The Hlog

Perceptions Shift Again

The Iowa men's basketball team was down by 11 points at halftime Wednesday night. You could almost hear the stampede of footsteps in the snow of fans heading to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to line up for NIT tickets.

But then the Hawkeyes did what they needed to do in the second-half to perhaps salvage their season, and they beat Michigan in Ann Arbor. By the way, if you want to hear what real disgruntled basketball fans are like, listen to Wolverine people have to say about their coach, Tommy Amaker.

Iowa didn't exactly beat North Carolina, Duke or Florida, but it was a road win over a Big Ten team not named Minnesota, Northwestern or Penn State. Which makes it a very good win. What it also did was - yes, I'm going to go there - stoked hopes of the Hawkeyes making a run at an NCAA tournament berth.

Has this man's head spent too much time stuck in a snowbank, you ask. Well, yes. But that has nothing to do with this. I see the Hawkeyes' remaining schedule, and see the potential for six wins in the final eight regular-season games. That would leave them at 10-6 in the Big Ten, 18-12 overall. That, coupled with finishing the season strong, should do it. Whether anything less than that would seems unlikely.

So let's look at what's left:

Saturday: Indiana at home. Iowa's next Game of the Year. The Hoosiers are 6-2 in the league. But their lone conference road win was at Penn State. The Hawkeyes have to win this one for this premise to make sense, so ... WIN

Feb. 7: at Minnesota. This is always a dangerous game for Iowa, as witnessed just last season when an inferior Gophers squad stung the Hawkeyes. But this year's Gophers don't have Vincent Grier. WIN

Feb. 10: at Wisconsin. Sorry, but the Badgers don't lose at home. LOSS

Feb. 14: Northwestern. The Wildcats don't win on the road. And rarely at home. WIN

Feb. 17: at Michigan State. I'm not convinced this season's Spartans are particularly good, but since it's at East Lansing, MSU will have its usual homecourt edge against the Hawkeyes. LOSS

Feb. 21: Purdue. No way should Iowa lose this game. WIN

Feb. 28: at Penn State. This is in the same category as the game at Minnesota, but by this point the "inexperienced" Hawkeyes should be plenty experienced enough to get a road triumph over an inferior foe. WIN

March 3: Illinois. These aren't the Fighting Illini players of Bruce Weber's glory days of way back when. You know, two years ago. WIN

There you have it. Six wins in the final eight games, 10-6 in the Big Ten, and an 18-12 record to take to the Big Ten tourney. Is that so hard?
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