The last two contests have not been kind to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Road basketball games in the Big Ten are always a gauntlet, but, at the end of the day, a loss is a loss and the NCAA Tournament selection committee views those as black and white.
Iowa’s high-powered offense has suddenly gone ice cold at the worst time of the year as they are closing out the regular season. ESPN’s John Gasaway has taken note of this and has the Hawkeyes in a treacherous spot with their seeding fading down the stretch.
In its past two outings, Iowa has lost road games at Northwestern and Wisconsin by 20 and 12 points, respectively. The defeat at the hands of the Badgers represented the worst showing on offense (0.85 points per possession) recorded by the Hawkeyes in 13 months. Road losses to at-large-level opponents are surpassingly common in the Big Ten, naturally. Still, the fact that Iowa’s offense suddenly looks weak in defeats by double-digit margins does raise the question of whether this group can hold on to its expected No. 8 seed. – Gasaway, ESPN
Prior to the loss to Wisconsin, Iowa was sitting firmly as a No. 7 seed but that appears to be fading after two consecutive slip ups. That said, the sky has not fallen yet.
The Hawkeyes have games against tournament-bound teams Indiana and Michigan State, and a matchup against a suddenly very feisty Nebraska team left to boost their resume along with the Big Ten Tournament.
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