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The Iowa Hawkeyes missed out on the 2013 NCAA Tournament because of how they played in the Big Ten. A 9-9 record wasn’t too bad, but the team lacked big wins. So, in the 2013-14 college basketball season, Iowa must win the big games.
Although the Hawkeyes did not make the dance, they settled for an NIT appearance and actually made it all of the way to the championship game before getting beat by the Baylor Bears. Sure, the competition isn’t as fierce in the NIT as it is in the Big Dance, but there are some great teams playing in the NIT regardless.
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Making it that far hopefully gave Iowa the experience it needed to compete for a Bit Ten title. This is a team returning basically everyone, while other teams in the conference are losing quite a bit. This is a perfect opportunity for this basketball program to shine, but it must pull off the big wins against teams like Michigan State, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
No, Iowa does not have to beat all of those teams, although that would be nice. The Hawkeyes went 1-7 against those five teams last season, though, which is probably a big reason why they did not make the tourney.
Having a good record is nice and all, but it is all about getting big wins in the non-conference schedule and competing for a conference title.
Iowa will be a very good team in the 2013-14 season, so an NCAA tournament appearance is very likely if this team can beat some of the big boys in the Big Ten.
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