Will the Iowa women make the NCAA Tournament?

No

The Hawkeyes have a team that is built for the future. Unfortunately, the NCAA Tournament will not be a part of it this season.

Their talent isn’t the problem. What is hindering them from getting a shot at the tournament is that they haven’t beaten anyone in the upper echelon in the conference or the country. Iowa has lost to ranked UCLA, Notre Dame, and Maryland.

Losing to Illinois, currently 8-12 overall, didn’t help Iowa’s chances, either.

In order for the Hawkeyes to have any chance to reach the tournament, they will have to win out. That is a daunting task, because they will have to go through No. 3 Maryland, No. 15 Ohio State, and Northwestern and Michigan, both of which have received votes in the AP Poll.

While the Hawkeyes have benefited from the emergence of freshman Kathleen Doyle and strong performances from sophomores Tania Davis and Megan Gustafson, they have suffered from senior Ally Disterhoft’s struggles from the field.

Disterhoft has made only eight of her last 36 3-point attempts while averaging 15.9 points a game (1.1 points lower than her career average).

While she has denied that she is injured, Disterhoft has been seen on a bike when she is substituted out of the game. This could contribute to her struggles, but she is a valuable piece nonetheless.

The Hawkeyes will need her to provide some valuable minutes if she wants a shot at an NCAA Tournament championship in her last year at Iowa.

— James Kay

Yes

We’re a little more than a month away from the Big Dance in March; no, not the Beta Theta Pi spring formal dance, the NCAA women’s basketball tourney.

The Iowa women’s basketball team sits at 13-7 overall, 4-3 in the conference, with roughly a third of its season left.  In other words, the Hawkeyes are on the treacherous bubble unsure whether they’ll get their ticket to the dance.  Good thing for Iowa, though, its invitation solely is based on its performance for the remainder of the season.

Coming off of a two-game winning streak, the Hawkeyes are playing their best basketball at the right time, giving this young squad possibly enough confidence to finish off the rest of the season in maximum overdrive.

Nine games left are all that remain in the regular season, five at home and four on the road.  Iowa has been almost unbeatable at home this year, losing to only three teams, and two of them being powerhouses Maryland and Notre Dame.

If the Hawkeyes can finish the season undefeated in Carver and pick up a couple of victories on the road, along with a win or two in the Big Ten Tournament, they can expect a big golden ticket arriving at their doorstep with an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.

With all their youth and lack of experience, this is Disterhoft’s last year in a Hawkeye uniform, so you can expect her to give everything in the quest for the NCAA Tournament and, as a result, guide the Hawkeyes to the Big Dance.

— Michael McCurdy