Moral of the story. If you want to finish higher in your conference standings, and perform better in the BTT, and improve your tournament seeding so you're not getting throttled by the eventual champ in the second round, win your close games. Improving that record to 38-33, which is reasonable, would have added an average of two wins per season. I'd like to know what Bo Ryan's record was in those games over the years.
The KenPom category "luck" shows that out of 351 Division 1 teams, Iowa finished 347th in 2014, 327th in 2016, and 341st this past year. They were close to the median the other two years. Figure out the aggregate over the five year period and there's a good chance Iowa has finished dead last in Division 1.
Why is this important? Close games are factored into KenPom's luck component. This dovetails with the 22-49. Officiating has probably factored in some, but a lot. They just don't execute consistently enough in pressure situations. There is no way all that "bad luck" could be attributed solely to random chance. Nobody is that unlucky.
The game that will always stick out in my mind is the Wisconsin SAFO game in 2014. Ogelsby put Iowa up with about 55 seconds left and needed one stop. Everyone in the building knew it was going inside to Kaminsky and he converted. Fran called TO and drew up a play and Bo may as well been in Fran's huddle. When Marble drove to the rim, three Badgers were waiting. Iowa had open peremeter shooters fanned out but Wisconsin largely ignored them. They knew where the bread was buttered. Marble got stripped, foul committed, Badgers convert at line, McCabe airballs three point attempt, ball game.
BTW my Badger friends over here don't think much more of Fran than many hawk fans. Of course they witnessed first hand how petulant he can act when he boils over.