Iowa fans: How much are you seduced by an up-and-coming coach's success in the NCAA tourney?

Are you much more willing to open your eyes to a possible candidate for the Iowa men's basketball coaching job if that coach gets a win or two in the NCAA tournament?

For that matter, are you less warm to a candidate if his team flamed out in the first round of the NCAAs?

I kept seeing some of you mention UTEP's Tony Barbee here and on other Gazetteonline blogs this week. No question, Barbee is one of those people who seesm to have ample upside. But would you look at one game --- UTEP's 77-59 loss to Butler in the first round of the NCAAs Thursday, and conclude maybe Barbee isn't the total package?

Are the coaches at Northern Iowa, St. Mary's and Old Dominion elevated because of one NCAA win on Thursday?

Speaking of which, St.  Mary's is 80-19 over its last three seasons.  What's Randy Bennett got to do to get out of Moraga, Calif., and behind the wheel of a major-college program? Other than overtake Gonzaga to become the best team in the West Coast Conference year in and year out, that is.

Bennett recruits Australians. He has five of them on his roster. What do you think about that?

I'm not pushing for Bennett. Repeat, I'm not pushing for Bennett.  (or anyone, for that matter. I don't want to come up with the absolute best person and have Iowa reject it because I liked it. OK, I'm joking. I'm not that delusional, even though I did have a dream about a flying saucer last night. I blame the Nyquil.)

I could spend all day looking at how other coaches at major-colleges fared in the NCAAs when at mid-majors. And maybe I should just to see if there's a pattern. Kansas' Bill Self won an NCAA game in his second season at Tulsa, then took the Golden Hurricane to the Elite Eight the following year before moving on to Illinois.

Ohio State's Thad Matta won NCAA first-round games in each of his four seasons at Butler (one year)  and Xavier (three years), and got Xavier to the Elite Eight his last season there.

Would Self and Matta have been less of a good hire had their teams been one-and-done in the big tourney?

It's your turn. Go.