The Hawkeyes soared to poll heights that hadn't been seen in Iowa City in years last week, ascending to 10th in the nation. Alas, they've fallen from those lofty heights this week after losing to Michigan last Wednesday in Ann Arbor. Iowa still remains ranked fairly highly, though, and has a great opportunity to reclaim a spot in the top 10 next week if they can win this week's big game with Michigan State (Tuesday night, 6 PM CST, ESPN).
AP POLL: JANUARY 27, 2014
RANK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Arizona Wildcats (63) | 20-0 | 1623 |
2 | Syracuse Orange (2) | 19-0 | 1561 |
3 | Florida Gators | 17-2 | 1436 |
4 | Wichita St. Shockers | 21-0 | 1435 |
5 | San Diego St. Aztecs | 18-1 | 1337 |
6 | Kansas Jayhawks | 15-4 | 1272 |
7 | Michigan St. Spartans | 18-2 | 1251 |
8 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 16-3 | 1067 |
9 | Villanova Wildcats | 17-2 | 1063 |
10 | Michigan Wolverines | 15-4 | 1050 |
11 | Kentucky Wildcats | 15-4 | 896 |
12 | Louisville Cardinals | 17-3 | 891 |
13 | Cincinnati Bearcats | 19-2 | 793 |
14 | Wisconsin Badgers | 17-3 | 763 |
15 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 16-4 | 722 |
16 | Iowa St. Cyclones | 15-3 | 684 |
17 | Duke Blue Devils | 16-4 | 549 |
18 | Pittsburgh Panthers | 18-2 | 517 |
19 | Saint Louis Billikens | 18-2 | 464 |
20 | Creighton Bluejays | 17-3 | 445 |
21 | UMass Minutemen | 17-2 | 353 |
22 | Memphis Tigers | 15-4 | 262 |
23 | Oklahoma Sooners | 16-4 | 203 |
24 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 16-4 | 143 |
25 | Texas Longhorns | 16-4 | 142 |
Iowa falls from 10th to 15th in the AP Poll, which is only the third steepest-drop in those rankings this week (tied with Villanova and Wisconsin, who also fell five spots in the poll). Ohio State dropped seven spots in the AP Poll, from 17th to 24th, although their freefall was arrested by a 62-55 win over Illinois over the weekend. UMass fell even further, dropping eight spots (13th to 21st) after losing to Richmond, 58-55.
USA TODAY COACHES POLL: JANUARY 27, 2014
RANK | TEAM | RECORD | Points |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Arizona Wildcats | 20-0 | 799 |
2 | Syracuse Orange | 19-0 | 769 |
3 | Wichita State Shockers | 21-0 | 724 |
4 | Florida Gators | 17-2 | 694 |
5 | San Diego State Aztecs | 18-1 | 653 |
6 | Michigan State Spartans | 18-2 | 621 |
7 | Louisville Cardinals | 17-3 | 552 |
7 | Kansas Jayhawks | 15-4 | 552 |
9 | Villanova Wildcats | 17-2 | 509 |
10 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | 16-3 | 497 |
11 | Kentucky Wildcats | 15-4 | 433 |
12 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 16-4 | 386 |
13 | Wisconsin Badgers | 17-3 | 368 |
14 | Michigan Wolverines | 15-4 | 346 |
15 | Cincinnati Bearcats | 19-2 | 323 |
16 | Duke Blue Devils | 16-4 | 298 |
17 | Pittsburgh Panthers | 18-2 | 279 |
18 | Iowa St. Cyclones | 15-3 | 268 |
19 | UMass Minutemen | 17-2 | 265 |
20 | Creighton Bluejays | 17-3 | 229 |
21 | Saint Louis Billikens | 18-2 | 218 |
22 | Memphis Tigers | 15-4 | 155 |
23 | Ohio State Buckeyes | 16-4 | 118 |
24 | Gonzaga Bulldogs | 18-3 | 114 |
25 | Oklahoma Sooners | 16-4 | 85 |
Iowa's fall was less pronounced in the Coaches Poll, dipping just two spots, from 10th to 12th. Interestingly, Iowa remains ahead of Michigan in that poll, despite having the same number of losses and having just lost fairly convincingly to the Wolverines (who followed that up by beating a top-10 team on the road -- not too shabby). Perhaps the coaches are just avid KenPom subscribers.
Through Sunday's games, Iowa sits at 4th in the most recent KenPom rankings:
HOORAY, ADVANCED STATS!
Meanwhile, Iowa sits at 21st in the advanced (ish) stats that truly matter: the NCAA RPI rankings:
As Iowa fans know all too well, guady KenPom rankings are nice, but what truly matters on Selection Sunday is where you sit in the RPI, however flawed a system it might be. Iowa's been on the wrong side of the RPI bubble in recent years, but they're in much better shape this year, sitting at 21st in the most recent official NCAA RPI rankings. Of course, while Iowa's RPI is such that they're in no danger of not making the tournament as things stand, it would still be very nice to keep that number ticking up, so that Iowa can hopefully get a more favorable seeding.
Also, in terms of Iowa's records versus certain groups within the RPI rankings...
vs RPI 1-25: 2-4 (W over Ohio State, Xavier; L to Wisconsin, Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan)
vs RPI 26-50: 1-0 (W over Minnesota)
vs RPI 51-100: 2-0 (W over Nebraska, Notre Dame)
vs RPI 101-200: 5-0 (W over UTEP, Northwestern x2, Nebraska-Omaha, Drake,
vs RPI 201-300: 4-0 (W over Fairleigh Dickinson, UNC-Wilmington, Arkansas-PineBluff, Penn)
vs RPI 301-349: 1-0 (W over Maryland Eastern Shore)
vs RPI other: 1-0 (W over Abilene Christian)