Tall task awaits Iowa men

INDIANAPOLIS - Iowa's men's basketball team played itself into irrelevancy this year with a school-record 21 losses and season-ending blowouts at Wisconsin and Minnesota.

That aside, Iowa still has a chance to reach its ultimate goal of an NCAA Tournament berth. The likelihood is small and the task is large, but the opportunity is there.

“If you play better than the other team, then you've got a chance to move on,” Iowa freshman Eric May said. “It's not a series. You've just got to come out and be the best team on that night, no matter what your record is going into the tournament.”

The rhetoric from players and coaches is the same: the team has a chance to go to the big show. But getting there is problematic in every possible way.

Iowa (10-21) needs to win four consecutive games at the Big Ten Tournament to advance to the postseason. The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes, however, have won two games in a row only twice.

Iowa opens tournament play Thursday with eighth-seeded Michigan for the third straight year. Michigan has beaten Iowa in both postseason games, both times this season and six of seven overall.

The Hawkeyes are coming off historic losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota, losing by a combined 62 points. It was the worst-ever loss to Wisconsin and the worst loss in 108 years to Minnesota.

“It's not easy to forget about it,” Iowa sophomore Aaron Fuller said. “No one wants to lose like that, but you've got no choice but to move on. If you linger on that too much, you're not going to be able to move forward. All of our focus is on Michigan right now.”

“You just try not to think about it,” May said. “You've got to Etch A Sketch it and get it out of your system. You've got to move forward.”

Michigan (14-16) boasts Manny Harris (17.7 points) and DeShawn Sims (16.9), who rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in Big Ten scoring. Sims in particular has destroyed Iowa in recent years.

Sims has averaged 24.6 points a game against the Hawkeyes in his last three games. He single-handedly rallied Michigan past Iowa in the teams' last meeting Feb. 16, scoring six points in the final 15 seconds to force overtime. He then scored eight points in overtime.

“He's a guy that's a handful,” Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said. “As you look at just in the last 20 seconds, he drives it and gets a three-point play and he steps out and hits a big 3. That gives you some idea of what you're in for trying to guard him, his versatility.”

Michigan has slapped Iowa with season-ending scars the last two seasons. Two years ago, Iowa went 16 minutes without scoring a field goal in an eight-point loss. Last year, Sims scored Michigan's first 14 points in a 28-point Wolverine blowout.

“I think we just laid down,” Iowa junior Jarryd Cole said. “There's no excuses for that. We didn't come out and compete at all.”

But Iowa still has one more chance, albeit slim, to salvage its season. Appropriately, it's against Michigan.

“My philosophy is third time is the charm,” Cole said. “Hopefully this time the tides will change, and we'll get them this year.”