NCAA Basketball: Buy or sell 2020-21 national championship contenders?

Jan 14, 2021; Spokane, Washington, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Corey Kispert (24) brings the ball down court against Pepperdine Waves forward Kessler Edwards (15) in the second half of a WCC men’s basketball game at McCarthey Athletic Center. The Bulldogs won 95-70. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2021; Spokane, Washington, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Corey Kispert (24) brings the ball down court against Pepperdine Waves forward Kessler Edwards (15) in the second half of a WCC men’s basketball game at McCarthey Athletic Center. The Bulldogs won 95-70. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
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NCAA Basketball
Iowa Luka Garza NCAA Basketball 200303 Purdue Iowa Mbb 034 Jpg

Iowa Hawkeyes – Sell

This may be the best Iowa Hawkeye team of all time.  Watching them play it is evident how good they are.  They can score points with relative ease at times is going to overwhelm a lot of the teams they play.  Luka Garza, the preseason National Player of the Year, has locked up the award at this point as he is going to average 30 points per game for a team that is likely going to win the Big Ten regular-season and head to the NCAA tournament as a likely one seed.

Iowa plays as fast as possible and they let it fly from deep and have numerous players who can make a ton of shots from deep.  Iowa has two of the best shooters in the country in guards CJ Frederick and senior guard Jordan Bohannon.  Bohannon has the reputation of a player who comes alive at the end of games and makes a ton of shots.  Joe Wieskamp, Connor McCaffrey, Keegan Murray can all shoot the ball and are all incredibly efficient shooters.

Iowa is a juggernaut on offense as always.  While Baylor and Villanova hang their hats on defense.  Iowa hangs their hat on offense and always has under Fran McCaffrey. It is the often lack of defense that has gotten Iowa in trouble before and it appears that it may this year as well.

The defense is better this year than it has been in the past and when you have the second-best offense in the country and average over 90 points per game you can hide the lack of defense.  Iowa has always tried to outscore everyone, and that philosophy usually works until the postseason when Iowa seems to run out of gas.

This year is likely going to be different until at least the second weekend.  There is no one in the Big Ten and only two or three teams in the entire country who can outscore them or hold them in check and those are the three teams ahead of them on this list.

Iowa did play Gonzaga earlier this year and the game may have ended up as an 11-point loss but anyone who watched that game knew that the game was not really in doubt at any point in the second half.  Gonzaga had put it on cruise control midway through the second half and still won the game by double-digits.  If these two teams end up playing again it likely would be the same score.

The Hawkeyes have a ton of talent on offense but at points get way too reliant on their star Garza and they don’t play nearly enough defense to pull the upset against the three teams ahead of them.  This isn’t taking anything away from the Hawkeyes as they are one of the best five teams in the country and have a great chance at the final four, but they don’t have enough to hoist the trophy in early April.