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Hawkeyes have a chip and a chair, now they’ll try to build a stack at the Big Ten tournament
Iowa squeezed into the first 15-team Big Ten men’s basketball tournament. Now it will try to upset Ohio State in Indianapolis Wednesday and stick around for more.
Mar. 11, 2025 10:20 am, Updated: Mar. 11, 2025 12:42 pm
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Don’t assume a defeat at the Big Ten tournament would mark the end of the season for the Iowa men’s basketball team.
At 16-15 going into their first-round Big Ten game against Ohio State Wednesday (5 p.m.) at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Hawkeyes may not be done if they lose to the Buckeyes or in the days that follow.
“I would expect us to be playing for sure,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Tuesday. “I don’t know that I can answer that question specifically, but I would expect us to be playing.”
The most-likely option is a new postseason tournament called the College Basketball Crown, a 16-team event in Las Vegas from March 31-April 6. It’s been co-launched by Fox Sports, and the games will air on FS1 and Fox. All first- and second-round games will be at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Crown will give automatic bids to the top two available teams from the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten, television partners of Fox. The other 10 spots will be selected by a committee, and it’s likely those three conferences will supply the majority of them if not all.
In the meantime, there’s this matter of the Big Ten tourney. As they say in Vegas poker tournaments, the Hawkeyes have a chip and a chair. Meaning, their hopes of winning it are still alive, but it’s going to require an amazing performance.
First, Iowa has to fend with a 17-14 Ohio State team that almost surely must win this game to sustain its NCAA tournament hopes.
The Buckeyes beat Iowa in Columbus in January, 82-65. They also have wins over Kentucky, Purdue and Maryland. However, they’ve lost four of their last six games.
If the Hawkeyes upset Ohio State, it’s possible the two could bump into each other in Las Vegas at the end of the month.
Iowa finished its regular-season by winning a must-win game. Its 83-68 triumph at Nebraska got it the 15th and final spot in the Big Ten tourney. Now we’ll see if can turn the one chip it has remaining into something more
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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