Iowa Basketball Is Just Fine And Nobody is Panicking, JK, Fran Snapped After Yesterday's Loss And Told A Reporter A Playcall Is "None Of Your Business"
Before we get into what happened yesterday let’s take a look back at the good times
Good times! Great times actually. Times people around here hadn’t seen for almost 30 years. Iowa rolling through their B1G schedule, Jarrod Uthoff getting POY the year buzz and the team getting whispered about as a #1 seed. It was especially awesome because no one saw it coming. Everyone thought there would be a letdown after losing team leaders Aaron White and Gabe Olaseni to graduation. Instead guys like Uthoff and Peter Jok picked up the scoring, Adam Woodbury turned into a legit double-digit rebound threat every game and the bench stepped up.
I mean look at this stretch in January
Wins on wins on wins. BIG wins too. Sweeping Michigan State and Purdue ain’t no joke this season. It’s those wins that will still allow Iowa to get into the tournament despite a historic collapse during the second part of the season. Even that Maryland loss on January 28th didn’t feel like a bad loss at all. The Hawks were on the road, Maryland was using a fake ball and Jarrod Uthoff had a cold night shooting. That was it.
Then February happened
DISASTER TOWN. People will say it’s just like the collapse of 2014 when Iowa lost 6 of 7 down the stretch and had to play a play-in game against Tennessee and lost. It is and it isn’t. The collapse is similar but that team never had #1 seed buzz so somehow this one feels even worse. And to be totally honest, I don’t know what happened to this team. It’s baffling. There were no big injuries. Everybody is seemingly totally healthy. The only thing I can tell is that the bench play has regressed. The Hawks aren’t getting the production from guys like Nicholas Baer and Dom Uhl like they did early in the season. Uthoff still gets his points. Jok still gets his points. Woodbury rebounds his ass off despite still not really having an offensive game. But here we are. The team has lost 6 of their last 8 and Fran McCafferry is yelling at reporters asking a simple question. Like I said before, the string of big January wins will get Iowa into the tournament but I’m not even sure they deserve it at this point. This whole thing stinks of a first round NCAA Tournament exit. Which sucks because this team was so so so so so fun to watch in January. Sports are stupid.
PS- This is the look little kids make when their bipolar Dad is cursing out at the waiter for forgetting to put lemon is his water. Just look straight ahead.
