As of Monday morning, seven schools – including fellow Big Ten school Indiana – have declined to play in the NIT. This trend has sparked plenty of frustration from those in the college basketball world, including former Hoosier head coach Tom Cream, who’s coached four NIT teams during his career.
Tom Cream is not a fan of teams declining an invitation to the NIT 😳
Thoughts?
(via @espn)
pic.twitter.com/pXBHmEc5c9— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 18, 2024
But amid all the controversy on NIT teams declining to participate, whether the Iowa men’s basketball team was going to accept the NIT was never even a question for them.
“I would never consider it,” head coach Fran McCaffery said on declining the NIT. “We want to keep playing. We’re going to keep coaching, the players want to keep playing, and that’s what we’re supposed to be doing now.”
“People who don’t want to play, that’s on them. Ask them why they don’t want to play,” he added.
After what seemed like a lost hope at an NCAA Tournament berth, the Hawkeyes’ hot play towards the end of the regular season had them on the fence of the Big Dance entering the Big Ten Tournament. But those chances quickly came to an end with the 90-78 loss to Ohio State in the second round on March 14.
On Sunday night, the committee revealed the 68 teams selected for the NCAA Tournament and left Iowa off the ballot. However, the Hawkeyes were appointed as the third seed for the NIT shortly after, squaring off against fourth-seeded Kansas State. With the Hawkeyes being on the bubble for the last couple of weeks of the season, some Iowa fans felt they deserved to be in a higher seeding.
“It’s not an exact science,” McCaffery said on the team’s seeding. “We’re happy to be playing. I think it’s a senseless debate …Both tournaments are already set. And, you know, it’s Monday, and debating seeding is futile.”
Scouting Kansas State
The Wildcats finished the season 19-14 overall and 8-10 in Big 12 play. They started the season going 14-4 in the first 18 games but struggled once they got deeper in conference play, going 5-10 in their last 15 games.
However, they did grab some notable wins throughout the season with a 68-64 overtime win over then-No. 9 Baylor on Jan. 16, a 75-70 overtime win over then-No. 4 Kansas on Feb. 5, and a 65-58 win over then-No. 6 Iowa State on March 9.
“[They’re] a very impressive team on film,” McCaffery said of Kansas State. “Well-coached team, a lot of really good players. They play hard, they play defense, obviously, battle-tested in that conference …We’re excited about the opportunity to play them.”
Kansas State finished within the top-100 nationally with a 30.7 opponent three-point percentage (29th); 40.8 opponent field goal percentage (31st); 37.2 rebounds per game (82nd); defensive rebounds (91st); and is right outside the top-100 giving up 70.5 points per game. But the offensive side of the ball wasn’t its strong suit as they averaged just 71.9 points per game on 43.5/32/72.5 shooting splits.
The Wildcats have three double-figure scorers in guard Tylor Perry (15.5), forward Arthur Kaluma (14.7), and Cam Carter (14.6) – combining for 62 percent of the team’s points on a mean field goal percentage of 39.5. The next closest scorer is forward Will McNair Jr. with 7.8 points per game on 61.9 percent field goal percentage.
“Those teams are hard to guard,” McCaffery said of Kansas State’s versatility. “Obviously [it] starts with the big three, but it’s not just those three guys. They can go small, they can play big, their big guys can score … It’s not like you can just lock into one guy or two guys and say ‘Okay, we stopped them, we win the game.’ They’ve got a number of different ways that they have won this year.”
Iowa will get a chance to grab the postseason victory in front of Hawkeye fans as it’s set to host Kansas State at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“I just have a great respect for the tournament,” McCaffery said of the matchup. “Every team that you play [in the NIT] is really good…We just look forward to playing [Tuesday] night,”