Bracketology Update: Where Iowa Women's Basketball stands on Feb 20

It’s getting to be that time of the year in college basketball. The time of the year where we start looking at bracket projections and breaking down what teams need to do to bolster their resume before conference tournaments. For the Iowa Women’s Basketball team, they have no worries about making the tournament or even hosting a regional. They are locked into both of those categories, but the Hawkeyes are still fighting for a coveted one seed, which is something that has eluded them the past two seasons. With just four regular season games remaining, now is a good time to take a look at where the Hawkeyes stand in the various tournament projections. HawkeyeReport has your Iowa Women’s Basketball Bracketology update.

A look at the Hawkeyes resume through 25 games…

I found out recently that the men’s and women’s selection committee’s do not follow the same guidelines for the NCAA Tournament. The men’s committee looks at quadrant wins, while the women’s committee looks at wins against the NET Top 25, Top 50, Top 100 and losses against those groupings. That means we will be looking at Iowa’s resume in a different way this time around.

Iowa currently comes in at #5 in the NET rankings. They are 4-2 against the NET Top 25 and a combined 10-3 against the NET Top 50, with their worst loss coming on the road against Nebraska (NET 30). Taking it one step further, the Hawkeyes are 14-3 against the NET Top 100. Comparing their resume to the other teams in contention for a one seed, Iowa is tied with Ohio State for the second-most Top 50 wins (10) behind South Carolina. Barring something unexpected, the Hawkeyes resume is plenty good enough for a top two seed in the NCAA Tournament.

What the brackets are saying…

Selection Committee: 2 Seed – The NCAA Selection Committee released their midseason Top 16 on February 15th. The Hawkeyes were the #5 overall team in their rankings, which slotted them as a two seed in the Portland 4 Region. The rest of the top seeds in that region include, Colorado (1), Virginia Tech (3) and Kansas State (4).

ESPN: 1 Seed – Since the committee release, Charlie Creme has updated his projection and has Iowa as the top seed in the Portland 4 Region. Their opening round matchup would be determined by the winner of 16 seed Sacred Heart and 16 seed High Point. The other game in the Iowa City Regional would be 8 seed Duke against 9 seed Alabama. Other notable teams in the region, include NC State (2), Colorado (3), LSU (4), Notre Dame (5) and Oklahoma (6).

Her Hoop Stats: 2 Seed – In the projection by Megan Gauer, the Hawkeyes are projected as a two seed in the Portland 4 Region. Their opening round matchup is against 15 seed James Madison, while the other game in the Iowa City Regional would be 7 seed Mississippi State versus 10 seed Washington State. Her Hoop Stats followed the committee for the top four seeds. Other notable teams in the region include, Syracuse (5), Creighton (6) and Texas A&M (8).

Autumn Johnson: 2 Seed – Big Ten WBB Analyst Autumn Johnson has the Hawkeyes as a two seed in the Portland 4 Region. Their projected opening round matchup is against 15 seed Albany, while the other game in the Iowa City Regional would be 7 seed Duke versus 10 seed Alabama. Autumn Johnson followed the committee for the top four seeds. Other notable teams in the region include, Utah (5), Creighton (6) and Iowa State (11).

College Sports Madness: 1 Seed – In this projection, the Hawkeyes are the top seed in their region, but the do not have region assignments. Their first round matchup is against Norfolk State, while the other game in the Iowa City Regional would be 8 seed Marquette against 9 seed Princeton. Other notable teams in the region, include Texas (2), LSU (3), UCLA (4), Baylor (5) and Louisville (6).

The remaining schedule for the Hawkeyes…

We have reached the back stretch of the regular season and just four games remain for the Iowa Hawkeyes before the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis. That being said, Lisa Bluder and Co. have chances to bolster their resume, including a pair of NET Top 25 games. Their other two games come against teams right on the edge of the Top 50 range. If Iowa can take care of business against Minnesota/Illinois and at least split their two against Indiana/Ohio State, they will go into the Big Ten Tournament with a decent chance at a one seed.

Here is a look at the rest of the schedule and where each team sits in the NET rankings.

Top 25: @Indiana (17), vs Ohio State (8)

Top 50: vs Illinois (44), @Minnesota (47)

Top 100+: None

Up Next, the Hawkeyes travel to Bloomington for a road contest against the #14 Indiana Hoosiers. Tipoff is set for 7:00pm CT and the game will be streamed on Peacock.