Jerry Palm has Iowa on the bubble for the first time

A lot of bracketologists have to be wrong for us to be out. At the same time, we've looked awful as of late (no kidding) and our RPI is not that good but we still have 5 top-50 RPI wins (as far as I know, I haven't really looked lately but I think it's still there from what I've read) with two of those being away from home. I doubt we get left out, I'd say, like, 90% they are in but it's still stupid that they are at this point. In fact a month ago it had to be about a 5% chance we would even be at this point and Iowa sure loves to win the **** lottery.
 
kicker22 said:
I'm not sure if I agree with this. I think if this team is selected to dance it takes a great deal of pressure off the team and it might be enough to loosen them up and get that chip off their shoulder. As I said earlier, this team has looked tighter and tighter as the season has wound down and I truly feel the pressure they are under has a great deal to do with that. I think it could do wonders for the tension of this team. Not saying they'll make a dent in the bracket but hopefully will play with more passion and emotion.
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I admire you for your optimism, I wish I had it. But after staying optimistic that the light would turn on and hoping they would turn it around the past 7 games only to have it dashed 6 times I can't get optimistic anymore. Who knows, perhaps I will feel better Sunday night.
 
ssckelley said:
I admire you for your optimism, I wish I had it. But after staying optimistic that the light would turn on and hoping they would turn it around the past 7 games only to have it dashed 6 times I can't get optimistic anymore. Who knows, perhaps I will feel better Sunday night.
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If we're in and not playing a play-in game it will be hard not to have a rebirth of optimism. It's impressive how Iowa basketball has managed to screw up the excitement that we should have just from making the tournament for the first time in 8 years. This ******* program...
 
biasedHAWKEYE said:
Iowa suffered its sixth loss in its past seven games on Thursday, this time against Northwestern, in about as lifeless a performance as you'll see in mid-March. This loss continued the "Why is Iowa in?" Twitter cascade, much of it from disappointed Iowa fans, but the answer really isn't that complicated. Before their collapse, the Hawkeyes were something like a No. 4 seed. They've plummeted since -- the Hawkeyes have "15-point first-round loss" tattooed on their foreheads at this point -- but only so far. Recency doesn't matter to the committee like it used to. The games are just the games. And if you ignore the dates, and just look at Iowa's wins and losses, there's zero chance you'd leave them out of the tournament in favor of actual bubble teams like, say, Florida State. No chance.
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All I can say is, let's hope Virginia beats FSU today, or the Seminoles will be in.
 
kicker22 said:
I'm not sure if I agree with this. I think if this team is selected to dance it takes a great deal of pressure off the team and it might be enough to loosen them up and get that chip off their shoulder. As I said earlier, this team has looked tighter and tighter as the season has wound down and I truly feel the pressure they are under has a great deal to do with that. I think it could do wonders for the tension of this team. Not saying they'll make a dent in the bracket but hopefully will play with more passion and emotion.
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If the pressure has to do with making the NCAA Tournament, then where has the pressure been coming from? Everybody has been saying that Iowa is a lock.

I know we're all searching for reasons to be optimistic, but I'm running out of places to look, and I don't think that being in the tournament is going to provide some sense of relief that the team needed.

My only hope is that being in the Tournament will create a sense of excitement with the team and they will play hard, but based on what I saw last night in the Big Ten Tournament, I'm not holding my breath.
 
I don't see how pressure keeps you from defending and rotating. They are either tired, have chemistry issues or have flaws that other teams have discovered. This team's issue is defense and it has been ever since Wisconsin beat us in Iowa City.

I'm hoping it has something to do with familiarity (we have had the same team for 2 years now and are playing really good coaches multiple times) and that when we play in the tourney we have a shot because of lack of familiarity but I feel like our defensive issue aren't something that's going to be fixed without a lot of practice. Until we learn where we're supposed to be on rotations (which is very, very important in our defense because we overcommit to force turnovers) we're done for.
 
hawkeyefan4 said:
A month ago the experts also said that Iowa was a legit Final Four team.
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Projecting the field is much more predictable than identifying the Final Four. Also, there are more than 4 legit Final Four teams. Many of the experts will identify over a dozen legit Final Four teams in the course of a week.
 
I just want to make it! Don't care what the seed. We have to get in to take the next step. Have to end the streak.
 
I actually love Jerry Palm's latest bracket for Iowa. Not that Iowa is playing well enough to win a game against anyone at this point, but UMass in the first round followed by a rematch against Villanova with the winner likely playing Kentucky or SD State? I would take that bracket in a heartbeat
 
I actually think we are better off as the 10 seed, than the 8/9 seed. That being said, the way this team is playing, I am not sure it matters. They have completely lost their swagger.
 
ssckelley said:
I don't know about 100% loss in the NIT, as a 1 seed they would get a pretty crappy opponent in that first round. But definitely no deep run and I would not expect many people to show up at Carver.
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Granted nothing is ever 100% but this would be as close as it gets. We had a chance to start fresh and play for a better seed and a conference tournament championship and we crapped the bed against a team worse than the one we would face in the NIT. If we played that emotionless with that much to play for, how would we do after not getting selected on Sunday? We would be Kentucky from last year.
 
bcl20 said:
If we're in and not playing a play-in game it will be hard not to have a rebirth of optimism. It's impressive how Iowa basketball has managed to screw up the excitement that we should have just from making the tournament for the first time in 8 years. This ******* program...
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Stop with the play in game stuff, if you want to believe that the first 4 games is a play in game then fine but don't force that crap on the rest of us. If they make the field of 68 they are in the tournament, I don't care if it is one of the first 4 games or not. The NCAA tournament is no longer a field of 64, if it was THEN you could call the first 4 games a "play in" game. The sooner some of you can come to grips that the NCAA tournament has expanded the better off we all will be. You and I both know that it is just a matter of time that the tournament will get expanded again and to keep calling 1st round games "play in" is silly.
 
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