Iowa and Iowa State’s men’s basketball teams both seem to find their stride down the stretch of this college basketball season. Although both teams have each dropped a game or two, they seem to be playing their best basketball here in late February. That’s what they want to happen. The Hawkeyes just dropped a game last Saturday to the 12-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini, one that they had in their hands until the final four minutes, and the Cyclones lost a tough road game at Houston, the number two-ranked team in the nation. But both have had their fair share of wins recently, with Iowa coming up with a large comeback win on Feb. 11 at Minnesota, where they got down by as much as 20 in the second half and also an overtime win over a then-ranked 23 Wisconsin Badgers team. Iowa State has seemed to have run its way through the rough Big 12 with ease, taking down Texas, TCU, Cincinnati, and Texas Tech before falling on the road against Houston. But they would end up bouncing back and winning vs West Virginia on Saturday.
The Cyclones have a legit shot of getting to 25 wins by the end of the regular season, with their toughest tests being two home games vs BYU and Oklahoma. The name of the game for the Clones is defense. That’s what it’s always been under Head Coach TJ Otzelberger. Iowa State also has a unique way to go about its offensive approach. They have four players that average more than 10 points, but nobody averages more than 15. This ‘Defense First’ approach has won the Iowa State Cyclones a spot as high as sixth in the entire country. Most bracketology reports have them comfortably as a third seed in the NCAA Tournament, but don’t be surprised if the Cyclones slip into a two-seed come Selection Sunday.
Iowa is in a bit of a different boat than Iowa State. Most bracket predictions don’t even have the Hawkeyes in the ‘Last Four Out’ section or the ‘Next Four Out’ section, meaning they are more than eight spots out of an NCAA Tournament bid. The loss at Illinois on Saturday was a gut punch for the Hawks, as that was one where they walked out empty-handed, but felt as if they should have won. Although their tournament hopes are dwindling, the Hawks will continue to fight until the very end, as most of the players expressed that they feel they are peaking at a good time in their interviews after the loss.
