Iowa's seesaw basketball season finds Hawkeyes back inside coaches' poll top 25

Danny Lawhon
Hawk Central

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

  1. Gonzaga (18-1), 775 points [16 first-place votes]
  2. Baylor (13-1), 764 [10]
  3. Duke (15-1), 757 [6]
  4. Auburn (15-0), 685
  5. Butler (15-1), 660
  6. San Diego State (17-0), 622
  7. Kansas (12-3), 586
  8. Oregon (14-3), 543
  9. Florida State (14-2), 508
  10. Louisville (13-3), 469
  11. Dayton (14-2), 452
  12. Kentucky (12-3), 449
  13. West Virginia (13-2), 432
  14. Michigan State (13-4), 391
  15. Villanova (12-3), 356
  16. Wichita State (15-1), 309
  17. Maryland (13-3), 301
  18. Seton Hall (12-4), 279
  19. Ohio State (11-5), 137
  20. Michigan (11-5), 131
  21. Colorado (13-3), 120
  22. Memphis (13-3), 73
  23. Texas Tech (10-5), 72
  24. Iowa (11-5), 60
  25. 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

  1. Gonzaga (18-1), 1,574
  2. Baylor (13-1), 1,567
  3. Duke (15-1), 1,529
  4. Auburn (15-0), 1,359
  5. Butler (15-1), 1,299
  6. Kansas (12-3), 1,286
  7. San Diego State (17-0), 1,266
  8. Oregon (14-3), 1,163
  9. Florida State (14-2), 1,093
  10. Kentucky (12-3), 960
  11. Louisville (13-3), 943
  12. West Virginia (13-2), 911
  13. Dayton (14-2), 842
  14. Villanova (12-3), 822
  15. Michigan State (13-4), 735
  16. Wichita State (15-1), 629
  17. Maryland (13-3), 616
  18. Seton Hall (12-4), 496
  19. Michigan State (11-5), 358
  20. Colorado (13-3), 345
  21. Ohio State (11-5), 270
  22. Memphis (13-3), 232
  23. Texas Tech (10-5), 111
  24. Illinois (12-5), 109
  25. 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.