Our schedule...

[neverahawk]

It's not a great deal easier than last year. Somewhat. Should come out of it at a minimum of 10-3, maybe better. If it's below 10 wins it will be real ugly again at the end of the season. First test should be Creighton but still have nightmares of NDSU from last year.

OOPS SDSU not NDSU It's such a bad dream I block it out anyway I can. Knew it was a Dakota.

 

[sportstalent]

I don't see Clemson as being good. They will be average at best with the players they lost.

Clemson will still have some good players back and they added a decent recruiting class. Grant was a good player, but Stitt was all over the map. Other than that, I think everyone is back. Milton Jennings was huge down the stretch and is primed for a big season after coming out of HS as a McDonalds All-American.

The problem I have with the schedule is that it will not matter if the lose only 3 games or 4, or whatever it is. Iowa is going to have to be better in the BIG to show improvement from year one to year two. Iowa has the opportunity to improve in the BIG with the favorable schedule that they have, the opportunity to do better is there, they need to take advantage of that.

Playing this cream-puff schedule is a double-edged sword, so if Iowa goes 10-3 or 11-2 or 9-4 and have another winning record heading into conference play, what does it mean? Yeah, it can build confidence, but look at how that has worked out for some teams in the past like say Clemson, Virginia Tech and others when they had those great records heading into conference play with the terrible schedule and finish in the bottom four of their conference or middle of the pack and get "snubbed" for postseason? On the other hand, if Iowa loses any more than 4 games in the non-conference, then it could be a long BIG season. This schedule could give an indication of weather or not Iowa can prove they can consistiently beat bad teams again, or just still remain in purgatory.

I would personally like to see Iowa schedule tougher, like when they used to have Missouri and/or Kansas on the schedule. The ACC/Big Ten challenge has been adding another good opponent, save last year with Wake Forest, but it would be nice to see Iowa add a Pac-12 school or a Big East school each year. It also would be nice to see Iowa get in the good tournaments again like the Great Alaska Shootout or the Maui Invitational. In order for Iowa to move forward, more exposure around the nation is needed. It does not excite me that Iowa isn't going to leave the state during the non-conference, makes little to no sense.