Is This the Year? Waiting for the Hawkeyes' One Shining Moment
In the spirit of March Madness hot takes, here's one: Iowa men's basketball has achieved a level of stability surpassing Dr. Tom’s ‘90s-era teams. Now, the last frontier is extending their Big Dance stay past 48 hours.
Were it not for the pandemic, this would be Iowa’s fifth consecutive NCAA bid. Assuming Iowa earned a 6-seed during the COVID-interrupted 2020-21 hoops season, the Hawkeyes’ average seed would be — you guessed it — a 6-seed over the past five years. Solely based on regular season and conference tournament results, Iowa hoops falls somewhere between 21st-24th in the country. Iowa hoops: a top-25-ish fixture.
With this in mind, "Frannerisms" like his two-foul lock-up, inconsistent timeout usage, and refusal to press before 10 minutes left in the half are more amusing, than aggravating. Quirks, not deal-breakers.
Under McCaffery’s leadership, Iowa has become a consistent upper-division Big Ten program, averaging almost 12 conference wins over the past five years. And while late-season swoons have derailed previous seasons, of late McCaffery's teams have punctuated late February with two of his tenure’s most impressive victories—the 2021 thrashing of Ohio State in Columbus and this year’s demolition derby in Bloomington.
March, however, has been a crueler month for Fran and the Hawkeyes. While last year’s Big Ten tournament title was a heater for the ages, the Hawkeyes have consistently underperformed their conference tourney seeds. This year’s loss to a scuffling Buckeyes team was all the more dispiriting, particularly after the Nebraska debacle on Senior Day.
And while the NCAA tournament is notoriously fickle, Fran’s signature Big Dance moment is probably Iowa’s almost-comeback against 2-seed Tennessee on the backs of future Iowa legends Jordan Bohannon and Luka Garza. But now a decade-plus into the McCaffery Era, fans are still looking for a signature Hawkeye tourney victory — the 2018 Cincinnati victory was as enjoyable as it was unexpected, but it pales next to most "milestone wins."
Obviously, fans would and should revel in a long NCAA tourney run. It could be the Hawkeyes upending a tourney favorite like Houston, or a front-running team (like Garza's last squad) chalking its way through the bracket. No reason to be picky.
Speaking from my own undergrad experience at North Carolina, it is a mixture of joy and pandemonium when your team storms through a bracket. Before the Matt Doherty era which we will not speak of, I was there for Bill Guthridge’s Final Four run. Even for a blueblood like Carolina, an NCAA tourney run sets off a raucous celebration—cue a mass of inebriated humanity descending on Franklin Street. And then just as your most enjoyable hangover (not an oxymoron) wears off, the entire campus is buzzing, with giddy anticipation, for the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight or Final Four.
It's a three week fungasm of exuberance ("Do you think we can make the Final Four? The drive to Indy isn’t that long!"), punctuated with only occasional conversations about, well, anything unrelated to hoops.
More than reliving my undergraduate glory years, I want the Hawkeyes, my first sports love, to experience March’s joyousness. Considering Iowa hoops’ pedigree, let alone the financial resources invested into Hawkeye basketball, it is hard to fathom that Iowa has made one Sweet 16 over the past 35 years. As a point of comparison, "national powerhouses" Loyola Chicago and Southern Illinois have more Sweet 16 appearances than the Hawkeyes over the past 35 years. Iowa State has advanced to the Sweet 16 three times over the past decade alone.
While it's easy to be jealous of Iowa State’s NCAA tourney success, the previous paragraph isn’t an indictment of Fran’s coaching acumen. It really isn’t.
Regular season success is the hallmark of a consistent, well-run program, one that year in and year out is firmly ensconced in the Big Dance. And after the sour taste left by the Todd Lickliter years, McCaffery's consistent success is probably a bit under-appreciated, both within the Big Ten and nationally.
Despite Iowa surpassing preseason expectations throughout Fran’s tenure — last year’s Keegan Murray-led team being the most notable example — the Hawkeye headman hasn’t been named or often considered for Big Ten Coach of the Year.
While that Big Ten coaching accolade proves elusive, McCaffery deserves his flowers for resurrecting a moribund Hawkeye hoops, as well as running a drama-free program — which not every program in Iowa City can say. McCaffery's eye for talent development — Garza, the brothers Murray, and so many more — is nearly Ferentzian. And when he isn’t in the throes of a sideline "Frantrum," he is thoroughly likable, offering thoughtful answers on all things college basketball when given the opportunity.
Hawkeye men's hoops is well-positioned for future upper division finishes and NCAA tourney appearances, hardly a given for Fran’s two predecessors. But as I make my annual March Madness brackets with varying levels of accuracy, I fear my most accurate prediction will be the Hawkeyes once again residing in Bracketville for days, not weeks.