ESPN ranks Iowa basketball against March Madness Sweet 16 schools
The Sweet 16 has been locked in. Where do the Iowa Hawkeyes rank among the 16 teams remaining in college basketball?
The Iowa Hawkeyes get to keep on dancing after stunning the No. 1-seeded Florida Gators to punch a ticket to their first Sweet 16 since 1999. The game saw both teams land haymakers on each other, but the Hawkeyes, after so many late-game mishaps during the season, found a way to gut out a massive win for the program's trajectory.
Advancing to the second week is due in large part to a masterful coaching performance of Ben McCollum, who was able to squeeze every ounce out of Iowa against Florida when he needed it most. With just 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament, ESPN ranked the remaining squads and sees Iowa looking like the best version of itself. 15.
Iowa Hawkeyes Original seed: No. 9 (South) Tournament results: Defeated No. 8 Clemson 67-61 (first round) ; defeated No.
1 Florida 73-72 (round of 32) A team's season can flip in an instant. The Hawkeyes were 3-7 in their previous 10 games entering the NCAA tournament. During that stretch, they were sub-50 in offensive and defensive efficiency, per BartTorvik, and had shot 31% from 3.