90% of Hawks fans were pulling for Clones. A smaller % of Clone fans pulled for the Hawks. More cordial before internet.