ESPN panel says Hawkeyes not a Final Four team

Iowa is ranked fourth in one major men's basketball poll and fifth in the other, is alone atop the Big Ten, and is second to Villanova in the latest KenPom.com rankings.

But the 27 college basketball experts ESPN.com has polled don't see the Hawkeyes as a Final Four team. Well, 25 of them don't. John Gasaway and Miles Simon have Iowa in their Final Fours.

The ESPN.com piece I'm referring to has a look back at the preseason Final Four, national-champion, Player of the Year and Coach of the Year picks of the 27, and their updated picks.

From the Big Ten, 17 Final Four picks went to Maryland, 13 to Michigan State, two to Iowa, and one to Indiana.

In national-title picks, Maryland and Michigan State tied North Carolina for the lead with six. Kansas and Oklahoma got four votes apiece, Virginia one.

In Final Four choices, Oklahoma led with 20. North Carolina joined Maryland with 17, and Kansas matched Michigan State's 13. Then it was Virginia 7, Villanova 6, Oregon 4, Wichita State 3, Xavier 3, Iowa 2, Duke 1, Iowa 1, Kentucky 1.

Iowa's Fran McCaffery led in Coach of the Year nods with nine. Lon Kruger of Oklahoma got six, Chris Mack of Xavier five, Dana Altman of Oregon and Bill Self of Kansas two, and one vote each went to Villanova's Jay Wright, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings and Maryland's Mark Turgeon.