Voice of the Hawkeyes Board

Should the NIT take ALL the remaining BIG teams for the strongest possible field?

I just saw #6 Indiana State at #3 Iowa--Wednesday at 6 PM.

Complete NIT bracket:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BFmhhMUCcAAt7jX.jpg:large

Iowa has no one to blame but itself at this point. Schedule slightly tougher in the non-conference and close out Big Ten games and they wouldn't be worrying about the NIT right now.

With hosting the women's tournament, hosting a 2nd round game was going to be difficult to schedule. My guess is the NIT knew the Hawks would have to go on the road anyway so they matched them with the weakest 2 seed. Wouldn't be surprised to be hosting St. Johns or St. Joes in the 3rd rnd if we make it that far. Beside we need the road game practice anyway.

That's from Iowa's end, the NIT and ESPN may have had other ideas. They would have had to play Tues./Fri. and there may have been problems with Friday, I doubt there are too many NIT games that night against the NCAA 1st Round. Monday would have been the other option but my guess is Kentucky has the Monday night slot with ESPN at home if it beats Robert Morris. Iowa I believe has a lower RPI than the 8 teams ahead of them so maybe no conspiracy at all.

Where is UK playing their 1st round game? The NCAA has taken control of Rupp. Is their old fieldhouse still available, like Jenison at MSU?

That'll be an interesting game to watch. You've got to think Robert Morris will be more up for this game than Kentucky will be, and their fans will love having an opportunity to host a program like Kentucky.

Oh, the humanity...They should have tried to book Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, as UK has a huge following here.

Jeff from BasketballPredictions.Blogspot.com notes that Iowa could have scheduled 3 D2 schools instead of Howard, Coppin State, and South Carolina State and probably made the tournament since D2 schools don't count toward RPI. Even though Iowa won those three games, those teams were so bad that it destroyed Iowa's RPI. Simply removing those teams from Iowa's resume would have moved the Hawkeyes up far enough in the RPI standings that the Hawkeyes would have made the tournament.

Plain and simple, Iowa didn't play the RPI game this year, and that's why the Hawks aren't dancing.

Jay Bilas said a couple days ago, "It's not who you play and beat, it's who you play and lose to."

I would not be surprised if Iowa hosts a 2nd round game too. I think UMASS is going to go down in their opener.