Hawkeyes need to win at least a couple of games in BTT to get a bid to the Dance

Yea I agree. If they managed to lost to wildcats, I could see labeling them bubble. But I still think if conference tournaments weren't too crazy then Iowa would still slip in. But after all the hope and expectations, no one wants to see iowa slated at a double digit seed. So hopefully the mojo is back on at the BTT.
 
I hadn't looked at the resumes of any bubble teams, so decided to take a peek. What separates Iowa from most of the teams in Lunardi's "Last Four" or "First Four" categories is that Iowa either has more wins against the Top 50 and/or fewer bad losses (to teams outside of the Top 100).

A couple other resumes stood out to me, though. Unless I'm missing something, these resumes look pretty similar to Iowa's.

St. Joes (Currently listed as "Last 4 In"):
NCAA College Basketball RPI Rankings - ESPN

Stanford (Currently listed as "Last 4 Byes"):
NCAA College Basketball RPI Rankings - ESPN

Iowa (Lock?):
NCAA College Basketball RPI Rankings - ESPN

Iowa has the weakest non-conference SOS of the bunch, but St. Joe's is the weakest in overall SOS. Iowa is just behind Stanford. Both are Top 25 there.

ESPN RPI: Iowa (39), Stanford (43), St. Joe's (48)
NCAA RPI (supposedly the official one): Iowa (49), Stanford (43), St. Joe's (42)

I don't know. Iowa seems to be in decent shape compared to the teams listed as "On the Bubble" in Bracketology, but I still say that they aren't as far from the bubble as most people are saying... Better take care of business Thursday IMO.

If I'm missing something here, please point it out.

Edit: Even with a loss to NW, I still think Iowa stacks up favorably against most of the other teams listed as "on the bubble", which bodes well, but as I said in another thread, I don't want to see the Hawks test that theory.
 
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I just dont see how Iowa falls from a predicted 7-9 seed by almost everyone, to out of the mix by losing one game. Do they deserve a bid if they do that, probably not, BUT did MN deserve a bid last season with the huge skid they went on to end the season? No, but they got in easily.
 
I just dont see how Iowa falls from a predicted 7-9 seed by almost everyone, to out of the mix by losing one game. Do they deserve a bid if they do that, probably not, BUT did MN deserve a bid last season with the huge skid they went on to end the season? No, but they got in easily.

This is the correct answer. Fans overreact, the committee doesn't. Minnesota won 3 of its last 10 last year and the committee put them in based on what they did before they fell apart. If the Hawks lose to Northwestern, I'd say they do not deserve to make the tournament, but it's hard to figure they would even drop below a 10 seed, let alone out of the field.
 
Misinformed experts all over the place. My insiders tell me the Hawks are in the dance if they get knocked out against Northwestern. Going in at a 10 might be better then an 8 or 9.
 
Only if they figure out a way to lose to NW, who they will beat soundly IMO........

If they lose to NW it will really put into perspective how far they have fallen off from the start of conference season.

I think Iowa will win but it wont be like the two beat downs they gave NW earlier mostly because Iowa has regressed rather than NW getting better.
 
This article is way off. We all know that KenPom is the official hawkeye ranking. Currently 17 on KenPom, so are a 4/5 seed in tournament.
 
This article is way off. We all know that KenPom is the official hawkeye ranking. Currently 17 on KenPom, so are a 4/5 seed in tournament.

Not just KenPom. We are a 4/5 seed (or maybe better) in every ranking except RPI, and even there we are around a 9 or 10. Translation: according to formulas, the team is not in any danger of missing the tournament.
 
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