It’s Caitlin Clark’s world, and we’re just living in it

Today, I'm asking the questions and I demand answers. They may be observations and opinions thinly disguised as questions, but just play along and no one gets hurt.

How do you explain the Michigan State men's basketball team losing by 30 points at home to Iowa just two weekends ago, then beating Illinois and Ohio State in East Lansing?

How do you explain Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan and Purdue — all in the top five of the Big Ten standings — losing at Minnesota, but Northwestern winning there?

Why did Tyrese Haliburton last until the 12th pick in the NBA draft out of Iowa State? He was projected top seven or eight, even top four or five by some. Through his first 30 games, he averaged 13.2 points and 5.4 assists.

Would Iowa's men's basketball record be any different had fans been allowed at the games? Would the Hawkeyes have beaten Ohio State at home? Would they have lost at Rutgers? Is there any of the other 22 games they've played that might not have had the same result?

Why are cardboard cutouts of pets allowed at college games when animals aren't able to attend games normally, and couldn't care less whether they're represented there?

If I'd told you before the season began that the best college basketball story in the state would be the Drake men and not the Iowa men, wouldn't someone in the health field have told family and friends to keep a close watch on me?

You do know that what Iowa women's basketball freshman Caitlin Clark has done so far is impossible, right?

OK, if not impossible, then extremely improbable, right? How many freshmen average a Big Ten-best 27.3 points, a Big Ten-best 6.8 assists and 6.1 rebounds? Isn't that easily answered when you were just told the first two of those statistics were Big Ten bests?

Shouldn't Big Ten men's college basketball people just shut up instead of saying they have the toughest league in the nation for the millionth time? Doesn't everyone know it by now?

But does everyone know the Big Ten hasn't had a national champion since the year 2000?

Also, doesn't the fact the Big Ten has 14 teams give it a significantly better chance of having more tough teams than the Big 12, which has 10? You know, math and all?

Which brings the eternal question back into play. How is that the Big Ten has 14 members and the Big 12 has 10? Or should the Big East be headquartered in Half Moon Bay, Calif.?

How self-destructive would you have to be to bet against Iowa winning the NCAA wrestling championships?

Having seen Gonzaga and Michigan in person, men's basketball-wise, can I say either is better than the other with any real conviction?

Speaking of the Zags, would it be so bad if a private university in a mid-major conference became men's basketball's first unbeaten team since Indiana in 1976?

That would be a fantastic story, right?

You don't really want that at all, do you?

If you're an Iowa men's basketball fan, what is the minimum right now that would constitute a satisfying season for you?

Would you trade a Big Ten tournament title for a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Sweet 16, no questions asked? If not, what if I upped the ante and said that Big Ten tournament title includes a 22-point revenge win over Michigan?

The Toledo Rockets and Akron Zips are two of the top teams in the Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings, and isn't that only logical? How do you compete with Rockets or Zips?

Can we get a Zips-Zags NCAA tournament early-round game, please?

Why do people say when it rains, it pours, when sometimes it just rains?

Would you swap your entire life's experiences with Tiger Woods?

Is it possible that driving from Cedar Rapids to Ann Arbor and then Columbus can give a person too much time to think of inane questions?

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com