5) Iowa is not who we thought they were
The Hawkeyes looked like a borderline top 10 team in the 2K Empire Classic when they cruised past Oregon and UConn, and their performance in that tournament pushed them up to No. 14 in the country in the AP Poll.
However, Iowa’s two games this week showed us they may have been playing above themselves in that tournament.
Pitt came within one point of knocking them off in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and, while the Panthers are much better than many (including myself) thought they’d be in head coach Jeff Capel’s first year, are far from an NCAA Tournament team. Then Wisconsin came in and controlled most of their game against the Hawkeyes on their way to a 72-66 win.
Did I mention that both of those games were at home?
Iowa’s a solid defensive team and is going to be that way throughout the season. But their offense was on another level in NYC as they averaged 84 points per game in that tournament. This week? Only 67.5 against Pitt and Wisconsin.
Luka Garza‘s production has dropped off and they stopped getting significant contributions from everyone other than Tyler Cook.
The Hawkeyes face two more good teams this coming week in Michigan State and Iowa State so, unless their offensive improves, they could be looking at a couple more losses.