FanPulse Week 15: Confidence remains high heading into the final week of the regular season

No. 18 Iowa basketball has just one game left in the regular season, a matchup with No. 23 Illinois on March 8. This last game, as well as the other remaining games among the Big Ten, will go a long ways in deciding the conference tournament seeding.

But what does fan confidence look like, specifically coming off a 77-68 loss to Purdue on Tuesday?

You’ve spoken, and the data says 97 percent of you still have confidence — the same total as last week.

I’ve got to agree on this one. There is no need to panic after the loss to Purdue. The Boilermakers have Fran McCaffery’s number this year (as well in years past), but — and I cannot stress this enough — was one game. We’ve seen Iowa play at much worse this season and then follow up with an excellent showing.

Iowa looked terrible on the road against Nebraska but won its next game by 18 over Maryland. In the rematch with Maryland (and Iowa loss), the Hawkeyes beat Illinois by seven. Or after that loss to Michigan State, beating Penn State by nine points.

You get my point.

Rant over. Anyway, SB Nation also polled you, asking who is the Big Ten’s best team.

Can’t disagree too much, but I’d argue Michigan State should take that top spot.

In national news, SB Nation asked which coach deserves COTY honors. Here are the results:

Dayton coach Anthony Grant leads the way, followed by “other,” Baylor’s Scott Drew, San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher, and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton. My vote would go to either Grant of Drew. It’s a toss up.

Anyway, as always, if you disagree with the confidence level (or any of the other superlatives), feel free to let us know why in the comments below.