Big Ten Mid-Season Reports: Iowa Hawkeyes

It is not midway through the season yet, but it is almost conference play time for the Big Ten.  The college basketball regular season is really split in to three parts; non-conference schedule and conference play.  With one part almost done, I am going to take a look back at what has happened for each team and what will happen in the next half.  Next up are the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa has been pretty impressive over the first part of their schedule.  They have a record of 11-2 heading in to conference play. To be fair, Iowa has had a very easy schedule,  playing just two BCS conference teams.  They lost one of those, to Virginia Tech, but later beat in-state rival Iowa State.  Their other impressive win came against another in-state school, Northern Iowa.   Iowa has been pretty successful against lower level competition, while having decent results against better programs.

They have been led by junior Roy Devyn Marble.  Marble has averaged over 15 ppg, with over 25 points in two of their last three games.  He is heating up as the season progresses, and should be a big factor for the Hawkeyes when conference play begins.

The freshman presence has also been very big for Iowa.  Top 100 freshmen Adam Woodbury and Mike Gesell have both been productive.  Gesell, a guard, has averaged 9 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game.  Meanwhile, the seven footer, Woodbury, has shown much promise, averaging 7 points and 5 rebounds.  Watch for their roles to grow as the season progresses.

It is not easy to project how this Iowa team will do in conference play.  They have not played against enough high quality competition to know how they will do in eighteen consecutive tough games.  There won’t be any more freebies for Iowa, as the slate just gets tougher.  I do think they have enough to be competitive in Big Ten play, and see them as a team that could be on the bubble come March.