The University of Iowa is a basketball school

Yeah, I said that.

Even though ... the Hawkeyes fell to 0-6 in the league for the first time ever.

Which, to me, is incredible.

The law of averages would seem to dictate that you'd have one incredibly lousy season in over a century and lose at least your first half-dozen league games.

Not Iowa. Never. Not until this year, anyhow.

But get this: Since 1900, Iowa has had 21 winless seasons in Big Ten football play and went 0-6 or worse five times. They were:

1999 0-8

1973 0-8

1967 0-6-1

1965 0-7

1944 0-6

In four other seasons, Iowa was either 0-5 or 0-5-1.  Three of the winless Big Ten seasons -- 1906, 1908 and 1930 -- were with 0-1 records. The conference wasn't always rigid when it came to everyone playing the same number of league games. It looks like Chicago and Michigan were declared co-champs in 1905, though Chicago was 7-0 and the Wolverines were 1-0.

Chicago was really good in football. For a while. But they started losing, and losing their stomach for big-time football. After 1939, the Maroons fled from the football scene and focused on just being a great university. The heathens.

Anyway, even throwing out the three 0-1 Big Ten marks -- heck, toss out everything but the 0-6's and worse if you want -- Iowa football has a far-less distinguished won-lost record than Iowa men's basketball.

Even though that basketball program hasn't shared a Big Ten title since 1979 and hasn't won one outright since 1970, while the football team has gone to three Rose Bowls and two Orange Bowls since 1981 as league champs or co-champs.

Iowa's all-time Big Ten football record is 291-349-25. Which explains why people follow recruiting intently, I guess. The program simply has to sign great players if it's ever going to climb over .500. Seven straight 8-0 seasons will get the Hawkeyes within two games of the break-even mark. Keep your fingers crossed, Iowa fans.

The Hawkeyes are 215-213-11 in the Big Ten since Michigan State joined the conference in 1953, and are 75-68-1 since Penn State came aboard in 1993.

As for basketball, by my math Iowa is 699-708 all-time in Big Ten games. So the Hawkeyes can pull over .500 for all-time this season if they win 11 of their final 12 league contests this winter.

OK, that won't happen. But it doesn't matter. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact Iowa has never, ever, ever been 0-6 in the Big Ten before this year. Like I said, it defies the law of averages. And then some, wouldn't you say?

So Iowa is a basketball school.

Just kidding. It's a football school.