By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Nicholas Baer is coming off a season in which he was named the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year for a team that won 19 games and played in a postseason tournament for a sixth consecutive year.

He helped Iowa win back-to-back road games at conference powers Maryland and Wisconsin late last season, and continued to endear himself to the fans with his hustle, grit and versatility.

There was so much to like about Baer’s sophomore season, but also one thing to despise.

And that one thing, which is Iowa’s failure to make the NCAA Tournament, is enough for Baer to call last season a disappointment.

To this day, it still bothers him.

That was obvious at media day on Monday when I made the mistake of saying that last season was a lot of fun for the fans and for the media because Iowa played an entertaining style of basketball, and did so with four freshman starters, bringing hope and optimism for the future.

I assumed that Baer would agree with me even if he didn’t agree with me just because it was media day and because it was such a harmless, feel-good question.

It was vintage media day material.

Or so I thought.

Baer answered my question by mentioning what Texas football coach Tom Herman said after his team nearly upset heavy favorite Southern California in September.

“One thing he said was there is no moral victories, we lost the game,” Baer said. “And I think that’s kind of been my mentality that I’ve accepted and I think that our team has accepted as well.

“Understand there were times last year where we didn’t play well, we were fun to watch, but we didn’t necessarily win. And that’s not our goal. Our goal isn’t just to be fun to watch. Our goal is to win games and get to the (NCAA) Tournament.”

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The Iowa players were careful not to criticize the National Invitation Tournament on Monday because there are worse things than playing in that postseason tournament.

But Baer and his cohorts also want nothing to do with the NIT anymore because it’s not the real show. It’s not the big Dance and the reason people miss work in March and why people who don’t even like sports pay attention to brackets.

The NIT is a consolation prize for teams that were slightly above average during the regular season. And that describes Iowa last season.

Iowa finished 10-8 in the Big Ten last season, which is slightly above average.

Baer doesn’t want to be slightly above average.

The former walk-on from Bettendorf strives for greatness on a daily basis. He already has defied the odds by becoming a solid Big Ten player as a multi-skilled 6-foot-7 small forward.

Baer could easily start for the Hawkeyes, but he gives Iowa a versatile and unselfish force off the bench.

“He probably deserves to start, and that's typically what I've done,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “I've said that to you guys before. We've got some other guys that are really playing well, so we could give ourselves that instant spark off the bench in Nicholas Baer, who was clearly the best player in the Big Ten in that capacity last year. He earned that award for a reason.”

Baer doesn’t seem to care if he starts. He is more concerned about finishing and about winning.

He likes that Iowa has 12 or 13 players pushing each other to make what could be a deep rotation this season.

Baer also likes the attitude in practice. He feels a sense of urgency caused by not making the NCAA Tournament for first time in the past four years.

“When you have that many mouths to feed, people are going to come to practice hungry,” Baer said. “So we’ve been really interested in seeing how people would respond and I’ve been really impressed with the level of our practices so far.”

Baer saw action in all 34 games last season, with 10 starts. He was the only Division I player, and the only Big Ten player over the last 25 years, to amass 250 points, 45 steals, 45 3-point basket and at least 40 blocks in a season.

Iowa’s frontline is stacked with players who are bigger and stronger and more athletic than Baer. Freshman post players Luka Garza and Jack Nunge, both of whom stand 6-11, figure to be key contributors, while sophomore power forward Tyler Cook has star potential.

But there will always be a spot for Baer in the rotation because of his unique skill set and because of his burning desire to succeed.

Playing basketball isn’t about having fun anymore.

Of course, Baer still enjoys playing the game, but he enjoys winning even more.

He has two years left to help lift Iowa to the next level as a program. And that's all that matters to Baer, as I was reminded on Monday..