2025 off to rough start for Hawkeye basketball fans
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – This has been a brutal three-week stretch for Iowa Hawkeye fans, dating back to the Iowa football team’s 27-24 loss to Missouri on Dec. 30 in the 2024 Music City Bowl.
Since then, the Iowa men’s basketball team has has lost four of six games, including a current three-game losing streak, while the Iowa women’s basketball team carries a five-game losing streak into Wednesday’s game at Washington.
It was also revealed shortly after South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski had committed to Iowa that he would need surgery, and that it would cause him to miss spring practice.
Gronowski will have surgery to reportedly repair a torn labrum in his right throwing shoulder.
And while he is expected to make a full recovery by June, to not have Gronowski for spring practice will delay his transition from playing four seasons at the FCS level.
Iowa fans are paranoid, and rightfully so, after what happened to former Hawkeye quarterback Cade McNamara.
He transferred from Michigan to Iowa in 2023, but he still was recovering from a season-ending knee injury that occurred early in the 2022 season while playing for Michigan.
McNamara would go on to suffer another season-ending knee injury in his fifth game as a Hawkeye in 2023, and he also didn’t play in the final five games of the 2024 season after having suffered a concussion against Northwestern.
It just seems that what could have gone wrong did go wrong during McNamara’s time as a Hawkeye, but he also didn’t play very well.
McNamara has since transferred to East Tennessee State, which competes at the FCS level.
As for Iowa’s two struggling basketball teams, they’ve combined to lose eight games in a row and each is in danger of not making the NCAA Tournament.
Both teams have to start stacking wins, but instead, they just keep losing.
This column was written prior to the Iowa women playing Washington on Wednesday, so maybe Iowa head coach Jan Jensen and her players will figure a way to end the misery.
The men and women both just need a win, something to feel good about again.
The Iowa men face Penn State Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in what looks to be a winnable game on paper.
But the Minnesota game also looked very winnable on paper, and yet, Iowa trailed the Big Ten’s last-place team almost from the start to finish and lost 72-67 before an alarmingly small crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The atmosphere during Tuesday’s game brought back memories of the Todd Lickliter days at Iowa when the arena was more than half empty for many games and you could hear the sounds of sneakers on the court.
And yes, there were some extenuating circumstances, most notably the 8 p.m. tip-off, and the brutally cold weather.
But to have the arena more than half empty for a Big Ten game in January, and without it being a blizzard, is a disturbing sign.
There is obviously a disconnect right now, and the only solution is winning.
It was hard not to feel sorry for senior forward Payton Sandfort as he met with the media following the loss to Minnesota on Tuesday.
He was devastated by the loss because nobody wants to win more than Payton Sandfort and nobody appreciates being a Hawkeye more than Payton Sandfort.
He wants so much to make the fans proud and to give them a reason to show up for games.

This is Payton Sandfort’s last go-around as a Hawkeye, and right now, it’s spiraling quickly in the wrong direction.
The look on his face after Tuesday’s game was the look of someone who fears that his last season as a Hawkeye is slipping away.
“It was just a low energy day and it’s completely unacceptable,” Payton Sandfort said. “People looked defeated early in the game and that can’t happen. That’s when we’ve got to find a way to bring some energy.”
It would have certainly helped if the arena was two-thirds full rather than two-thirds empty for the Minnesota game.
There was very little energy in the arena when the game started and it only got worse until Iowa finally made a late rally that ultimately fell short.
Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz attended Tuesday’s game so she saw all the empty seats.
Goetz has talked about moving the student section closer to the court, but there is no guarantee that would do the trick.
The student was close to empty for the Minnesota game and the Minnesota players took advantage of what was mostly laid-back atmosphere.
There weren’t many fans on hand to cheer, and Iowa’s performance didn’t give the fans much to cheer about.
Some fans are lashing out at Fran McCaffery and saying that it’s time for Iowa to move on from him.
Fans are entitled to their opinion, but it’s hard to picture Goetz/Iowa firing Fran McCaffery under the current circumstances.
Attendance is certainly a problem that has festered for years and it appears to be getting worse.
However, on the other hand, Fran McCaffery also has posted upper division finishes in 11 of the last 12 seasons at Iowa and 23 of 28 seasons as a head coach.
The Hawkeyes have finished fifth or better in the Big Ten standings seven of the last 10 years. He has posted 20 wins or more 11 of the last 16 seasons, including eight of the last 11 years at Iowa.
That just doesn’t read like an Iowa head coach whose job should be in jeopardy.
Some fans have accused Fran McCaffery of not coaching with the same energy and emotion as in previous seasons, suggesting that maybe he misses having his two sons on the team and is just going through the motions.
But that just doesn’t seem fair or realistic, and it puts Fran McCaffery in a no-win situation because he often has been criticized by fans for being too emotional and too combative.
Of course, the biggest knock on Fran McCaffery is his lack of success in the NCAA Tournament where Iowa hasn’t advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 since the 1998-99 season.
For some fans, that’s a deal breaker, and fair enough.
But much like with Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, the good still outweighs the bad with Fran McCaffery.
It would seem that both are still winning enough games to stay off the Hawkeye hot seat.
But a lot can change in a season or two.
One of the biggest differences between football and men’s basketball is that football still sells out most of its home games, whereas men’s basketball doesn’t come close doing it.
The Iowa men’s basketball team has to give fans a reason to attend the games, but losing at home to a Minnesota squad that leaves much to be desired is hardly a step in that direction.
And judging from the expression on Payton Sandfort’s face after Tuesday’s loss, he knew it.