Iowa Hawkeyes
Sell
The Hawkeyes were one of the most confusing teams in the country a season ago. They were also a team who had zero expectations entering the season. The way Iowa finished a year ago, near the bottom of the league, the Hawkeyes were picked to finish near the bottom again. Iowa has never had a problem scoring the basketball. The reason Iowa was not winning basketball games a season ago, was on the defensive end of the floor. Iowa would always play very high scoring games and often would run out of gas near the end of the game.
So far this season Iowa appears to have fixed its defensive problems. Iowa was still able to put the ball into the basket at an elite level. The Hawkeyes came out of the gates and racked up what appeared to be great wins against Oregon and UConn. These wins were on a neutral court and Iowa was able to bring home the 2K Classic trophy. Since that tournament both the Oregon and UConn wins don’t appear to be that great of wins anymore, as neither team appears to be a tournament team.
Iowa was playing very well at the start of the season, as the season has continued the Hawkeyes have not been playing as well. They narrowly escaped a defeat against upstart Pitt, before finally losing to Wisconsin at home in their Big Ten opener. Iowa is a sell because they have started off conference play 0-2 with very uninspiring performances. One of those losses being to Wisconsin at home, the second loss, a loss in which Iowa got run out of the gym, against Michigan State on the road. While the Big Ten is a much better league this year, going 0-2 may essentially kill any positive momentum the Hawkeyes may have built up. Iowa has a long season left, but they do not appear to be as good as everyone thought.
Iowa has a talented roster especially with star Tyler Cook putting up unbelievable numbers this season. Coach Fran McCaffrey has always had a capable roster of competing with virtually anyone in the country. The teams always have a great mix of big men and shooters. This Iowa team is no exception with Jordan Bohannon, who is one of the best pure shooters in all of college basketball. The backcourt is filled with other shooters other than Bohannon like Joe Wieskamp. This roster should be able to compete at a high level every year.