The team is not in trouble. They'll get 10 wins in the conference, win at least one game in the BTT, and get a bid to the Dance, probably an 8 or 9 seed.
Jump shooters will keep shooting when they get open looks. Shots will start falling. Iowa will continue to play very strong D and hit the boards.
After last night, I don't see it, either. Iowa looked completely and utterly lost/helpless in the second half last night. That doesn't look like an NCAA team to me. Frankly, it's a mess. I like the blind optimism, though.
I agree with Dean - I was concerned after NYC. Both the TX and Syracuse games. The 'Cuse game, against a team that is way down this year, Iowa struggled much of the game, and despite the comeback, was unable to make the plays in crunch time to get it done. Same as the previous 2 years.
The TX game - what I saw was a game where Iowa played pretty well in the first half against a team that was basically sleepwalking.. Then the second half hit, TX woke up and made adjustments, and it was lights out. Same thing that we saw against ISU and UNI. In other words, against a good opponent that decides it wants to play, Iowa looks totally outgunned.
The UNC game - nice win for sure, but like the wins @Wisconsin & Minnesota in year 2, Iowa won those games against teams that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. If UNC shoots even 40% (instead of 28%) which still is not a great shooting percentage, Iowa loses that game by double digits. So I fear that game was fool's gold.
But short answer - yeah, NYC, because of old tendencies that are still there, and the inability to keep up against a good team that comes out of halftime re-focused.