No. 9 Iowa slicing through dated history

IOWA CITY — Iowa's men's basketball team has sliced through dated markings from its past the way companies under investigation try to shred their documents.

No. 9 Iowa (16-3, 7-0) has won its first seven Big Ten games for the first time since 1970. The Hawkeyes swept Michigan State for the first time in 23 years and Purdue in 12. Iowa has won 13 consecutive Big Ten regular-season games for the first time since a 14-0 finish in 1970. The Hawkeyes are tied atop the league standings with Indiana with eyes on their first regular-season league title since 1979.

'We know we're in the driver's seat right now, we know we're playing well, but at the same time, we're not even halfway done with the Big Ten so it doesn't really mean anything yet,' Iowa guard Mike Gesell said. 'Our ultimate goal is to win a Big Ten championship.'

Iowa has won five of seven against ranked opponents — including all four in Big Ten play — and is 7-3 against top-50 teams in RPI. The team's 16-3 record is the school's best since the 1986-87 squad started 18-0 overall.

In some ways, the basketball team has taken its cue from the football squad, which finished the regular season 12-0 for the first time in school history. Like its football brethren, the basketball team received little preseason acclaim despite four starters returning and an NCAA tournament win last year.

'We kind of look at them as they were an underdog coming into the season and so were we,' Iowa center Adam Woodbury said. 'Nobody picked either team to do very much, obviously in the Big Ten or nationally. We kind of take that same mind-set, that we're always being overlooked and we've always got something to prove. So we're going to prove ourselves to everybody.'

But Iowa's winning ways quickly have shifted the team from hunter to hunted. Seven different teams ranked above them in the latest Associated Press poll have lost within the last week. Iowa has won nine straight overall and beaten six of their seven Big Ten opponents by double digits. The last time Iowa was ranked in the top five was Jan. 10, 1989. The last time Iowa was in the top three was in 1987.

'We're finally getting recognition for being a great team, and we've always believed we're a great team,' Uthoff said. 'I think we've stayed away from looking at what we're ranked because the only ranking that matters is at the end of the year.

'We came in this year for a Big Ten championship and looking forward to playing for a national championship. That goal has not changed.'

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