Resumé Watch: Could There Be NCAA Home Games For Hawkeyes?

Women's team climbs in the polls, and the RPI.

Author:
John Bohnenkamp
Publish date:
Jan 20, 2020 6:59 PM EST

There is still a lot of basketball to be played, so here at the Resumé Watch we're trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves.

But has the Iowa women's basketball team played itself into a position where the Hawkeyes could get the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament at home?

Iowa (15-3 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) moved up to 19th in the Associated Press poll on Monday. The Hawkeyes have won six consecutive games and nine of their last 10, and are tied with Northwestern for the conference lead.

Their overall resumé is impressive. A look at the numbers:

Overall record: 15-3

Big Ten: 6-1

Nonconference: 9-2

Home: 9-0

Away: 4-2

Neutral: 2-1

RPI: 6

Strength of schedule: 8

Nonconference strength of schedule: 26

RPI 1-25: 4-0

RPI 26-50: 1-2

RPI 51-100: 2-0

RPI 101-150: 3-1

RPI 150-plus: 8-0

The Hawkeyes have good wins over Indiana (RPI 11), at Northwestern (RPI 16), Maryland (RPI 20) and Princeton (RPI 21). Their losses are at Nebraska (RPI 47), at Northern Iowa (RPI 48) and against Washington (RPI 106) on a neutral court.

Last year it was a no-brainer that the Hawkeyes got the first weekend at home after finishing second in the Big Ten in the regular season and winning the conference tournament.

This year, the Hawkeyes have put themselves into consideration with another strong resumé.

At this point in the season, that's what you want.

•••

Iowa moved up to No. 19 in the men's AP and USA Today coaches poll after a road win over Northwestern and a home win over Michigan last week.

The Hawkeyes still continue to build their own strong resumé. Breaking down the numbers:

The records

Overall: 13-5

Big Ten: 4-3

Nonconference: 9-2

Home: 8-1

Road: 3-2

Neutral court: 2-2

Big Ten home: 3-0

Big Ten road: 1-2

Big Ten neutral: 0-1

Nonconference home: 5-1

Nonconference road: 2-0

Nonconference neutral: 2-1

The analytics

NET: 26

BPI: 19

KenPom: 15

Sagarin: 14

Overall strength of schedule: 98

Nonconference strength of schedule: 167

Average NET win: 136

Average NET loss: 57

Quadrant 1

Record: 4-3 (2-1 nonconference)

Results: San Diego State (NET 2, L, 83-73, neutral), Maryland (15, W, 67-49, home), Texas Tech (25, W, 72-61, neutral), Michigan (29, L, 103-91, road; W, 90-83, home), Penn State (35, L, 89-86, neutral), Syracuse (69, W, 68-54, road)

Upcoming games: at Michigan State (8, Feb. 25), at Maryland (15, Jan. 30), Rutgers (18, Jan. 22), Ohio State (19, Feb. 20), Wisconsin (22, Jan. 27), at Purdue (36, Feb. 5), Illinois (40, March 8), Minnesota (41, Feb. 16), Indiana (49, Feb. 13)

Quadrant 2

Record: 4-1 (2-1 nonconference)

Results: Minnesota (41, W, 72-52, home), DePaul (51, L, 93-78, home), Cincinnati (63, W, 77-70, neutral), Iowa State (82, W, 84-68, road), Northwestern (133, W, 75-62, road)

Upcoming games: Penn State (35, Feb. 29), Purdue (36, March 3), Illinois (40, Feb. 2)