Fran McCaffery is the coach fans of other Big Ten schools love to hate. He has the hot temper, the pugnacious attitude, the nasty streak. Yet, while the Iowa coach is a lightning rod and an object of gleeful derision when the Hawkeyes lose, it remains that Fran might help another Big Ten team (in addition to his own) secure a double bye at the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
You don’t WANT to send a gift basket to Fran McCaffery, but if you get a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament courtesy of an Iowa win, you might have to… and this is the position Wisconsin inhabits heading into the final two weeks of the 2020 Big Ten regular season.
When you look at the remaining schedules for the five Big Ten teams which are tied at 10-6 in the conference standings, two details stand out: One is that Northwestern plays three of the five teams — Wisconsin, Illinois, and Penn State — while Michigan State and Iowa don’t get another shot at the Wildcats.
The other detail is that Iowa is the only team of the five which plays three of the other four Big Ten teams in this five-way logjam.
Wisconsin plays none of the other four teams, which is why the Badgers have such a good shot at a double bye (though by no means a guarantee).
Illinois plays only one of the other four teams in the five-way tie.
Penn State plays two.
Michigan State plays two.
Iowa plays three: Michigan State, Penn State, and Illinois, missing only Wisconsin.
Penn State and Michigan State play each other in the coming weeks. Since Iowa plays PSU and MSU, what we have, essentially, is a three-team round-robin involving Iowa, Penn State, and Michigan State. Wisconsin (like Illinois) is hoping that Iowa goes 1-1 in its two games against Penn State and Michigan State, and that all three teams — UI, PSU, and MSU — split their games in that three-team group.
Iowa, though, is the true epicenter of the Big Ten’s race for double byes at the conference tournament. No one wants Fran McCaffery to do TOO well, but no one in the upper tier of the Big Ten wants him to be a complete failure down the stretch, either.
