This has been a tough, tough year for Hawkeye fans. The football team, after starting out gangbusters, went 2-6 their last 8 games, then lost to Texas in the Alamo Bowl. The basketball team never really got on track, losing non-conference games at home to Northern Iowa and getting blown out on the road at Drake (bonus points for any native Californian who can tell me where Drake is located). Still, they hung around fairly tough in the Big Ten regular season, just below the line where they might get into the NCAA tourney if they could finish strong.
But tonight’s 74-72 loss to Penn State — previously a pathetic 1-11 in Big Ten play — just about cinches a ‘no NCAA bid’ year for the Hawkeyes. The only hope now is to win the post-season Big Ten tournament, which is almost an impossibility given the exceptionally strong Wisconsin and Ohio State teams.
The Hawks did beat Michigan however, which will keep me from completely deserting them.