***Official 2026 NCAA Tournament Thread***

If I were them, entire 4 years of CC

Didn’t Iowa lose in their first big 10 tournament game to Ohio State? And was something like 3-7 in their 10 games heading into the NCAA tournament? It seems they simply got hot at the perfect time. That will be hard to replicate for future years IMO

Edit: in fact, if it wasn’t for this tourney run, Iowa’s season would had been largely viewed as a “meh” season. Amazing what 3 games can do to change perceived perception
But those 3 games might also lose them a solid coach who might have built a solid program otherwise. Maybe that doesn’t matter in the NIL though?

I’d trade an Elite 8 and 3 NIT appearances for 4 seasons with #6-7 seed (or higher). I think.
 
Don’t most fans
Not all fans.. most here thought a S16 appearance was possible before the season started. We didn’t know how the newcomers would perform though.

But by December we could see this ISU team had the potential to be top 10 in the country. Lo and behold, they were
 
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A lot of the attitude towards you comes from when an ISU fan goes on an Iowa board, and just says I think Illinois is the better team and they will beat Iowa, the board mods will hit a ban for that. So, you are getting better treatment here than ISU fans in reverse.

1st…. if that’s true, then that is why I have not been banned. I did not say Illinois was a better team than Iowa State. I don’t even think that and if you believe that, it just proves what I’ve always thought many, if not most of any fan base doesn’t really bother reading what gets said they make assumptions and go with that …

I think Arizona, Michigan and then Iowa State are the three best teams left in the tournament, that’s supposing Jefferson can be a factor then probably a composite of Illinois, Michigan state and maybe Duke. If that point guard gets healthy and probably UCONN because Dan Hurley, nut job that he is, is one hell of a coach.

Second, they are weren’t a lot of people they got banned on the Iowa board… Or at least the Hawkeye report. I think people tell themselves to make themselves feel better… The only people that really got banned were typically really dopey Nebraska fans.

Rival fans that are humorous and witty, even if they’re a little caustic rarely got banned that’s just made up.

Circling back so you don’t forget nowhere have I suggested Illinois is better than Iowa Iowa State…

As I’ve now said 10 times I told my uncle a monster Iowa State fan I thought Arizona was the best team left and he told me Michigan.

I will add….I don’t understand why some people are “hoping” to play Illinois in the championship, that is one of the teams I would want to avoid.

I don’t see Iowa beating Illinois Saturday for sure
 
And Iowa lost to Ohio St, not even making the final eight teams; Illinois lost to Wisconsin in the quarters…
One of those teams will beat fairly long odds. Last 11 years, 39 of 44 final four teams made at least the semi's of conference tourney. Whoever wins tomorrow adds to the 5 out of 44 that didn't.
 
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Incredibly poor coaching by Nebraska at times last night. Letting Mast taking 7 3-point shots and continually allow Sam Hoiberg to dribble drive head down into the lane was inexcusable. The early defensive game plan was poor too. Up by 10 multiple times and continued to keep the pace of play high and it let Iowa back into it. Also didn't help that the refs swallowed the whistle despite Mast leaving the lane every time with red marks from all the times he got smacked.

Hoiberg was unplayable in the second half but Fred kept putting him out there. Nebby's best stretches in the second half were when he was sitting and then Sam would come in and either turn it over or get lost on defense. Just so many missteps by the Nebby coaching staff.
 
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That is pure Iowa. Lots of people who pretend they are experts and fans, who suddenly disappear. The University of Iowa Hospital workers are insufferable. I absolutely hate to schedule a specialist during NCAA tourney. Most times it doesn’t matter because of their history but this year they came out of the woodwork and remind me not to wear my cyclone hoodie to an appointment. Not jokingly but serious. And then the nurses waste all your appointment trying to impress you with all the players they watched on TV. I wish the state would close the U of I hospitals and move it to Broadlawns.

Been all over the country…The core fan base, is always extremely important, but in reality there are very, very very few teams in the country that are fanatical win or lose…

I don’t like Nebraska football fans, but you have to give them credit. They are there thick and thin.
 
I appreciate the correction, sincerely… And I clearly must’ve made an assumption. But if memory serves his wife, not only played at Iowa State, but coached somewhere in Iowa at some point in time, he’s spent plenty of time @ Iowa State as an assistant, and he loves the Midwest and he loves Iowa State and he isn’t going anywhere…

I’m making the assumption you genuinely were trying to give me better information so I appreciate that
I was, purely informational. He's definitely midwest. He's got strong ties to Ames, ISU, and the general area of central Iowa.

He grew up in Milwaukee though, went to HS there, and college at UW-Whitewater if memory serves me.

His wife Allison Lacey is obviously Iowa State WBB royalty and both consider it home now. I wouldn't say either are from Iowa originally as she was born in Australia, but she did go to HS (Ballard?) and coach here in IA. And I think her bro played at DMACC?
 
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alright Hawk fan, chill…. Nebraska lost 6 of their last 11 games to finish the season. Had some bad losses in there as well like getting spanked against ucla by 20. They lost to Purdue in the conference tourney by 20. They fell flat after their spectacular start and couldn’t rebound. Iowa matches up phenomenal with Nebraska. It was a pretty easy to Pick Iowa to win last night. Plus you factor in the coach who’s coaching Nebraska. It was pretty clear why the 4 seed was ONLY a 1.5 point favorite. You guys caught Florida at a perfect time, they thought they could sleepwalk Iowa and they couldn’t. That’s how upsets happen!

In reality Nebraska was probably closer to a 6 then they were a 4.... Metrics worked in their favor though.
 
If I look at them as East Drake it bothers me much less

You know, I always like it when Drake & UNI are good. This will shock you, in fact, I doubt you’ll believe it, but I had mixed feelings last year when McCollum immediately left Drake for Iowa… I really would like one day for someone to stick around at a school like that and turn them into Gonzaga.
 
Hoiberg was unplayable in the second half but Fred kept putting him out there. Nebby's best stretches in the second half were when he was sitting and then Sam would come in and either turn it over or get lost on defense. Just so many missteps by the Nebby coaching staff.
He took sandfort out for a few min towards the end of the game and the offense completely stalled and ultimately that doomed them. He shouldn't have sat him at all or that long
 
Even if the worst comes to pass tonight…we’ve been advancing further than Iowa in the tourney for a generation now. It’s okay to let them have one every so often.

We lost an All American, I'm thrilled we made it out of the first weekend.
 
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I’m still not overly impressed with Purdue, but that’s probably partially because I just have never liked them very much. But they lost to the three best Big Ten teams, Michigan, Michigan State, and Illinois all at home if I’m not mistaken.

As for Illinois, I read more about men’s basketball this year than I watched, but I don’t think there were very many people, I guess outside of here and maybe other big 12 fans that didn’t think Illinois was really good.

They along with Michigan State, Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State, Houston I guess Duke, and then the flavor of the week in the SEC have been considered pretty strong all year long.

I thought Purdue's guards didn't have the speed to sustain things and were a bit lacking on defense.

That said they're proof that a rough ending to the regular season only matters for seeding and the month after can be totally different.
 
In reality Nebraska was probably closer to a 6 then they were a 4.... Metrics worked in their favor though.
Nebraska was never gonna make a deep run with how they were constructed, same for Iowa. They just lucked out playing each other with Iowa doing more by actually beating Florida to get there.

Either team was gonna get stomped by Illinois and Iowa is gonna lose on Saturday by double digits. Just a weird region this year and add in Zona obliterating Purdue and half the final 4 is already set
 
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We lost an All American, I'm thrilled we made it out of the first weekend.
You could have lost 2 all Americans and beaten those squads, ISU is in a place where their style requires the other team to execute on a high level or have a combination of talent/teamwork that is lacking in the modern game.

Real test for them starts Sunday
 
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But those 3 games might also lose them a solid coach who might have built a solid program otherwise. Maybe that doesn’t matter in the NIL though?

I’d trade an Elite 8 and 3 NIT appearances for 4 seasons with #6-7 seed (or higher). I think.
No way. Making a run in the tournament is the best. Especially as an underdog.
 
You know, I always like it when Drake & UNI are good. This will shock you, in fact, I doubt you’ll believe it, but I had mixed feelings last year when McCollum immediately left Drake for Iowa… I really would like one day for someone to stick around at a school like that and turn them into Gonzaga.
Turning into Gonzaga isn't possible without tens of millions of dollars annually for over a decade. That's not happening anywhere else.
 
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