Iowa Stays At No. 5 In CBS Sports Rankings

Iowa's men's basketball team didn't move in the latest CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 preseason rankings.

The Hawkeyes stayed at No. 5 in the rankings released Wednesday.

Writer Gary Parrish says of the Hawkeyes:

"Luka Garza's decision to withdraw from the NBA Draft makes him the obvious preseason national player of the year after a statistically incredible junior campaign. The other four players who started Iowa's last game last season are also returning. And don't forget: Jordan Bohannon is back after a redshirt season. So Fran McCaffery should have the best team he's ever had in 22 years as a Division I head coach."

Iowa has seven players with starting experience returning from a team that finished 20-11 overall and 11-9 in the Big Ten last season.

The five starters from last season — Garza, CJ Fredrick, Joe Wieskamp, Joe Toussaint and Connor McCaffery — return. But so does fifth-year senior Bohannon, who has 102 starts in his career. And forward Jack Nunge had 14 starts in the 2017-18 season as a true freshman.

That's a deep, experienced roster, and the numbers back it up.

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.

It's a main reason why the Hawkeyes are considered to be one of the favorites in not just the Big Ten race, but the national title chase as well.