Rothstein: Hawkeyes Are Big Ten Favorite
Iowa comes in at No. 1 in the Big Ten in the preseason men's basketball rankings by Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today.
The Hawkeyes, who have all five starters back from last season's 20-win team that likely would have reached the NCAA Tournament before the season was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, are getting high marks because of senior center Luka Garza. Garza, the Big Ten's player of the year who won national player of the year honors from six news outlets last season, is testing the NBA Draft process and has until Aug. 3 to withdraw his name and return for his final year.
Rothstein's analysis of the Hawkeyes was simple:
"If Garza returns to school, the Big Ten will go through Iowa City."
Wisconsin, Michigan State, Rutgers and Indiana round out the top five. Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan, Purdue and Maryland come in at 6-10. The bottom four are Penn State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern.
The Hawkeyes return almost 82 percent of their scoring from last season, but the key will be in the experience.
With Garza back, Iowa 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.
A look at Iowa’s probable starting lineup
- Garza (96 games, 87 starts, 2,462 minutes)
- Jordan Bohannon (112 games, 102 starts, 3,392 minutes)
- Joe Wieskamp (66 games, 66 starts, 1,977 minutes)
- CJ Fredrick (25 games, 25 starts, 714 minutes)
- Connor McCaffery (69 games, 31 starts, 1,617 minutes)
Iowa has eight returners from last season's team that went 20-11. Adding in forward Jack Nunge, guard Joe Toussaint (who started 20 games as a freshman last season) and forward Patrick McCaffery, the Hawkeyes' roster has 439 games of experience, with 350 starts and 11,347 minutes.
The Hawkeyes have five incoming players — guards Ahron Ulis and Tony Perkins, center Josh Ogundele, and forwards Keegan and Kris Murray.
