Iowa at 6th in the same tier as UW and Maryland. Stop the madness. Iowa would be underdogs against Penn State, Ohio State, Minnesota, and potentially Indiana on a neutral floor if they played this week.
Iowa finished sixth and also is the sixth-ranked team in the NET rankings among Big Ten teams.
But, I know, the sky is falling. Should turn down the NCAA bid.
The sky isn't falling, but the ship sure is taking on water.
Iowa at #6 makes sense, as you said they're #6 in the standings. But I'd drop them down to tier 3.
I don’t care who wins Wednesday and plays us Thursday. Our opponent will be playing back to back games. We should be able to out score either. NW defends but doesn’t score. Illinois scores but doesn’t defend.With the way Iowa plays D and how unathletic they are, the only B1G teams that I feel Iowa can beat on a neutral floor this week are Northwestern and Nebraska’s JV team even though they just beat the Hawkeyes. Every other team I would consider favorites over Iowa.
I don’t care who wins Wednesday and plays us Thursday. Our opponent will be playing back to back games. We should be able to out score either. NW defends but doesn’t score. Illinois scores but doesn’t defend.
The entire season when you did these it was about who is playing well lately. Iowa isn’t playing well lately. I’m not saying anything of the nature about the NCAA tourney. It’s great Iowa is going.Iowa finished sixth and also is the sixth-ranked team in the NET rankings among Big Ten teams.
But, I know, the sky is falling. Should turn down the NCAA bid.
The close home LOSS to Maryland carries weight... but the Rutgers home beatdown, the Ohio State and Wisconsin beatdowns, and road loss to a depleted Nebraska team don’t carry weight?My initial thought was Iowa is the 1st team in Tier 3. Then I remembered the close game with Maryland. They still belong in Tier 2 IMO.
There’s a reason I said should. I am not convinced anyone would shoot as well as NE did at the end yesterday...anyone. Yesterday’s game followed the Iowa recipe for success...and gives me reason for optimism. Get ahead and make your FTs. That will work 95% of the time IMO...assuming we have the lead. I am also upgrading us overall and downgrading our opponent overall based on freshness of legs, etc.As per usual, you're exactly right when it comes to basketball. The "should" word is what gives me pause. Iowa should have beaten Nebraska yesterday. They were down 3 starters, lost 2 more during the game. Had zero inside presence at the end of regulation and in OT. Yet Iowa lost.
Iowa should beat a lot of teams in the B1G. But this is by far the worst stretch they've had all season and its kinda reminding me of 2013-2014. It doesn't matter who Iowa plays, when their shots start dropping, they don't stop dropping until the game is over. And when they're not hitting 3s they're getting right to the hoop easily and laying it in.
You're just not going to win against teams when you refuse to play defense and you don't have the athletic ability to make up for it.
I give the solo 6th more weight. We probably need a Tier 2b...Iowa.The close home LOSS to Maryland carries weight... but the Rutgers home beatdown, the Ohio State and Wisconsin beatdowns, and road loss to a depleted Nebraska team don’t carry weight?
The entire season when you did these it was about who is playing well lately. Iowa isn’t playing well lately. I’m not saying anything of the nature about the NCAA tourney. It’s great Iowa is going.
If you look at KenPom Iowa is 23 spots behind Maryland (18) at 41.
Penn State - 40
Indiana - 42
Ohio State - 44
Nebraska - 45
Minnesota - 46
For Iowa to be included in tier 2 is a stretch.
The term Power Rankings tends to imply a team's relative strength at that moment in time....not as a "body of work". We have the longest current losing streak in the conference right now, even though every team we played during this losing streak has a losing record in the B1G. Three of those were by double digits and the lone one that wasn't was played against a team down 3 key contributors.
So yeah, as a Power Ranking, I don't know that I'd put Iowa above anyone currently with the exception of maybe NW.
Iowa lost at Wisconsin, which finished in fourth and 14-6 in the league.