Believe It or Not, The Iowa Hawkeyes Are Improving

The Iowa Hawkeyes Men's Basketball team has had a tough year.  After Tuesday night's loss to Michigan 80-78 in overtime, Iowa's record is 9-18.  Their 3-11 record in Big Ten play is good for 10th best in the conference, only beating Penn State's win less conference record to this point.  They have looked bad early in games as well as late in games.  They have lost games to schools like Texas-San Antonio and Duquense this year.  If you look at the season as a whole, words like "disappointing" and "bad" are the first things that probably come to mind.

Have no fear Hawks fans, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Do not get me wrong.  I am not saying the Hawks will win the rest of their games and shock everyone by winning the Big Ten Tournament.  That will not happen.  It is much more likely they finish the season with just 10 or 11 wins.  And you heard it here first--their season will be over on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament. 

After watching them in person last night, I have to say that I was impressed, despite the loss.  This is a very young Iowa team (just one senior and one junior on the roster), but they fight hard.  They fell down by nine or ten points a few different times in the first half, but instead of looking at the score and giving up, they fought back to tie the game at half time.

They lost last night because of the things that all young teams struggle with.  With 13 seconds left in regulation, Cully Payne had a chance to put the game out of reach if he could make two free throws.  Payne was only able to hit one of the two, and that allowed DeShawn Sims to hit a three-pointer at the end of regulation to send it to overtime.  They had trouble rebounding, and they committed costly turnovers at bad times.

But if you look at where this team is today compared with where they were in November, it is easy to see all the progress this team has made.  Yes, they still get blown out on occasion (the 63-40 loss to Purdue on Feb 13th being the most recent example), but they are generally competitive in almost every game.  They still have a bad 3-11 record in conference play, but after watching this team play at the beginning of the season, those three conference wins are three more than a lot of people thought they would end up with.

The Hawkeyes still have a long way to go to compete every year with the likes of Michigan State, Purdue, and Ohio State, but they are moving in the right direction.  Todd Lickliter has this team looking more and more like the teams he had at Butler.  They will never be the most athletic team out there, but they will be a good shooting team with a high basketball IQ.  If Todd Lickliter is still in Iowa City two years from now, his Iowa Hawkeyes will be challengers for the Big Ten championship.  You heard it here first.