Iowa's seesaw basketball season finds Hawkeyes back inside coaches' poll top 25
One can say this much about the current Iowa basketball season: The Hawkeyes are nothing if not entertaining.
You can't really predict what you're going to get from Fran McCaffery's 11-5 bunch. Last week was a near-perfect example, with Iowa falling to lowly Nebrsaka (7-9) last Tuesday but turning around and crushing then-No. 14 Maryland at home three days later.
A depleted roster of eight scholarship players after C.J. Fredrick's foot injury leaves numerous question marks going forward. But for now, the Hawkeyes have seesawed back into the most recent USA TODAY Coaches' Poll top 25, released Monday.
Iowa, which is among a four-way tie for ninth in the Big Ten Conference at 2-3, bounced up to No. 24 in the poll from 27th. The Hawkeyes remain the first team outside the top 25 in the latest Associated Press poll.
This week provides another land-mine-and-gold-mine opportunity for Iowa. First comes another bottom-dweller road trip on another Tuesday, this time against Northwestern (6-9, 1-4) at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
Then comes a rematch with No. 20 Michigan (also 11-5 overall and 2-3 in the league) at 8 p.m. Friday, this time at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa lost to the Wolverines 103-91 Dec. 6 in Ann Arbor to open conference play.
Northern Iowa (14-2, 3-1 Missouri Valley) received 10 voters' points in each of the two major polls.
USA TODAY COACHES' POLL
- Gonzaga (18-1), 775 points [16 first-place votes]
- Baylor (13-1), 764 [10]
- Duke (15-1), 757 [6]
- Auburn (15-0), 685
- Butler (15-1), 660
- San Diego State (17-0), 622
- Kansas (12-3), 586
- Oregon (14-3), 543
- Florida State (14-2), 508
- Louisville (13-3), 469
- Dayton (14-2), 452
- Kentucky (12-3), 449
- West Virginia (13-2), 432
- Michigan State (13-4), 391
- Villanova (12-3), 356
- Wichita State (15-1), 309
- Maryland (13-3), 301
- Seton Hall (12-4), 279
- Ohio State (11-5), 137
- Michigan (11-5), 131
- Colorado (13-3), 120
- Memphis (13-3), 73
- Texas Tech (10-5), 72
- Iowa (11-5), 60
- Stanford (14-2), 59
Dropped out: No. 18 Virginia; No. 20 Penn St.; No. 24 Arizona.
Others receiving votes: Creighton 53; Virginia 51; Arkansas 44; Indiana 38; Arizona 37; Illinois 33; Penn St. 23; Louisiana State 22; Rutgers 19; Houston 18; Wisconsin 17; Purdue 15; Northern Iowa 10; Texas Christian 7; St. Mary's 6; Marquette 6; Xavier 4; New Mexico 3; Liberty 2; Yale 1; Providence 1.
ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL
- Gonzaga (18-1), 1,574
- Baylor (13-1), 1,567
- Duke (15-1), 1,529
- Auburn (15-0), 1,359
- Butler (15-1), 1,299
- Kansas (12-3), 1,286
- San Diego State (17-0), 1,266
- Oregon (14-3), 1,163
- Florida State (14-2), 1,093
- Kentucky (12-3), 960
- Louisville (13-3), 943
- West Virginia (13-2), 911
- Dayton (14-2), 842
- Villanova (12-3), 822
- Michigan State (13-4), 735
- Wichita State (15-1), 629
- Maryland (13-3), 616
- Seton Hall (12-4), 496
- Michigan State (11-5), 358
- Colorado (13-3), 345
- Ohio State (11-5), 270
- Memphis (13-3), 232
- Texas Tech (10-5), 111
- Illinois (12-5), 109
- Creighton (13-4), 97
Others receiving votes: Iowa 88, Stanford 77, Arkansas 65, Indiana 50, Virginia 41, Penn State 36, LSU 30, Arizona 20, Wisconsin 19, Liberty 11, Northern Iowa 10, Purdue 10, Duquesne 9, Washington 9, TCU 8, Rutgers 8, Virginia Tech 5, Oregon State 4, Houston 4, BYU 3, East Tennessee State 2, Saint Mary's 1, Harvard 1, Akron 1, USC 1
Danny Lawhon works across the Register’s sports department, from editing, social media and sports wagering to bowls, brackets and data dives. Reach him at dlawhon@registermedia.com or follow @DannyLawhon on Twitter.