Bracketology: Hawkeyes Stay A 3 Seed
Iowa's men's basketball team remained a 3 seed in the latest way-too-early NCAA tournament bracket by ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
Lunardi has the Hawkeyes in the Midwest Region, playing 14 seed Buffalo in the first round in Wichita, Kan. The other side of the bracket has 6 seed Florida taking on either Marquette and Clemson as the 11 seed coming out of the opening round in Dayton, Ohio.
Lunardi has Virginia as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, with Kansas as a No. 2 seed.
Much of the optimism around the Hawkeyes centers on the return of Luka Garza. The senior-to-be was a consensus All-American last season, winning national player of the year awards from six news outlets.
Garza, a 6-foot-11 center who averaged almost 24 points per game last season, is currently going through the NBA Draft process, but has retained his eligibility.
If Garza returns as, it means all five starters return from last season's team that won 20 games and likely would have reached the NCAA tournament. Iowa's lineup would be one of the most experienced in college basketball.
Iowa's lineup has also 10,162 minutes, second-most in the Big Ten behind Wisconsin’s probable starting lineup of 10,587 minutes.
A look at Iowa’s probable starting lineup
- Garza (96 games, 87 starts, 2,462 minutes)
- Jordan Bohannon (112 games, 102 starts, 3,392 minutes)
- Joe Wieskamp (66 games, 66 starts, 1,977 minutes)
- CJ Fredrick (25 games, 25 starts, 714 minutes)
- Connor McCaffery (69 games, 31 starts, 1,617 minutes)
Iowa has eight returning players overall from last season's team that went 20-11. Adding in forward Jack Nunge, guard Joe Toussaint (who started 20 games as a freshman last season) and forward Patrick McCaffery, the Hawkeyes' roster has 439 games of experience, with 350 starts and 11,347 minutes.
The Hawkeyes also add five incoming freshmen — guards Ahron Ulis and Tony Perkins, center Josh Ogundele, and forwards Keegan and Kris Murray.
