After a weekend when the Iowa women's basketball team roared through the Big Ten Tournament, a run which included beating #6 Maryland in an instant classic and delivering a historic blowout of #14 Ohio State to secure back-to-back Big Ten Tournament championships, what's left for the Hawkeyes until the NCAA Tournament Selection Show next weekend? Well, they could hit heights in the AP Poll the program hasn't reached in almost 30 years.

The newest women's basketball AP poll was released today, and Iowa has rocketed up the rankings -- all the way to #2 overall.

Iowa was ranked #7 entering the Big Ten Tournament, after getting blown out by then-#7 Maryland on the road and beating then-#2 Indiana on a piece of Caitlin Clark magic.

While Iowa excelled during the Big Ten Tournament, several other Top 10 teams stumbled in conference tournaments. #2 Indiana lost to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals after conceding the biggest comeback in tournament history. #5 Maryland lost to Iowa in the Big Ten semis. #3 Utah lost to Washington State in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals. #6 Stanford lost to #19 UCLA in the Pac-12 semis. And #4 LSU lost to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament semifinals. That upheaval created holes near the top of the rankings for a surging team like Iowa to fill.

The #2 ranking is Iowa's best of the season (after a previous high of #4 during the first two weeks of the season) and the best of the Lisa Bluder Era at Iowa. In fact, it's the highest ranking for the program in almost 30 years -- since the Hawkeyes were ranked #2 in the January 18, 1994 poll.

The last time the Hawkeyes have been ranked this high in the AP poll this late in the season was 1993, when Iowa was ranked #2 as late as March 2, 1993. That Hawkeye team was also the only Iowa team to reach the Final Four and ended the season ranked #4 in in the final rankings.

The only time Iowa has ever been ranked higher than #2 in the AP rankings was in 1988, when the Hawkeyes were #1 in the poll for eight straight weeks (from January 4 to February 22). Iowa finished #2 in the final rankings that season.

Iowa's final ranking this season will be determined, of course, by how the Hawkeyes fare in the NCAA Tournament. For now, it's enough to celebrate Bluder & Co. hitting some very rarefied air.