Oddsmakers Continue To Like Hawkeyes
Iowa's men's basketball team has been among the favorites in the way-too-early preseason rankings.
The Hawkeyes are getting a lot of attention from oddsmakers as well.
Bovada has Iowa at 10-1 to win the NCAA Tournament, No. 2 behind Villanova.
SportsBetting.ag has the Hawkeyes with the fifth-best odds to win the tournament, coming in at 10-1.
VegasInsider.com also has the Hawkeyes with the fifth-best odds at 10-1.
Oddsshark.com has Iowa with the seventh-best odds, coming off at 15-1.
If center Luka Garza withdraws his name from the NBA draft process as expected, the Hawkeyes will have a starting lineup that has accumulated 311 starts, the most of any of the Big Ten teams that are considered NCAA Tournament contenders.
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.
