Iowa misses March Madness, excluded from 2024 NCAA Tournament
IOWA CITY — What was expected leading up to Selection Sunday is now official.
Iowa men’s basketball missed the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
It breaks Iowa’s streak of making four consecutive NCAA Tournaments. It is the first time since 2018 that Iowa has been left out of the field (not including 2020 when the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
In his tenure at Iowa, coach Fran McCaffery has led his team to the NCAA Tournament seven times in the 13 years that the event was held. It would’ve likely been eight out of 14 had the 2020 tournament taken place. The Hawkeyes missed the Big Dance in each of McCaffery’s first three seasons at Iowa, but haven’t been on the outside looking in for more than two campaigns a row since then.
Missed opportunities doomed Iowa’s NCAA Tournament chances this season. The Hawkeyes (18-14) had resumebuilding chances against Creighton, Oklahoma, Purdue (twice), Iowa State and Illinois (twice). Iowa went a combined 0-7 in those games.
There were several points this season that Iowa looked like it was headed off the rails.
The Hawkeyes lost three consecutive games in December by a combined 54 points. They opened Big Ten play with a 0-3 record. The Hawkeyes blew secondhalf leads to Maryland (twice), Penn State, Indiana and Illinois — all of which led to losses.
Iowa finally broke through in the latter stages of the season. The Hawkeyes won four of five games leading up to the regular-season finale against Illinois.
At the time, Iowa was still firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Hawkeyes had notable wins this season over Nebraska, Seton Hall, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Northwestern.
But there was still work to be done. A win over the Illini or a deep run in the Big
Ten Tournament would’ve done wonders for Iowa’s NCAA Tournament chances.
Instead, the Hawkeyes slumped at a time when they couldn’t afford to do so.
They were thoroughly beaten by Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, blowing a golden opportunity. Then they fell to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday. In those two high-stakes games, Iowa didn’t hold the lead for even a single second in the 80 combined minutes.
“I’m really proud of this group,” McCaffery said following the loss to Ohio State. “It’s hard to win 18 games with the schedule we had, and you’re right, we had some tough times. We had some tough losses, but we had some great wins. We won some close games. We stayed together. I thought our young guys continued to get better and continued to produce.”
Iowa has several young building blocks for next season and beyond. All four of Iowa’s scholarship freshmen showed flashes of their capabilities this season, led by Big Ten co-Freshman of the Year Owen Freeman. Sophomore Josh Dix made major strides since his freshman season and gave reason to believe he could develop into one of the best guards in the league.
“I’m the type of guy who always looks at the positive side,” Tony Perkins said. “So we had some growth. We had a young team. So I think them going through this year allowed them to grow and see how far you’ve got to get to make it to the NCAA Tournament and how to play and how not to play, if you want to be a winner in this league or you don’t.”
Despite missing the NCAA Tournament, Iowa is likely not done playing basketball this season. The Hawkeyes were expected to make the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The field for that event was to be announced later Sunday night.