Hlas: Iowa teams and Final Four stay total strangers

I don't ask for much, I really don't.

Twenty or thirty million euros in a Swiss bank account, a secluded beach house in Kauai, a reliable high-speed Wi-Fi provider wherever I go. You know, the simple life.

But once, just once, could I have a team from Iowa to cover in an NCAA men's basketball Final Four? I'm more likely to cover Iowans in the Iditarod in Nome, the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, or on the set of 'Desperate Housewives of Hiawatha.'

I covered a women's Final Four when Iowa participated, in 1993. So it can be done. However, the last men's team from the state to reach a Final Four was Iowa in 1980. That was 36 years ago, before my time began on earth. As a sports writer, anyway.

Well, another year has come and gone. Iowa State got as far as the Sweet 16 before falling to Virginia Friday night in Chicago. It's not as if Sweet 16s are all that prevalent for our state, either, but ISU was there in 2014 and this year, and Northern Iowa made it that far in 2010.

The last in-state team to get to an Elite Eight was the 2000 Cyclones. The Final Four, though, might as well be four light-years from Iowa.

From 1981 to 2015, teams from 30 different states and the District of Columbia have participated in Final Fours. Wisconsin teams (the Badgers three times and Marquette once) have been to four. The Illinois Fighting Illini have been to two. Even Minnesota went to one.

Iowa? Zippo.

North Carolina teams have made 24 Final Four appearances since the 1981 season began. Kentucky's have made 15, Michigan's 11.

Three different Virginia schools have gotten that far. Virginia, George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth. Yes, George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth have been there, while all of Iowa's teams have stayed home.

Rhode Island, West Virginia, Utah, Massachusetts, Mississippi — they've all had a Final Four moment since Iowa's last trip. Even New Jersey. That was courtesy of Seton Hall. You surely didn't think it was Rutgers.

When you look at the states that have been unrepresented at Division I Final Fours since 1981, you can excuse most. Alaska doesn't have a D-I basketball program, so that reduces its chances considerably.

Eleven of the others, like the Dakotas, New Hampshire and New Mexico, don't have a Power Five conference affiliation.

But what about us? What about Iowans? Well, it's kind of hard to get excited about next season, isn't it?

How can the 2016-17 Cyclones go beyond what they did this season without Georges Niang, not to mention Abdel Nader and Jameel McKay?

How can Northern Iowa as much as duplicate winning games in the last two NCAA tourneys with Wes Washpun, Matt Bohannon and Paul Jesperson graduating?

And doesn't Iowa have to take a step back with at least four of its starters leaving?

Hey, let's not forget Drake. The Bulldogs were in the 1969 Final Four. They're due for a return appearance, wouldn't you say?

Well, I saw the Hawkeyes football team return to the Rose Bowl just when I had to begun to believe that would never happen again. So keep hope alive.

Besides, there are people who honestly believe this is the year the Cubs reach their first World Series since 1945. If they can cling to hope, who are we in Iowa to doubt a Final Four for one of our teams will happen one of these decades?