 |  |
In anticipation of the Sweet Sixteen beginning tomorrow night, I thought I would share some connections between the programs competing against each other, and some memories of my favorite Regional Semifinal contests involving each school. This exercise is kind of moot given the NCAA Tournament histories of Thursday night's second game, Iowa versus Nebraska. The Hawkeyes haven't been to a Sweet Sixteen since before Y2K while Nebraska had never won a NCAA Tournament game prior to a week ago. Clearly, this is a Sweet Sixteen matchup few expected, though I will try to write something coherent here. Make the jump to read some connections, memories, and a final prediction for the Hawkeyes versus the Cornhuskers.
Game #50: (4) Nebraska vs. (9) Iowa, 6:30 p.m. (CT) on TBS
How Each Team Got to the Sweet Sixteen
#9 Iowa controlled its first-round victory against #8 Clemson before shocking #1 Florida in the second round. After shooting the lights out against #13 Troy in its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, the #4 Cornhuskers outlasted #5 Vanderbilt in a classic second round game.
| | |
| | |
Iowa's Ideal Path to the Final Four
- Beat Nebraska for the second time in three tries (aka, the rubber match).
- Avoid Houston in the Elite Eight.
- Get revenge for a home loss to Illinois earlier in the season.
Nebraska's Ideal Path to the Final Four
- Win this rubber match against Iowa.
- Avoid Houston in the Elite Eight.
- Win a rubber match against Illinois (both teams split against each other this season).
NCAA Tournament History and Memories of Iowa versus Nebraska
Obviously Nebraska and Iowa have never tipped off before in the NCAA Tournament, though both schools are quite familiar with each other as members of the Big Ten conference. Iowa fans are especially familiar with Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg, who starred and coached at rival Iowa State. Iowa and Nebraska played twice this season, with the Hawkeyes winning the first game on February 17th, at home against the then #9 Cornhuskers, 57-52. Nebraska got revenge in the Big Ten regular season finale on March 8th, beating Iowa 84-75 in overtime at home. This game was on Fox after Illinois had just defeated Maryland on the road. While I had the game on in the background with the sound muted, I remember Nebraska having a comfortable lead before Iowa stormed back late to force the extra five minutes. Here are the highlights and box scores for both games.
| | |
Some things that stand out from the box score of the first game are that Nebraska only hit 5 threes, shooting 20.8% from deep (5/24), Iowa had a 33-22 advantage on the boards, including 11 offensive boards to just 2 for Nebraska, and the Hawkeyes had a 13 to 3 advantage in points off turnovers, even though turnovers were basically even (12 for Nebraska, 11 for Iowa).
Some things that stand out from the second game is that both teams picked up its three point shooting, with Nebraska making 10/27 (37%) and Iowa hitting 11/30 (36.7%), Iowa had 19 turnovers compared to 12 for the Cornhuskers, and Iowa had the rebounding advantage of 31-28, which was much better than the first game for the Cornhuskers. Apparently, Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz struggled this second game, with just 11 points in 45 minutes after scoring 22 points the first time around against the Cornhuskers.
Did you know this is Iowa's first Sweet Sixteen since 1999!
In what was Dr. Tom Davis' final season as head coach, Iowa was a #5 seed in the 1999 NCAA Tournament, matched up against #12 UAB in the first round. I was a junior in high school at the time, sitting in my afternoon math class on a Thursday afternoon. As the teacher had given us the last 20 minutes or so to work on some problems, I asked her if I could turn on the classroom television so we could watch the tourney games. She agreed, as long as I could figure out how to get the television to switch over to actual network channels. After fidgeting around with some buttons on the overhead television, I was able to get the games on, with Iowa-UAB playing at the time. Though the television screen was in black-and-white, that was good enough for my classmates and me! After Iowa's first-round victory (see around 24:43 of the first video), the Hawkeyes would upset #4 Arkansas in the second round before facing eventual national champion UCONN in the Sweet Sixteen. That game took place in Phoenix, Arizona, right after Gonzaga had shocked Florida on a last-second, tip-in bucket by Casey Calvary. I remember coming down from that game as I started watching the first half of Iowa and UCONN on a Thursday night, shocked the Hawkeyes were given the Huskies a contest. Iowa would eventually succumb to Rip Hamilton, Khalid El-Amin and the rest of the Huskies during the second half. Ironically, that 1998-99 Iowa team featured forward J.R. Koch, whose son Cooper is on this year's Iowa roster. Both Dad and Son were/are key contributors to their Sweet Sixteen squads.
| | |
| | |
Prior to 1999, Iowa last appeared in the Sweet Sixteen in 1987 and 1988!
Big ten fans should be familiar with the names Kevin Gamble, Roy Marble, Roy Hinson and B.J. Armstrong, Iowa stars who helped the Hawkeyes achieve great success in the late eighties. During the 1987 NCAA Tournament, #2 Iowa defeated #6 Oklahoma in overtime of the Sweet Sixteen before losing to #1 UNLV in the Elite Eight. During the 1988 NCAA Tournament, #5 Iowa lost to #1 Arizona by twenty points in a Sweet Sixteen game that I have seen aired on television in the past.
| | | |
Prior to this year, Nebraska was 0-8 in the NCAA Tournament!
Nebraska did reach the NCAA Tournament two years ago for the first time under Hoiberg but lost by 15 points to Texas A & M. Prior to that, Nebraska hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2014, when it lost as a #11 seed to #6 Baylor. Prior to a first-round loss to #6 Arkansas during the 1998 NCAA Tournament, Nebraska made the tournament four straight years from 1991 to 1994, with its highest-ever seed occurring in 1991. That tournament the #3 Cornhuskers were upset by #14 Xavier in the first round. Nebraska's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance occurred in 1986, when the #9 Cornhuskers were defeated by #8 Western Kentucky.
| | | |
While Nebraska doesn't have much tournament pedigree, this Cornhuskers' team is no surprise. Nebraska started the season 20-0 before losing to Michigan by only three in Ann Arbor at the end of January. A buzzer-beating victory at Illinois in December proved this Nebraska team was legitimate.
| | |
Did you know both teams like to feast on kale?
Not really, though both teams have a player with that name. Kael Combs is an important starter for Iowa while Cale Jacobsen is a shooting piece off the bench for Nebraska.
Prediction: Iowa defeats Nebraska in a game decided by no more than 4 points
While Nebraska has been the more heralded team all season, I am going with the strategic brilliance of Iowa Head Coach Ben McCollum and his coach on the floor, Bennett Stirtz. Watch the three-point shooting in this game. If Iowa has one more three-point make than Nebraska (as was the case in both games between the schools this year), the Cornhuskers will be in trouble. Iowa has the most impressive win of the tournament so far, knocking off Florida, so I am riding with Iowa to continue its improbable run, at least for one more game. This game will be excruciatingly close as familiarity breeds a stomach-churner for Iowa and Nebraska fans in the Sweet Sixteen.
RSS Feed