Howe: '22 Hawkeyes Now Can Cement Special Legacy

Fair or Not, Iowa Basketball Will Be Judged By Performance in Big Dance

INDIANAPOLIS - I've written a column on this exact topic multiple times before. I'm too lazy to look it up, but it may have happened last year. 

We're here again, Hawkeye fans. It's March. You know the story line. 

Iowa star Keegan Murray was two years from being born the last time the program reached the Sweet 16. One of the standouts on that 1998-99 squad, Jess Settles, will turn 48 in July.

It's closing in on a quarter century of disappointment. I'm not telling you anything you don't know.  

I was in my second season covering the program when Settles, Dean Oliver, J.R. Koch and company helped coach Dr. Tom Davis end his Iowa run in memorable fashion. I didn't see the Hawkeyes advancing to the second weekend regularly, but I sure as heck wasn't expecting to have this much gray hair waiting to report on another Sweet 16.

The current edition of the Hawkeyes looks poised to end the drought. But so did last year's team, a two seed. So did the third-seeded squad in '06. Other years brought hope that ended in sorrow. 

Legends and legacies are built during this month. A generation of the Hawkeye faithful mostly retain negative thoughts when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. It's not hungry, it's starving. 

I'm cautiously optimistic. Anything more would be Charlie Brown lining up for the kick expecting success. 

Hopes for the 24th-ranked Hawkeyes are high across following their 75-66 victory against No. 9 Purdue Sunday in the Big Ten Championship game here at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. They're are winners of 12 of their last 14 games. 

The late-season run squashes the ridiculous narrative about the program fading every February. It happens at times but other programs experience the same fate. A spurt in the next few weeks further tamps down the rhetoric. 

Fifth-seeded Iowa opens NCAA play Thursday against No. 12 Richmond (2:10 PM CT, TruTV). The winner advances to meet the survivor of the game between No. 4 Providence, the Big East regular season champ, and No. 13 South Dakota State. 

According to oddsmakers, the Hawkeyes are favored to reach the Sweet 16. Fanduel sees them as the 10th likeliest team in the entire field to win it all. 

Murray and his mates would not only be the first Iowa team playing in the Sweet 16 in 23 years, it would be just the third group to do so since 1988. It'd join only eight other Hawkeye outfits, total, to accomplish the feat. 

Piling decades of downers on the back of this group of coaches and players is unfair. Unfortunately for them, it's the cross they must bear. The past dictates it. 

The Hawkeyes need not view it that way. Forget years gone by. Focus on the historical opportunity, making memories with each other to last a lifetime.

Maybe it's recency bias or old age, but more likely talent and chemistry, making me bullish on this group. Murray is the best player I've seen in my 25 years covering the team, all due respect to Luka Garza and others. This kid, literally, does it all. 

Veterans Jordan Bohannon and Connor McCaffery know what's needed. They understand roles and act as coaches. 

Tony Perkins is a revelation and Iowa's second-best, two-way player. Starting center Filip Rebraca brings muscle, solid screens and an overall post presence. 

Kris Murray, Keegan's twin brother, and Patrick McCaffery, Connor's younger brother, can look like wild stallions at times but also provide length and highlight-reel plays. Backup guards Joe Toussaint, Payton Sandfort and Joe Toussaint fill important roles and often rise to the occasion when needed. 

Most important, all of the above care about each other. There doesn't appear to be ego issues or a pursuit to "get mine." Winning is the priority. 

"You heard these guys talk about the locker room and how connected these guys are and how they love and support each other," coach Fran McCaffery said after Saturday's tournament semifinal win against Indiana. 

"It's not always like that. It's like, why is he playing and I'm not? These guys are like whoever's out there, they're pulling for that guy and hugging that guy when he does something good. And if he doesn't, put their arms around him and try to help him and not criticize him."

A 39-year college coaching veteran, McCaffery understands that can't be coached. It happens organically. And that's not to say he and his staff aren't helping foster the unity and finding ways to best utilize it strategically. 

The '06 team had it. I thought last year's team had it. 

That doesn't mean this team is doomed to the fate of those squads, however. The previous teams fell short despite the necessary bond. 

Maybe this group breaks through. If it does, these guys will be heroes forever.