Iowa Men’s Basketball – 2023-24 Schedule Revealed

The 2023-24 season is shaping up to be a great one for Iowa men’s basketball. The Big Ten released the conference’s 20-game schedule Tuesday and the Hawkeyes will play seven teams twice, including home and away games against Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. The team will also host Nebraska, Ohio State and Rutgers in Iowa City and travel to Indiana, Michigan and Northwestern.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery is hoping to take this talented group all the way to the Final Four. The team is coming off a strong non-conference run that included wins over in-state rivals Iowa State and UNI and a thrilling win in the 2K Sports Classic against #13 Oregon (77-64) and #20 Connecticut (73-68).

Despite losing star point guard Tyler Cook to graduation, the team has a lot of talent to build upon for next year’s tournament. The Hawkeyes are bringing back their top five scorers from last season and have added depth with the addition of former Valparaiso big Ben Krikke.

With a talented frontcourt led by seniors Tyler Cook and Jordan Bohannon, this is a team that should make some noise in the Big Ten Tournament. The team’s biggest test will be in the first round against a tough Temple squad.

While many fans will be focused on the team’s recent struggles, a look at their overall record over the years shows that this has been a program that is used to competing and winning in the big dance. Since the program’s inception, the men’s program has made 36 NCAA Tournament appearances and 13 Sweet 16 trips.

The most recent trip to the tournament came in 2018-19 when the Hawkeyes earned a No. 7 seed in the East region and won a pair of thrilling contests, including a buzzer-beating win over No. 10 Creighton (69-56) and a victory over No. 2 Kentucky (92-79) in the Sweet 16.

It was Iowa’s second trip to the Elite Eight under the leadership of Tom Davis, who inherited a struggling program from predecessor Fran McCaffery and guided it to the most successful run in the school’s history. The team ranked in the top 15 for much of the year, and it won its first two rounds with victories over No. 12 seed UAB and No. 4 seed Arkansas before losing to No. 1 seed Villanova in the Final Four.

Iowa’s run in the tournament is one of the best under any head coach, but that’s not saying McCaffery’s program isn’t up to the task. The Hawkeyes have a top-notch staff, a deep talent pool and a long list of accomplishments to back them up, and it’s a team that should be in the mix for an NCAA Tournament berth come April.

The Iowa women’s team will be a favorite to advance as far as possible in the tournament as well. The team finished the regular season with an impressive 25-6 record and has already punched its ticket to the Final Four thanks to its 97-83 win over Louisville in the Sweet 16. The team has one more open scholarship and has reached out to North Dakota State big man Grant Nelson for potential transfer consideration.