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College Hoops Play for Sunday - January 5th
I was on the wrong side of the coin flips on Saturday, but we'll get right back at it with a staunch conference matchup in Madison, Wisconsin. This will most certainly be a battle of contrasting styles with the high-powered and high-tempo Iowa Hawkeyes visit the defensive minded Wisconsin Badgers at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin boasts one of the best offensive and defensive efficiency ratings in the country and can certainly justify their 14-0 record to start this campaign. As you'd expect from a top tier team, they've played and defeated some good competition this season and the road doesn't get any easier with Fran McCaffery coming to town. The Badgers have gotten by Florida, St Louis, West Virginia, Virginia and Marquette as quality victories heading into Big Ten play. Wisconsin boasts two very effective scorers in Frank Kaminsky and Josh Gasser and I'm sure they'll get their looks against this Iowa defense. There really isn't much negative to say here against the Badgers, as they're ratings are above-average across the board.
Lingering in the Big Ten and going unnoticed are the Iowa Hawkeyes. In such a hoops crazy conference, it's easy to slip the minds of everyone focused on Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota. But make no mistake about it, the Hawkeyes have put together a quality team and have earned their 12-2 record thus far. Quality victories over Xavier (#30), Notre Dame (#52 and climbing), and Nebraska-Omaha (one of the most underrated teams in all of basketball). Two losses by a combined 8 points to Iowa State and Villanova, both away from Carver Arena. Iowa has proved they can hang with the big boys and they should be on the radar heading towards March. Iowa loves to run, ranked in the Top 25 in Possessions per Game while also getting the most out of them. They rebound well on both ends of the floor (led by one of the best rebounders in country, Melsahn Basabe), don't turn the ball over and have a healthy distribution of points - able to hit shots from the outside. Iowa also boasts two scorers that can work off each other against the stout Wisconsin defense, Aaron White and Jarrod Uthoff. White has the ability to take over games, and if Wisconsin isn't careful, this just might happen on Sunday.
There is no question that Wisconsin is good. That's no surprise. What I think is that Iowa will go into Madison and turn some heads. This isn't the same ole Iowa from years past. This is a well oiled machine that does everything very well to great. Surprised by the number, as I had this opener Wisconsin -4 and figured it would climb slightly. I'm taking the road doggie tomorrow night
Iowa Hawkeyes +7
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Originally Posted by jjgold
