Preview, Prediction: Iowa Returns to B1G Play Against Michigan

It would be nice to get a win in the B1G and this could be one of our better chances. This game could help set the tone for the rest of the season, but honestly it appears Iowa is now playing to make the NIT.........................and possibly another trip to New Your City for a Hawkeye team. Maybe making the NIT final four is being overly optimistic but it beats sitting at home watching everyone else play.
 
^^^ Right now, I've got Hawks winning 4 or 5 in the B!G14. I have no frickin' idea which 5 they will be but agree with da BigD - this is one of the better possibilities.

Michigan is a solid team, so, a W could be another boost going forward and inch the bar upward toward maybe 6 or 7 conf wins and a realistic shot at the NIT.

Both have 5-W streaks but UM's is more impressive. Hawks also 5 straight over Wolves? That's not a good side of the pendulum for Iowa to be on.

UM exposes Iowa's bad perimeter D and it's back to reality of CBI or bust: UM 83 - Iowa 75.
Building year.
 
^^^ Right now, I've got Hawks winning 4 or 5 in the B!G14. I have no frickin' idea which 5 they will be but agree with da BigD - this is one of the better possibilities.

Michigan is a solid team, so, a W could be another boost going forward and inch the bar upward toward maybe 6 or 7 conf wins and a realistic shot at the NIT.

Both have 5-W streaks but UM's is more impressive. Hawks also 5 straight over Wolves? That's not a good side of the pendulum for Iowa to be on.

UM exposes Iowa's bad perimeter D and it's back to reality of CBI or bust: UM 83 - Iowa 75.
Building year.

They haven't looked like a team that will only win 5 more games in quite awhile. The conference has a bunch of not very good teams.
 
It would be nice to get a win in the B1G and this could be one of our better chances. This game could help set the tone for the rest of the season, but honestly it appears Iowa is now playing to make the NIT.........................and possibly another trip to New Your City for a Hawkeye team. Maybe making the NIT final four is being overly optimistic but it beats sitting at home watching everyone else play.

These next two B1G games are huge. They would put us back to even in the league. And be a big jump in confidence.... The Hawkeyes look like a much better team the last month. But they have a lot of room to really improve as well...
A couple of wins against some decent teams would go a long way for this young team... Real young still. We are one of the Top 50 youngest teams (or Bottom 50, however you want to look at it).

We will get better with every week of this season. A big boost could come in the next 3 days...
 
They haven't looked like a team that will only win 5 more games in quite awhile. The conference has a bunch of not very good teams.

Agree. With the emergence of Dailey and now with Baer back healthy and the change in rotation, I don't see why we can't meet the preseason expectations from here on out which most agreed we would go near or better than .500 in the Big Ten games.
 
Agree. With the emergence of Dailey and now with Baer back healthy and the change in rotation, I don't see why we can't meet the preseason expectations from here on out which most agreed we would go near or better than .500 in the Big Ten games.

I would think 9-9 minimum if we weren't 0-2 right now. I think anywhere from 7-10 wins. Our "max" wins leaves us 1 game why of tourney.
 
If they can beat Michigan and Ohio State this week and even their record at 2-2 in the conference they have a chance of finishing off pretty strong. I doubt they will beat Michigan and Ohio State, but that's why you play the games.
 
They haven't looked like a team that will only win 5 more games in quite awhile. The conference has a bunch of not very good teams.

I'm going "relative", here. Their best win in this streak (and on the season) is over Colorado - who's #114 Sagarin as of this post. The worst teams Iowa will face from here on out are Rutgers #112, Nebraska #92, Indiana #80.
(Iowa is next lowest ranked b1G14 team, at #67).

While the Hawks have played much better from a month ago, I think I'm being very reasonable expecting 5 W's, which, based on current Sagarin rankings, means Iowa has to pull off 2 "upsets" just to get 5 W's

As someone mentioned, the next 2 at home will show if their improvement is legit or due to competition.
 
I'm going "relative", here. Their best win in this streak (and on the season) is over Colorado - who's #114 Sagarin as of this post. The worst teams Iowa will face from here on out are Rutgers #112, Nebraska #92, Indiana #80.
(Iowa is next lowest ranked b1G14 team, at #67).

While the Hawks have played much better from a month ago, I think I'm being very reasonable expecting 5 W's, which, based on current Sagarin rankings, means Iowa has to pull off 2 "upsets" just to get 5 W's

As someone mentioned, the next 2 at home will show if their improvement is legit or due to competition.
Their 114 rating takes into account their whole body of work for the year. My point is, they look way better than a 114 team now. Or is Sagarin a rating of where they think they are right now?
 
These next two B1G games are huge. They would put us back to even in the league. And be a big jump in confidence.... The Hawkeyes look like a much better team the last month. But they have a lot of room to really improve as well...
A couple of wins against some decent teams would go a long way for this young team... Real young still. We are one of the Top 50 youngest teams (or Bottom 50, however you want to look at it).

We will get better with every week of this season. A big boost could come in the next 3 days...

Could not agree with you more. I hope guys can do as it would be a huge lift for them and us fans too.
 
Their 114 rating takes into account their whole body of work for the year. My point is, they look way better than a 114 team now. Or is Sagarin a rating of where they think they are right now?

Sagarin does offer a “recent” ranking (that is part of the overall, composite ranking, above). Iowa is #35; which supports your take that Hawks are a significantly improved team and playing at a higher level than the team in the Caymans thru early December.

I don’t question that there is improvement. I question whether it is legit-Iowa or an illusion due to bad opponents. These next two games are against 2 postseason caliber teams and will go a long way toward legitimizing or debunking Iowa.
 
Sagarin does offer a “recent” ranking (that is part of the overall, composite ranking, above). Iowa is #35; which supports your take that Hawks are a significantly improved team and playing at a higher level than the team in the Caymans thru early December.

I don’t question that there is improvement. I question whether it is legit-Iowa or an illusion due to bad opponents. These next two games are against 2 postseason caliber teams and will go a long way toward legitimizing or debunking Iowa.

35 is better than I thought it would be. I would have guessed more like 50 or so. Average teams don't look really good against bad teams like we have. We looked like what a good team looks like when they play bad teams. That doesn't necessarily mean it will translate when we play other good teams. But it's a start.
 
Sounds like Michigan is pretty much going to be full strength right? This is going to be a very tough game, I am curious if Iowa is up for the challenge. I know 56 has mentioned he didn't think Iowa is capable of beating Michigan over the past few weeks, I am anxious to see if they can prove him wrong.
 
Wagner returned after a two-game layoff (foot) on Saturday. He didn't look right, playing only 20 minutes.

We'll see if he's all the way back tonight. He's obviously a huge part of their team.
 
I think we will learn a lot about our zone defense tonight. This is one team that we can't have slow rotations with as they can shoot the ball from deep. Along with the fact that they have a pretty good point guard in Xavier Simpson, this could spell doom for us. I really think the game will hinge on the play of Moss, Dailey and Nunge.
 
I think we will learn a lot about our zone defense tonight. This is one team that we can't have slow rotations with as they can shoot the ball from deep. Along with the fact that they have a pretty good point guard in Xavier Simpson, this could spell doom for us. I really think the game will hinge on the play of Moss, Dailey and Nunge.

I'm hoping Garza has a big game. We need him to be good this year.
 
I'm hoping Garza has a big game. We need him to be good this year.
I hope he does have a big game but the only reason why I don't think it is required for us to win is due to the depth of our post players. He could play 5 minutes and we could still win the game. But if our guards get in foul trouble we could be in for a world of hurt. I have a feeling it will be a constant theme throughout the year.

As I have seen a few posters post on a few other threads, Garza (along with Cook and Pemsl's) swagger can positively affect these games. They will help take some of the pressure off our guards.
 
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