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IOWA TO PLAY IN 2015 ORLANDO CLASSIC HOOPS TOURNAMENT

WE WANT BAMA

Nicole Sweet-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa's in the midst of their annual early season non-conference tournament (the 2K Classic this year), but we now know which tournament they're going to be playing in a year from now -- and most of the field.

By and large, it's a very solid-looking field:

TEAM 14-15 KP 14-15 RPI 13-14 KP 13-14 RPI 12-13 KP 12-13 RPI
Alabama 59 32 92 124 60 60
Dayton 51 79 38 42 65 111
Iowa 31 210 28 55 25 78
Notre Dame 53 223 99 136 37 36
Southern Cal 197 281 163 170 101 119
Wichita State 7 140 5 4 17 38
Xavier 52 166 59 47 77 90

There's one more team to be added to the field (identity TBA), but we have a pretty good idea of who Iowa will see a year from now.  We obviously don't know how good any of these teams will be a year from now -- graduations, NBA Draft early entrants, and incoming recruits will all shake things up between now and then -- but in looking at these programs over the last three years we can see that aside from USC (in the midst of a rebuilding project) they're generally very solid.  There are no elite, blue chip programs in the midst, but there are a lot of very solid teams.  This also might end up being a tournament that Iowa has a very good opportunity to win.

In a strange coincidence, Iowa also has a lot of recent history with several of the other teams in the Orlando Classic field.

ALABAMA

Iowa last played Alabama in 2010 at the consolation game in the Paradise Jam tournament in the Virgin Islands.  Iowa won, 55-47.

DAYTON

Iowa last played Dayton in Iowa City in 2012 in a first-round game in the NIT.  Iowa won, 84-76.

NOTRE DAME

Iowa last played Notre Dame last season in Iowa City in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.  Iowa won, 98-93.

SOUTHERN CAL

USC is the lone exception to the familiar faces theme of this field; Iowa hasn't played USC since 1983, a 62-61 Iowa win in Los Angeles.

WICHITA STATE

Iowa last played Wichita State in 2012 in the championship game of the Cancun Challenge.  Iowa lost, 75-63.

XAVIER

Iowa also last played Xavier a year ago in a first-round game in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament.  Iowa won, 77-74, in overtime.

The 2015 Orlando Classic will take place November 26-29, 2015, over Thanksgiving.