Hawkeyes, Virginia: NIT foes separated at birth?

Ken Pomeroy has a popular college basketball website (kenpom.com) and is one of the great numbers-crunchers of our basketball generation. His Pomeroy rankings carry a lot of weight with many.

In his most-recent ratings, Iowa is No. 23 and Virginia No. 25. They're both ahead of three teams still standing in the NCAA tournament, including No. 93 Florida Gulf Coast.

Pomeroy tweeted this: Iowa-Virginia has to be one of the best NIT quarterfinals in decades

I don't want to be the one who does the research to verify or dispute that. But a plain fact is that these two teams have a lot in common.

The records alone: Iowa is 23-12, Virginia 23-11.

Big Ten win totals in Fran McCaffery's three years at Iowa: 4, 8, 9. ACC win totals in Tony Bennett's four years at Virginia: 5, 7, 9, 11.

Iowa lost two home games all season, Virginia one.

The Hawkeyes and Cavaliers both were 2-7 on the road in conference play.

Both teams had four conference losses by four points or less.

Both needed perhaps just one more win in their conference tourneys (or one win, period, in Virginia's case) to make it to the NCAAs.

Both have been to the NCAA tournament just twice in the last decade. The last time Iowa won two games in an NCAA tourney was 1999. The last time Virginia did it was 1995.

From the mid-1980s to the late-1990s, both frequently appeared in the NCAAs.

Both have only one senior who plays significant minutes, thus both are expected to have brighter days ahead next season.

So sit back and enjoy the best NIT quarterfinal in decades. If that is indeed true.

In the meantime, one of these two teams are headed to New York next week. One difference between the two programs is Iowa has never won a postseason national tournament. Virginia won the NIT in 1980 and 1992. The Cavaliers' all-time NIT record is 17-10. Iowa's is 7-6.