March Madness is alive and well in the state of Iowa, it's not the Big Dance, but it's a little dance, and at least they got asked. And if they're lucky, they'll go all the way!
Tonight the Hawkeyes have to travel to Charlottesville, Virginia, to take on Virginia (23-11.) Iowa is currently 23-12 and have looked solid in the last part of the season, especially Devyn Marble, who has been tearing it up after a mid-season slump. The Hawkeyes have won six of their last eight, the only two losses were to Indiana and Michigan State, who will both be competing in the sweet 16 later this week.
The winner tonight will head to New York for the NIT Final Four. Ritchie McKay, an assistant coach at Virginia, was formerly the head coach at New Mexico. I ran into him one evening at Chili's and talked to him briefly, couldn't have been a nicer guy. Unfortunately, he wasn't a very successful head coach and had to move on.
Tonight's match up will be a tough one for Iowa, they lost earlier this year at Virginia Tech, and the road hasn't been that kind to them. Virginia, however, has been great at home suffering only one loss on November 13th to Delaware. Since then they knocked off North Carolina, NC State, and Duke. Hopefully the Hawkeyes can stop the 19-game home winning streak. To do so they'll have to shut down Akil Mitchell a 6-8 Jr forward and 6-6 G Joe Harris. Mitchell has scored 26 points and pulled down 20 boards in their two previous NIT wins. If Marble and Aaron White both get hot the Hawkeyes could be headed to New York. Should be a fun game.
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