Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Iowa, take II.

Iowa Hawkeyes
Current record: 12-10 (2-7)
Current RPI: 88
Current Sagarin: 75
Current Pomeroy: 84
2007-08 record: 13-19 (6-12)
2007-08 RPI: 188
2007-08 Sagarin: 149
2007-08 Pomeroy: 116
Series: IU leads 93-69
Last Iowa win: 1/3/2009 (65-60 in Iowa City)
Last IU win: 1/23/2008 (65-43 in Bloomington)
Last Iowa win in Bloomington: 2/11/2006 (70-67)
Pomeroy scouting report
TV: 6:30 pm, BTN

The Hawkeyes are in a much different place than when these two teams met a month ago in IU's Big Ten opener. At the time, Iowa was 10-4 with computer rankings squarely in bubble range. Today, Iowa is 2-7 (with home wins over IU and struggling Wisconsin) and probably is more realistically concerned with making the NIT. As for the Hoosiers, IU simply has to win this game. Has to has to has to. In the last game, IU and Iowa were fairly evenly matched, but Iowa's Cyrus Tate had a huge game, not unlike Ralph Sampson, and just about every big man who sees the chance.
Pomeroy says that this is IU's best remaining chance to win, a whopping 25 percent chance. I could spend lots of time breaking down the matchups, but this season is beyond that right now. It's just a must-win.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

IU's going to beat somebody in Conference. Could definitely be Iowa but I wouldn't be surprised if you knock off a team looking past IU, like Illinois or Michigan State at home. I liked the way IU's been competing the last month or so.

John M said...

Yeah, they are playing very hard and improving, but they have to be exhausted. I want a win before they hit the wall.