Iowa Basketball Sets Non-Conference Schedule

Ahead of their first season with a new coach in 15 years, the Hawkeyes men's basketball program has a varied, challenging schedule beyond the bounds of the B10, now completely solidified.

Things kick off with a five-game stretch at home, allowing the black and gold to dig their heels into familiar territory before playing the higher-ranking opponents in foreign environments down the road. Robert Morris and Northern Illinois, on Nov. 4 and 7 respectively, kick off the team's (expectedly) lighter beginning stretch of the schedule.

After a competitive spike against the Xavier Musketeers - also sporting a new coach with NCAA Tournament experience in Richard Pitino - the Hawkeyes will play two more heavily favored games at home (SEMO, Chicago State) before encountering what appears to be the first real juggernaut on their non-conference schedule: The SEC-representing Ole Miss Rebels.

Led staunchly by Chris Beard with a promising class of incoming transfers, Ole Miss was, and will likely be, everything that makes SEC basketball stand out. They play fast, with incredible physicality, and are built to punish mistakes from teams not used to the brand of basketball in what may be the only conference more esteemed than the B10 (and maybe Big 12) in the country. This is the sort of outlier game that could stand out as a very impressive win or, on the other end of the spectrum, a really restricting loss. It's an opportunity for Iowa to set themselves apart on a neutral floor.

On the same floor, they'll immediately be met with one of either Grand Canyon or Utah, depending on who wins in loses in each game. Either way, while not quite as demanding an opponent as Ole Miss, both teams still represent a perceived step-up in competition from their non-conference slate up to that point.

It doesn't stop there, either, with the in-state rival Iowa Cyclones set to round off their road-gauntlet towards the end of the season. Thankfully, the Hawkeyes following, and final, trio of out-of-conference interlocutors are unfavored and, by the numbers, will be projected wins.

Anything can happen, but so long as Iowa wins the games they're supposed to win - and preferably one or two that they aren't - they'll be right on track to make a splash in the B10 under the newly woven Ben McCollum banner.

Either way, with less than two months before the team tips off, fans won't have to wait long to find out.

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