Hlas: Basketball-wise, Iowa is state of exceeded expectations

These are the good old days.

Has there been a better overall men's basketball season for Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa than this one? No.

The three were a combined 40-14 in conference play. Two are nationally ranked, and the other is on a 6-game winning streak.

There has been just one previous year in which all three advanced to the NCAA tournament. That was 2005, and it didn't feel especially extraordinary because Iowa State was a No. 9 seed, Iowa a No. 10, and UNI a No. 11. Only the Cyclones won a game in that tourney, and they were beaten soundly by North Carolina in the second round.

According to the latest bracket racket by ESPN's guy, Joe Lunardi, ISU would be a No. 3, UNI a No. 4 and Iowa a No. 7 were the tourney to start today.

Here's how many other states have three teams with No. 7 seeds or higher in Lunardi's brackets: Zero.

There's no telling what could happen in the Big 12 and Big Ten tournaments this week or the NCAA tourney next week. But for now, how can you not stop and smell the basketball equivalent of roses? All three state teams eclipsed expectations.

The Big Ten Network polled 14 sports media people before the season, and Iowa was their choice for seventh-place in the conference. The Hawkeyes went 12-6 and tied for third.

The Big 12's coaches had a preseason poll. Iowa State was pegged fifth. It went 12-6 and tied for second, a game behind champion Kansas.

The Missouri Valley polled 46 media people. They correctly had Wichita State first, UNI second. But who would have had the Panthers going 16-2 in the league, and sitting at 30-3 overall with a No. 11 national ranking at the end of the MVC tournament?

Individually, topping expectations was also the norm.

UNI's Seth Tuttle was a preseason first-team All-MVC, but he wrested the league's Player of the Year from 2014 winner and 2015 preseason pick Fred VanVleet of Wichita State.

Iowa State's Georges Niang was on the Big 12's preseason all-league team, and he lived up to that in the regular-season awards. But Niang also was on the list of 15 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, given to the nation's top player. Tuttle is on that list, too.

ISU's Jameel McKay was an unknown quantity who wasn't even eligible to play until the first semester ended. He not only was third-team All-Big 12, but became the Cyclones' first Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

A media poll of 27 Big Ten sports writers didn't have Iowa's Aaron White on its preseason first-team All-Big Ten unit. But that's where White is on the honor squad that mattered, the one that was announced by the conference on Monday.

'There shouldn't be a basketball fan in the state that's not happy,” White said Tuesday. 'Whether you're a fan of those two or us, everyone is going to the tournament.”

Now, should one or more of the state teams stumble early this week or fall in their opening NCAA contests next week, some of the bloom will be off the basketball equivalent of a rose.

But 40-14 in league play, three NCAA berths, three first-team all-league players, two Wooden Award finalists, and expectations met and topped? What's not to like?

Facebook: Mike Hlas -- The Gazette

Twitter: @Hlas