The 2023-24 men’s college basketball season is still a long way away, but ESPN believes the Iowa Hawkeyes will be right back in the mix for what would be a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi published his first 2023-24 bracketology prediction and the Hawkeyes are as close as close can get to another tourney ticket. Unfortunately, if Lunardi’s forecast becomes reality, Iowa would be the first team left out of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Iowa joins Kansas State, Missouri and Virginia as Lunardi’s first four out. Per Lunardi, look for Oklahoma State, Illinois, Oregon and Northwestern to likewise be on the bubble. That quartet was listed as the next four out.
The last four byes were Boise State, Xavier, Memphis and Texas Tech, while the last four in were Washington State, Michigan, Virginia Tech and Indiana.
As a conference, the Big Ten’s eight bids matches the Big 12 and SEC with the nation’s most.
After Iowa’s season ended with an 83-75 loss to Auburn in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, guard Ahron Ulis and center Josh Ogundele announced they were entering the NCAA transfer portal. Combined with the departures of Kris Murray, Filip Rebraca and Connor McCaffery, Iowa had three scholarships available for next season.
In Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca, Iowa loses its top two scorers and rebounders. Murray was a consensus All-American after finishing with averages of 20.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Rebraca had a great final season in Iowa City as well, averaging 14.1 points and 7.5 rebounds.
For Iowa to do better than Lunardi’s prediction, it will counting upon the trio of guard Tony Perkins, guard Payton Sandfort and forward Patrick McCaffery to take steps forward.
Perkins, Sandfort and McCaffery were the Hawkeyes’ third-, fourth- and fifth-leading scorers. Perkins averaged 12.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game in 2022-23. Sandfort averaged 10.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. McCaffery averaged 9.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Of course, Iowa just added the commitment from Valparaiso big Ben Krikke. The 6-foot-9, 220 pound forward averaged 19.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. His 19.4 points per game averaged led the Missouri Valley Conference and he actually surpassed that at 21.0 points per game in league play.
The Hawkeyes have two scholarships they can fill to get to the 13 total scholarships men’s college hoops teams can allot in a given year. All of that’s to say, there might still be a long ways to go in terms of roster construction throughout this offseason for Iowa.