Voice of the Hawkeyes Board

The most frustrating thing for me was not calling the foul on Marble's shot but then calling the foul on White on Michigan State's last possession. I can't stand inconsistent officiating and that one took the cake.

I put this on another thread, but if Valentine and Hightower are so bad and so polarizing, why does the Big Ten office retain them?

As part of the media myself, I'm not sure whether or not I'm part of the chuckleheads group. Either way, I really have no rooting interest at the college level. I love covering sports, and give my objective opinion at all times. Most people in the media had Iowa not making it to the Big Dance, and that's exactly what happened. With that in mind, what was wrong with that prediction? As I mentioned in another thread, if you disagree with the selection criteria that kept Iowa on the outside looking in, keep in mind that none of us have any say in that criteria. We were just evaluating Iowa's chances based on that criteria, and everyone who predicted that Iowa wouldn't make it turned out to be right.

While I wanted Iowa to make the NCAA tourney badly, they don't deserve to be in.

Minus the questionable officiating this past weekend, Iowa had several chances to improve their resume before and didn't do it.

Losing leads at the end and not closing out games cost them. Even against MSU this past weekend, Iowa had missed opportunities (turnovers, blown passes, missed bunny shots, free throws) that could have changed the outcome regardless of Valentine and his crew poorly calling a game.

I would infer we would see a more mature Hawkeye BB team next season that doesn't let leads slip away in the ending moments of games.

Great post. Iowa isn't far off from getting to that next level. The little things are often what prevent teams from ascending to another level. With more experience and more chemistry together, Iowa ought to be in better position to do the little things it takes to close out games.