Iowa Hoops: Margin For Error Rapidly Diminishing





Just have the feeling we're gonna fall a little short-7-11 or 8-10 in the conference and go to the NIT.

Well, barely scrape into the NIT last year to comfortably in this year to squeezing in to the Big Dance next year....


That would be a massive disappointment.

Hawks win Sunday to get to 3-4 and then the schedule becomes much easier.
 


Just have the feeling we're gonna fall a little short-7-11 or 8-10 in the conference and go to the NIT.

Well, barely scrape into the NIT last year to comfortably in this year to squeezing in to the Big Dance next year....

I agree Steve, not a knock against this team but the shooting on this team is why too inconsistent right now, as it has been all season. Maybe they will get their feet under them because of how young they are and how good the B1G is this season but I don't see it yet.

I hope they prove me wrong.
 




We have to go to Minnesota next Sunday, and then to Wisconsin the Wednesday after that.

You forgot the home game against PSU on Thursday.

Also, 6 of the last 11 at home and the Hawks are done playing MSU, OSU and Michigan for the season.

5 of the last 11 are against PSU, Nebraska or NW.
 


As much better this team is than any of Lick's teams or the last 2 seasons, Iowa is still an awful road team. Just awful. No road win is easy for this team - they can beat Northwestern by 20 then lose to Penn State. I don't get it. Until Iowa gets the road woes figured out, they are not NCAA caliber. Teams that make the NCAA also win on the road. Iowa hasn't proven that.
 


As much better this team is than any of Lick's teams or the last 2 seasons, Iowa is still an awful road team. Just awful. No road win is easy for this team - they can beat Northwestern by 20 then lose to Penn State. I don't get it. Until Iowa gets the road woes figured out, they are not NCAA caliber. Teams that make the NCAA also win on the road. Iowa hasn't proven that.

You just described 3/4 of the B1G teams. Wisky beat Indiana on the road then lost to Iowa on the road. It's tough for everyone to win on the road in the B1G, one of the reasons why the B1G is the best/toughest basketball conference.
 






Those Indiana and Michigan State games were killers. Had them both on the ropes at home and couldnt cash in

Why do people keep saying this about Indiana? IIRC, they led pretty much the entire game, if not the entire game. At no point did the Hawks have the Hoosiers on the ropes.

MSU is a different story. Iowa definitely had Sparty on the ropes and should have won.
 


We need Marble to back full strength and scoring more. I know he 's a little gimpy right now but were missing his 15-20 pts per game.
 


Why do people keep saying this about Indiana? IIRC, they led pretty much the entire game, if not the entire game. At no point did the Hawks have the Hoosiers on the ropes.

MSU is a different story. Iowa definitely had Sparty on the ropes and should have won.


You don't have to lead a game to have a team on the ropes. We had a lot of possessions late in the game where we had a chance to take the lead and we couldn't make a shot. We definitely had them on the ropes.
 


You don't have to lead a game to have a team on the ropes. We had a lot of possessions late in the game where we had a chance to take the lead and we couldn't make a shot. We definitely had them on the ropes.


On the ropes implies the opponent is staggering and about down. The are leaning backwards and getting pummeled. Yes you don't have to be ahead, but that's not the game I saw. I saw an upward climb with untied over shoes that had extra mud on them most of the time. However, the opponent did trip on the untied shoe laces and slipped on the mud from the overshoes a good deal of the time.
 


I think a healthy Basabe against Indiana and a healthy Marble against MSU likely gets us a split. The fact that our 4 conference losses are all to ranked teams and we were missing key players in the 2 (close) home losses is why I continue to project Iowa to finish 11-7 in conference. We will know a lot more about the prospects for this team around 4:30 Sunday afternoon.
 




Marble was 1 for 14 from the field vs IU.....if he shoots anywhere near his 45% normal,we win.
Then he was out for the MSU game,and we lose by 3?

Still, not making the Dance is not a ''massive disappointment''....we were always fighting an uphill battle to make the Dance this year,and when you consider our inept shooting prowess, we are lucky to be in the hunt for the NIT. This is the worst shooting Iowa team in ten years,and our 29% shooting from the arc is worse than any team from the Big Ten that has ever made the Dance. Simply put, we have not shot well enough to make the Dance,period. Hope that changes,but I suspect it is freshmanitis,and not going away til next year.
 


Marble was 1 for 14 from the field vs IU.....if he shoots anywhere near his 45% normal,we win.
Then he was out for the MSU game,and we lose by 3?

Still, not making the Dance is not a ''massive disappointment''....we were always fighting an uphill battle to make the Dance this year,and when you consider our inept shooting prowess, we are lucky to be in the hunt for the NIT. This is the worst shooting Iowa team in ten years,and our 29% shooting from the arc is worse than any team from the Big Ten that has ever made the Dance. Simply put, we have not shot well enough to make the Dance,period. Hope that changes,but I suspect it is freshmanitis,and not going away til next year.

My comment about "massive disappointment" was more directed at his prediction that we would barely sneak into the dance next year. I should have clarified that.
 


As much better this team is than any of Lick's teams or the last 2 seasons, Iowa is still an awful road team. Just awful. No road win is easy for this team - they can beat Northwestern by 20 then lose to Penn State. I don't get it. Until Iowa gets the road woes figured out, they are not NCAA caliber. Teams that make the NCAA also win on the road. Iowa hasn't proven that.

This is the only thing they have done in this freak out scenario. Iowa has only lost one road game to a team they were better than and that was early, with a young team. Otherwise they have defeated a decent Northwestern team by 20 and got smoked by really good teams. Fact is, we don't really know what type of a road team this is yet.

Bubble teams don't typically beat top 10 teams on the road, it's why they are bubble teams and not competing for a conference championship.
 


The margin for error depends on how they do at Purdue. If they win they still have a little wiggle room but if they lose that margin for error really does shrink. I keep promoting Iowa needs 8 more wins to get into the NCAA and I am going to stick with that. This is a young team, more than likely they are going to lose a game that they shouldn't, if they lose on Saturday you take a way all wiggle room unless they pull off an upset at Minnesota, at Wisconsin, or at Indiana.

It should be a great game as Purdue is needing this one just as bad as Iowa does, if not more.
 




Latest posts






Top