It was a roller-coaster ride of a week for the Iowa Hawkeyes last week. After falling from the rankings thanks to a close loss to Penn State in Philly, the Hawkeyes were further hit by the injury bug as we learned that CJ Fredrick would miss time with a stress reaction injury. Tuesday night, Iowa had one of its worst shooting performances of the Fran McCaffery era in another close road loss.
Just as sentiment was turning sour, the Hawkeyes bounced back on Friday night with a blowout win over #12 Maryland in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That win wasn’t enough to overcome the loss earlier in the week in the minds of the national media as the Hawkeyes remain unchanged in the AP poll. They received 88 votes, putting them just outside the top-25. Here’s a look at the full poll.
1. Gonzaga
2. Baylor
3. Duke
4. Auburn
5. Butler
6. Kansas
7. San Diego State
8. Oregon
9. Florida State
10. Kentucky
11. Louisville
12. West Virginia
13. Dayton
14. Villanova
15. Michigan State
16. Wichita State
17. Maryland
18. Seton Hall
19. Michigan
20. Colorado
21. Ohio State
22. Memphis
23. Texas Tech
24. Illinois
25. Creighton
In the Coaches Poll, however, the Hawkeyes earned a bit more respect for their hard-fought win with a short bench. After being two spots outside the top-25 a week ago in the minds of the coaches, Iowa re-entered the poll this week at #24.
Here’s a look at the full Coaches Poll.
1. Gonzaga
2. Baylor
3. Duke
4. Auburn
5. Butler
6. San Diego State
7. Kansas
8. Oregon
9. Florida State
10. Louisville
11. Dayton
12. Kentucky
13. West Virginia
14. Michigan State
15. Villanova
16. Wichita State
17. Maryland
18. Seton Hall
19. Ohio State
20. Michigan
21. Colorado
22. Memphis
23. Texas Tech
24. Iowa
25. Stanford
It’s been an interesting year thus far for the Big Ten. After rising to as high as #3 in the nation, Ohio State now finds themselves at #21 in the AP and #19 in the Coaches Poll. They’re also tied with Northwestern for dead last in the Big Ten. On the whole, the conference has five teams ranked in the Coaches and AP but none higher than 14th (MSU in the Coaches).
Despite the apparent parity, the conference is among the nation’s best. No team has jumped out to national prominence as in the ACC, Big 12 or SEC, but the Big Ten has 12 teams in the top 41 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. That mean Iowa will play only two more games this year against opponents who are not considered quadrant 1. Put another way, the Hawkeyes only have two more opportunities for a bad loss this season and will have 13 more opportunities for good wins.
The question down the road will be whether Iowa can capitalize on those opportunities.