...I think this game will end up being the difference between getting into the tournament vs the NIT. As tough as the B1G will be this year, to give up a 20 point lead, on the road, against a Top 5 non-conference team is going to haunt us...
1) This team is not a NCAA tourney team. They have 1 really good player in Uthoff -- 1st team all B14 caliber -- and 1 streaky shooter that can do little else in Jok. They're 1-dimensional on offense, incosistent (at best) and porous (mostly) on defense, lack a confident leader and have zero toughness. Yeah, they're experienced but experience doesn't compensate for role-player level talent.
2) The B14 is a shell of the last 2 years. MSU is elite, Maryland and Purdue are good, NwU is decent (and
might make the dance), then there's a pretty big drop off to about 5 bubble teams. If Hawks make the tourney, it's
because the B14 is
down this season.
3) The only way this game will haunt Iowa is if they let it beat them the rest of the year. The 1st half was a complete anomaly due entirely because ISU was lazy and Uthoff was out of his skull. The
expected Iowa vs ISU game was the 2nd half. If ever a moral victory should be embraced and flushed, all at once, it's this one. The best thing is to look at it as, we just took the #4 team in the country, on it's hostile home floor, to the brink and came up short. Tell yourself you can compete and move on.
Taking anything else from this game is idiocy.
