Iowa Hawkeyes Basketball Receives Brutally Obvious Reality

The Iowa Hawkeyes have received some obvious but brutal truths late in the season.

Evan Massey | Feb 18, 2025

Jan 11, 2025; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery reacts during the second half against the Indiana Hoosiers at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

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Iowa Hawkeyes

Entering the 2024-25 college basketball season, the Iowa Hawkeyes and head coach Fran McCaffery were hoping to make some noise in the Big Ten basketball scene.

With the season quickly winding down, they have done anything but make noise. It has been a very frustrating season that will end in frustrating fashion as well barring a shocking run in the Big Ten tournament.

At this point in the year, Iowa is just 14-11. The Hawkeyes have been unable to find any kind of rhythm and they have suffered some major injury issues over the last couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, the reality is that this season has been a lost year.

That reality was shared in even more brutally honest fashion by Hawk Central. They shared the projections for Iowa when it comes to the NCAA Tournament by multiple different outlets.

Obviously, none of them have the Hawkeyes making it into March Madness unless they shockingly win the Big Ten tournament.

Also, Iowa is not a lock to quality for the Big Ten tournament, as Hawk Central noted.

"As of Monday morning, Iowa would make the cut. But with six regular-season games remaining, that is still at risk of changing," Tyler Tachman wrote. "The Hawkeyes have two more matchups with teams below them (Washington and Northwestern), which could have direct implications on the Big Ten Tournament field."

Here are the current standings at the bottom of the Big Ten:

USC (6-8)
Indiana (6-9)
Minnesota (5-9)
Iowa (5-9)
Rutgers (5-10)----------------------
Washington (4-10)
Northwestern (4-11)
Penn State (3-12)

Missing the Big Ten tournament would be a very sobering end to the season. It could force the Hawkeyes to consider making some changes.

Over the last few weeks, there have been some rumblings about a new head coach coming to town. Iowa would have a hard time moving on from McCaffery, but that option could well be on the table.

All of that being said, there is still hope that the team will figure things out to close the season. If that doesn't happen and they miss the Big Ten tournament, major changes could be coming to the program.

Read More Iowa Hawkeyes Coverage

Published Feb 18, 2025

EVAN MASSEY

Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst who covers college football, the NFL and NBA. He has contributed to the On SI network since July 2021. He has also written for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, NFLAnalysis.net, NBAAnalysis.net and many other publications. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son.