Way Too Early Top 25- ESPN

[SteveGarvey]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...llege-basketball-season?ex_cid=espnapi_public

Iowa checks in at #25.

Other B1G:
#4 Wisconsin
#17 Michigan
#18 Michigan State

Picking someone at #25 in a preseason poll often means the pollster has a bias for that school. It's a safe spot to "take a shot" on an under the radar team. Really, there are probably 15 teams he could have put at 25 but it's a safe way to give the team he's biased for some pub without looking like too much of an idiot if that team ends up flaming out.

 

[LASBUR]

Hawks will be better next year. Better leadership. Better at closing out games. More experience from a lot of guys. Jok and Utoff will be able to develope an become scorers. without the burden of having to lead the team. I think we will be good. To be honest I think Fran will be a better coach. Learning to win in the Big Ten is tough. A lot of really good coaches

 

[JHHawk]

I just wrote about this on the home page..perhaps it's time to end the pity party? Myself included

Agree. Mourning time is over. Sometimes things work out.

 

[kicker22]

That's why the whole season is taken into account not a cherry picked amount of games. Also, you have to taken into account other teams. Just looking at Iowa's last 9 games is very narrow minded. Have to take it into account just not by itself.

I understand what you're saying, but at the same time I wouldn't consider it cherry picking either. Its nearly a third of the season. I'm not saying that the talent level isn't there, but arguably the best player on the team will not be there and its still unclear whether the returning players can step up in his absence. All I'm saying is that for every valid reason given for ranking this team a legitimate argument can be made against it.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

I just wrote about this on the home page..perhaps it's time to end the pity party? Myself included

Maybe we hold off on the comparisons to the 86-87 team next year though?

 

[ihawkeye]

Don't believe the hype!

 

[IowaFan81]

I understand what you're saying, but at the same time I wouldn't consider it cherry picking either. Its nearly a third of the season. I'm not saying that the talent level isn't there, but arguably the best player on the team will not be there and its still unclear whether the returning players can step up in his absence. All I'm saying is that for every valid reason given for ranking this team a legitimate argument can be made against it.

Iowa is somewhere between #10 (high point) and losing 8 of 9 and losing in round 1 of NCAA Tournament. That can easily be argued as the #25 team in the nation.

 

[tjhawk08]

I just wrote about this on the home page..perhaps it's time to end the pity party? Myself included

Yes, I'd agree Jon - it is definitely time for all of HawkeyeNation to end the pity party. I'm thrilled (and a little surprised) to see Iowa basketball at #25 in the way too early ESPN poll. Hawks do return a lot next year. I know Marble is a big loss...but maybe we will play some better team basketball with out him. There are still plenty of guys who can score. I was to see Peter Buckets get more PT and more shots. Obviously the guy has never seen a shot he doesn't like...but that is what we NEED on this team. We didn't have that this year - a guy who WANTS, even DEMANDS the ball at the end of the game. Was talking to my co-worker about it (he is a Notre Dame guy, so unbiased towards Iowa) and from his perspective, he wasn't surprised to see Iowa at #25. His thoughts were that Iowa has a good team coming back next year. I agree with him. Jok and Woodbury should both have break out seasons next year. I'm pumped thinking of our shooting with Jok, Oglesby, and Ellingson coming in...should be a much better 3 point shooting team than the past two years. Just my thoughts - GO HAWKS!

 

[WindsorHawk]

Being ranked 25th means they look at Iowa's team next year and say "May be good." IMO

If we get off to a good start we're up to 15th in no time. If we lose early we fall out of the rankings. It's not an unfair presumption...just an educated guess which will prove to be right or wrong pretty early in the season.