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Iowa Basketball: Ten Questions Heading Into the Off-Season

By Dylan Burn

Jan 14, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery walk off the court after a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 14, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery walk off the court after a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 28, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery reacts to a call against his team during the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena. Ohio State won the game 68-64. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 28, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery reacts to a call against his team during the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena. Ohio State won the game 68-64. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports /

How do you see Iowa doing next season after they’ve had to replace so much this past season?

Kenny: I think Iowa will be a fringe NCAA tournament team at best.  Realistically, I think they make the NIT.  To me, there are too many question marks heading into the season for me to say definitively that this is an NCAA tournament team.  Not to see they can’t, but they have to replace an awful lot of talent and experience.  Next year will probably be the toughest under Fran since year 1.

Derek: The experts picked Iowa to finish in the bottom half of the Big 10 in 2015-16, after the graduation of Aaron White. The Hawkeyes greatly outperformed those expectations. It’s hard to make an airtight argument for Iowa finishing third in the conference again in 2016-17 with so much inexperience on the floor.

After three consecutive years of competitive basketball, it’s also hard to expect the Hawkeyes to fall off the map as well. If I had to pick spots today, I would say they win 20 games, finish fifth in the Big 10 and make a fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance as an at-large team.

Dylan:  Well, many doubted them this past season after Iowa graduated Aaron White and they seemed to do just fine.  They have a scorer in Jok who could average 20 or more points per game next season, but they are going to be very young.  It’s early, but I like Iowa to finish in the middle part of the Big Ten and be a bubble team next season.

Next: Peter Jok is now the leader of this team

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