Bubble watch

A month or so ago I didn't think Iowa had a snowballs chance of getting in. Now it's pretty much down to 1 game and they are squarely on the should be in part of the bubble. Along with a BIG Tourny win or 2 to cement it.
 
Part of me wants Illinois to beat Purdue tomorrow so they're on a high coming into our game. That only works if Purdue wins their last game tho. Otherwise Illinois would be playing us for a share of the big 10 title. We don't want that.
 
I am happy we are going to be playing in the post season. I had big doubts a month ago. Gotta beat illinois to have any chance at Big Dance. Need a BIG crowd at last game - the team has earned it! Go Hawks!!
 
Lunardi has Iowa 4th team out in updated bracket.
While that is just one dude's opinion, more and more most experts on bracketology have Iowa now in those teams just outside looking in. Would one win against a Top 15 team be enough to jump 3-5 teams? Maybe. Certainly a game or two in the tourney would cement it.

Of course, much depends on the rest of the bubble. Teams will rise and fall.

If Iowa gets to 20 wins, I think they are in. That would be one more quad 2 win and one more quad 1 win. That should get them in.
 
I know some people don't care about the NIT, but an NIT bid or an NCAA bid would be a tremendous achievement by this team. This team is capable of a deep run in the NIT, a tournament Iowa has never won (finished runner-up once).

I really believe that a win over Illinois and one win in the BTT would secure an NCAA bid.
 
I know some people don't care about the NIT, but an NIT bid or an NCAA bid would be a tremendous achievement by this team. This team is capable of a deep run in the NIT, a tournament Iowa has never won (finished runner-up once).

I really believe that a win over Illinois and one win in the BTT would secure an NCAA bid.
Yes, agree. If they get stuck with NIT and they don't have a hangover from it - yes, could be a fun run.
 
I know some people don't care about the NIT, but an NIT bid or an NCAA bid would be a tremendous achievement by this team. This team is capable of a deep run in the NIT, a tournament Iowa has never won (finished runner-up once).

I really believe that a win over Illinois and one win in the BTT would secure an NCAA bid.
This team is playing like a top 25 team right now so I'm really hoping they sneak in. They seriously play like a top 10 team for 30 minutes a game but always seem to have a 10 minute stretch where they fall apart and keep the other team in it. If they can figure that out, they could win a couple games and finally reach the sweet 16. I've always thought it would be a team like this that feels no pressure to make a run that could finally end the drought.
 
This team is playing like a top 25 team right now so I'm really hoping they sneak in. They seriously play like a top 10 team for 30 minutes a game but always seem to have a 10 minute stretch where they fall apart and keep the other team in it. If they can figure that out, they could win a couple games and finally reach the sweet 16. I've always thought it would be a team like this that feels no pressure to make a run that could finally end the drought.
Fran has this infuriating habit of inserting 4 backups in the middle of the first half and basically giving the second team a 5 minute stretch. We saw it against NW. We had an 8 point lead. Backups come in and there was like a 12 point swing. You just can't have Patrick, Pryce, Dembele and Harding all in at once. There is just not enough offense there, and a couple sizeable defensive liabilities as well.

That said, Fran usually is pretty good on lineups and rotations other than this blindspot.
 
I think beating Illinois alone should put us in, but it would not help the cause to lose to a low seed in the first round. That said, everyone except Michigan is not terrible. The conference does not have a whole lot of stank at the bottom. So, a win or a loss probably doesn't matter that much. The Illinois game would be about as big a resume boost as a bubble team can get right now.

If we don't beat Illinois, I think we have to get to Saturday. That would mean we would have beat a crap team on Thursday and then beat a Top 4 team on Friday. That should do it.
Would be best to get two more wins but the way we are playing I think one of the next two gets us in. At least recent hot streaks meant a lot in the past.
 
Would be best to get two more wins but the way we are playing I think one of the next two gets us in. At least recent hot streaks meant a lot in the past.
I think it'll take another quad 1 win. If they lose to Illinois, I think they'll need to beat a tourney team (at the minimum) during the BTT to get in.
 
I think it'll take another quad 1 win. If they lose to Illinois, I think they'll need to beat a tourney team (at the minimum) during the BTT to get in.
Agreed. They either need to beat Illinois at home or win 2 in the tourney.

So, Iowa has to go at least 2-2 moving forward IMHO. 3 of those 4 should be Quad 1 games.

If single bye, they will have: Illinois, Quad 2 (Thursday), Quad 1 (Friday), (likely) Quad 1 (semis)

If double bye: Illinois, Quad 2 (Friday), Quad 1 (semis), (likely) Quad 1 (finals).

So, 2-2 either way. Beating Illinois at home makes their path a shitload easier.
 
There's a really bad scenario that could play out for big 10 seeding if we lose. I thought we would get the 6 or 7 seed with a loss which I was ok with. But I decided to check other options to see if we could fall further and we can. If Minnesota and Michigan State both win out we would fall to the 8 seed. That will be really bad news for us because the 9 seed is Ohio State. Even if we got them we would play Purdue next. I think if we're unlucky enough to end up the 8 seed we are NIT bound for sure.
 
Purdue at IL tonight - do we want IL to win and come in with over confidence and still possibly playing for a piece of the B1G or do we want IL beaten down and have them lack confidence heading into March?

Either way, I don't think that Sundays game is a given, Iowa has not always performed well in these spots under Fran.
 
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