Iowa Reportedly Held Two Secret Scrimmages Prior to Season

While the Iowa Hawkeyes official season isn't set to start until the earlier half of next week, but according to multiple sources in and around the program, the black and gold have already shouldered a stretch of competitive basketball in the form of two (meant to be) secret exhibition games.

Ahead of the Curve

It's become common practice for larger programs to take part in multiple preseason matches; not only do the games not count against the team's actual record, for better or worse, but they serve as an early opportunity to see what works and what doesn't before the stakes raise during the regular season.

For an Iowa team with a completely overhauled roster under a new head coach, in Ben McCollum, this opportunity presents an especially promising jumpstart on the new year.

The only thing is, these games are usually televised or, at the very least, publicized. The Hawkeyes' program keeping the duels under wraps from the get-go could suggest a worrying thing or two about the team - and given a reported result of one of these scrimmages, that may very well be the case - but it could also simply mean that the team would prefer to temper expectations until the actual season tips off against Robert Morris.

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Ben McCollum and guard Bennett Stirtz | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Shadowed Results

The first of their two scrimmages took place a few weeks ago against St. Louis University. Divided into 12-minute quarters, the game supposedly ran away from Iowa in a scatching 99-74 defeat. While no detail is certain - as to who was played and for how long - the 25-point defeat underlines all reports as a major takeaway from the event.

Of course, the game doesn't count, and exhibitions are often used as testing grounds for a coach to try some things that may not fly in an actual game. Then again, any such loss, by that much, is hard to fully stomach.

The Hawkeyes' second scrimmage came more recently against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The results of that latter match remain unclear, but, even given their defeat against the aforementioned Billikens, the duel with the tenth-ranked Red Raiders represents that of more usual competition, likely giving Iowa a better idea as to the sort of teams they'll be playing on a regular basis in the B1G.

Hawkeyes fans, one way or another, will find out just how telling their exhibition games were in due time. For now, it's safe to assume that McCollum and company have their wits about them and have the team ready to roll on the regular season.

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