Big Ten Tournament Offers Iowa Chance to Build Momentum

Getting hot at the right time is the name of the game in March.

Mar 8, 2026; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Kael Combs (11) reacts after a three-point shot to force overtime against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

The Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team technically does not have much to prove as it heads into the Big Ten Tournament. Its spot in the NCAA Tournament is secured. What more is there to accomplish?

As with most things in life, momentum is a powerful thing in college basketball. A team can be dead in the water in February but go on a miracle run in March to salvage the season and immortalize the players in the process. NC State did it in 2024, making the Final Four following a spectacular spring through the ACC Tournament. St. Peter’s 2022 journey to the Elite Eight is a prominent mid-major example. Why not Iowa, too?

Teams that make unprecedented runs in the tournament usually have one thing in common: a star scorer who can take over a game at a moment’s notice. All it takes is one big week from that player — and a little help from the supporting cast — to turn a solid season into one that’s remembered forever.

And while the Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team’s 2025-26 season is far from dead — it’s going to make the NCAA Tournament, after all — it does have the same archetype as those Cinderellas of the past. Bennett Stirtz, a candidate for Big Ten Men’s Basketball Player of the Year, is going to lead the Hawkeyes into battle on March 11 in the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in Chicago. If he delivers the goods, and the rest of his teammates come up clutch, too, then perhaps Iowa’s chances of competing not just in the Big Ten Tournament, but also in the Big Dance, could skyrocket into the heavens.

Momentum is the Name of the Game for the Hawkeyes

Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz (14) motions for the crowd to get loud March 5, 2026 during a Big Ten basketball game against the Michigan Wolverines at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The latest round of bracketology has Iowa as a No. 8 or No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Résumés are usually set in stone by this time of year, but the conference tournament gives the Hawkeyes a great opportunity to improve theirs, nonetheless.

Bumping a seed line would be an extraordinary feat, however. It would take not just a win in the team’s opening-round game of the tournament, but multiple victories versus some of the top opponents in the conference. Wins must come against the likes of Michigan, Illinois and potentially even Nebraska or Michigan State should Iowa make it that far. It would be a borderline miracle if the Hawkeyes were able to win five games in five days, though it would complete the task they set out to do prior to the season: win a championship.

If Iowa pulls that off, however unlikely that may be, then perhaps a better draw in the NCAA Tournament awaits it. The more likely scenario, however, is that Stirtz and company stay right where they are, with this week’s results in Chicago having almost zero to do with where the selection committee decides to place them on Selection Sunday. While that’s not the news that Hawkeye fans want to hear, it’s the reality.

The good news is that the chance at making a run in the NCAA Tournament still exists. And if Iowa wins a couple of games in the Big Ten Tournament, picking up some much-needed momentum along the way, then that possibility of a wonderful March becomes all the greater.

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