Fran McCaffery
The Iowa Hawkeyes hope to improve their seeding in the NCAA Tournament with a strong performance at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. The fifth seeded Hawkeyes open on Thursday afternoon against the winner of today’s game between Minnesota and Illinois.
Iowa is hoping to avoid a third straight one and done against a lower seed. The Hawkeyes were eliminated by 13th seeded Penn State a year ago and in 2014 were knocked out by 11th seeded Northwestern.
“It was one of those games where we were sitting in pretty good shape and Penn State caught fire”, said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “The year before Northwestern really shot it well that game and those are the kinds of things that happen sometimes in tournament play.”
It will take four wins in four days for the Hawkeyes to claim the championship. McCaffery says there is no thought of giving the starters added rest to prepare for the long haul.
“It is always a function of what the score is because anytime you in a lose your out your are just trying to win that game.”
Tip off Thursday is 1:30 p.m. in Banker’s Life Fieldhouse.