I am a pretty huge Hawkeye basketball fan. I dreamt of playing basketball for the Hawkeyes all through high school. I even attended the Hawkeye basketball camp and got to shake Tom Davis’ hand when I accepted 1 of the 4 camp MVP awards.
But, I have never been able to get into college basketball until the Big 10 starts. All the games against the weird teams, most of which are not very good, just does very little to inspire me. I have barely paid enough attention to know that the Hawks are 5-5 and not playing very well without Mike Henderson. Hopefully, he will get up to full speed before January 4th.
College basketball is a unique beast. I cannot think of another sport where the first quarter of your schedule is as unimportant as in college basketball. I know that those preconference games are important when you are on the bubble during Selection Sunday. At this point in the season they are a bit uninspiring, though. Everybody knows that if you win half or more of your Big 10 games and don’t suck too badly before the Big 10 starts, that you are going to play in the NCAA Tournament.
Normally, Big 10 teams come into conference play with a good record at the expense of a bunch of cupcakes. With Iowa’s 5 losses already, they really need to make sure they win these next 4 games. Especially since they lost to every good team they have played this year.
Despite the near urgency of these next 4 games, I still will have trouble caring about any of them besides the Drake game. And, that is only because I am a HUGE Tom Davis fan.
Wake me up when the Big 10 starts.
Tags: Iowa Hawkeyes, college basketball, Big 10