It’s very, very early, but the march to the NCAA Tournament is already underway for teams across the country. Right near the top of every team’s list of goals is to be dancing in March Madness, and for the Iowa Hawkeyes, it has become an expectation this year.
With a revamped roster and a new head coach in Ben McCollum, Carver-Hawkeye Arena has been buzzing during the Hawkeyes’ 3-0 start to the season. While it is early, looking ahead at March Madness is already happening, and Iowa is seeing itself in the mix.
In ESPN’s very early-season bracketology from Joe Lunardi, the Iowa Hawkeyes are in the field, but do not carry a ton of room for error. The Iowa Hawkeyes currently hold one of the last four byes and are projected as a No. 10 seed.
The Hawkeyes’ first-round game is projected to be against the No. 7 Auburn Tigers in Buffalo, New York, as part of the East Region. If this extremely early projection did come to fruition, the Hawkeyes could be staring down a Big Ten matchup in the second round as the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines are matched up against No. 15 Youngstown State in the same quadrant.
In these projections, the Big Ten and SEC lead the way, each with 11 teams in the NCAA Tournament field. The Purdue Boilermakers lead the way for the Big Ten as its lone No. 1 seed in these projections.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa men’s basketball dancing in very early-season ESPN NCAA Tournament Bracketology
Reporting by Riley Donald, Hawkeyes Wire / Hawkeyes Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
