Iowa men’s basketball schedule takes shape

Slowly, but surely the Iowa men’s basketball schedule continues to trickle out. Nearly all of the non-conference slate of 11 games has leaked out, along with the dates of those contests. We also know the 20 conference games, but we do not know the dates when they will be played.

Let’s rundown what we know and what we don’t as of early July.

First, let’s start with the conference schedule since we simply don’t know much more than who they will play and where the games will take place. Also, the Big Ten will continue to play a pair of league contests in the first week of December. Generally, most programs will play one home and one road game.

Here’s the breakdown of Iowa’s Big Ten schedule

HOME: Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, Oregon, Purdue, Washington

AWAY: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, Rutgers, UCLA, USC

HOME/AWAY: Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin

One thing that will be interesting is if the Hawkeyes trip to California to face UCLA and USC are done in a single visit. That is to say, one game on Thursday and the other on Sunday. I think we could see the Big Ten look for those opportunities for programs in the natural Big Ten footprint and for USC and UCLA as they travel east for games.

Another note, last year the full schedule was released in the middle of September, so that could continue to be the timeline.

The other portion of the schedule is the non-conference slate of games. Those dates and opponents have been leaking out for a while. This year it will include three one-off neutral site contests, all outside the state of Iowa. Remember last year the Hawkeyes played a neutral site game in Des Moines, as part of a doubleheader with the Iowa women’s team.

Iowa will not play in a traditional off-site MTE (Multiple Team Event), like they did last year in San Diego. Instead they will play in Moline, IL, Kansas City, and South Dakota in single games.

Those three games are as follows:

November 15th (rumored date) – vs. Washington State in Moline, IL

November 22nd – Hall of Fame Showcase – vs. Utah State in Kansas City

December 21st – Sanford Pentagon Game – vs. Utah – in Sioux Falls, SD

Iowa has played in Sioux Falls and Kansas City previously. The Moline game will be the first played there since the season opener of the 1998-99 season against Western Illinois. It will also be a bit of a homecoming game for Brock Harding and Owen Freeman, who played their high school basketball at Moline.

As far as NCAA NET rankings, Washington State finished 44th, Utah was 48th, and Utah State was 38th.

Here’s the rest of the non-conference schedule (all games played at Carver-Hawkeye Arena):

NOV. 4th – Southern

NOV. 7th – Texas A&M Commerce – 333rd in the NCAA NET

NOV. 13th – South Dakota – 322nd in the NCAA NET

NOV. 19th – Rider – 220th in the NCAA NET

NOV. 26th – South Carolina Upstate – 303rd in the NCAA NET

DEC. 12th – Iowa State – 6th in the NCAA NET

DEC. 15th – New Orleans – 340th in the NCAA NET

DEC. 30th – New Hampshire – 230th in the NCAA NET

The first three games of the season will be part of an Iowa MTE event. The bulk of this non-conference schedule follows with the thinking of most schools in power conferences. The way that the NET scores victories, you are not punished by playing lower rated NET programs, unless you lose to them. But, if you win by a large margin, which is expected, then it’s a net positive.

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