Harty: Current Iowa team built to end long title drought
IOWA CITY, Iowa – With just seven games left in the regular season, the Iowa men’s basketball team has a realistic chance to end a long and sobering drought.
Not since the 1969-70 season when Ralph Miller’s dynamic "Six Pack" finished 14-0 in conference play has Iowa won the Big Ten regular-season title outright in men’s basketball.
To put that perspective, Bump Elliott still hadn’t even been hired as the Iowa Athletics Director the last time it happened.
Rock legends Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all were still alive.
And the average cost of a gallon of gas was just 35 cents in early 1970.
It’s fair to say the drought in men’s basketball has lasted far too long.
Heck, it’s been since the 1978-79 season when Iowa last shared a piece of the Big Ten regular-season title in men’s basketball.
To put that in perspective, Hayden Fry hadn’t even coached the Iowa football team in a game at that point.
What’s strange about the drought in men’s basketball is that Iowa has been pretty respectable during most of the past half century. Take away the four mediocre seasons under Dick Schultz from 1970-74 and the three losing seasons under Todd Lickliter from 2007-10 and Iowa’s track record in men’s basketball isn’t too shabby.
Iowa played in the NCAA Tournament in five of Lute Olson’s nine seasons as head coach; in two of George Raveling’s three seasons as head coach and in nine of Tom Davis’ 13 seasons as head coach during a stretch from 1974 to 1999. Olson led Iowa to the Final Four in 1980, while Davis guided the Hawkeyes to the Elite Eight in 1987.
Steve Alford also led Iowa to two Big Ten Tournament titles during his eight seasons as head coach from 1999 to 2007, and to a second-place finish in the Big Ten regular season in 2006.
But he failed to win a Big Ten regular-season title, as did his two predecessors at Iowa. The closest Davis came was a second-place finish in 1997.
His 1986-87 squad, which climbed to No. 1 in the nation and finished 30-5 overall, is considered Davis’ best team at Iowa. But it only finished in third place in the Big Ten with a 14-4 record.
The current Iowa team, which climbed to fourth in this week’s Associated Press poll and plays at second-place Indiana on Thursday, is now venturing into mostly uncharted territory. It’s hard to think of times when Iowa has been in contention for the Big Ten regular-season title this late in a season.
The last time Iowa was in first place this late in a season was on Feb. 22, 2006 according to Matt Weitzel from the Iowa Sports Information Department. Iowa was 9-4 in the conference and had a half-game lead over 8-4 Ohio State, which won its next game to forge a tie.
The fact that Iowa is alone in first place a week into February is almost as surreal as the Iowa football team finishing the 2015 regular season with a 12-0 record.
Neither seemed likely to happen five months ago, but now we’ve seen it happen with the football team, while the men’s basketball team is making the improbable seem possible in Fran McCaffery’s sixth season as head coach.
This isn’t a case of a team with little hope or expectations coming out of nowhere to be successful. Most of the prognosticators and preseason magazines had Iowa making the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season.
But nobody had Iowa ranked among the nation’s elite.
We underestimated the impact that Iowa’s four seniors would have on the team, on and off the court.
We underestimated Jarrod Uthoff’s immense talent.
And we underestimated Peter Jok’s ability to be more than just a streak shooter.
McCafferry also deserves credit for Iowa’s rise to prominence because he is mostly responsible for creating the environment in which his players are thriving. He has brought stability and passion to the program.
Combine McCaffery’s influence with a strong senior class, a junior sharpshooter and an improving bench and you have a recipe for long-term success.
In addition to staying healthy for the most part, the current Iowa players are locked in to the journey, knowing the destination will take care of itself if they just stay the course.
Win or lose, and regardless of the opponent or the circumstance, the routine from game to game doesn’t change under McCaffery.
“I just keep saying the same thing over and over; I don’t expect anything different from them,” McCaffery said about his team’s approach to games. “They were like that last year, and they were like that the year before.
“I think everybody panicked a little when we lost some games at the end of the season a couple years ago. But we played fairly well in those games. We lost to really good teams and we lost close games and we learned from it, and we’ve been better last year and we’ve been better this year.”
McCaffery was referring the 2013-14 season when Iowa lost seven of its last eight games after being ranked as high as 10th in the polls.
That team first lost its edge and then its confidence down the stretch.
The current Iowa team, which has four seniors and a junior in the starting lineup, is more experienced than the squad from two years. The four senior starters on the current Iowa team were only sophomores two years ago and weren’t nearly as effective as they are now.
The current Iowa team is built to handle the grind of playing 18 conference games. It might not end the 46-year drought, but is in a favorable position to do so in February.
That by itself is a rare achievement.