Iowa Basketball Bracketology/NET Update: 1/30/26

Do you hear that? The bracketologists are starting to make noise. 

We're just two days from the turn to February, meaning it's officially not too early to discuss the 2026 NCAA tournament anymore. 

For the Iowa men's and women's basketball teams, the calendar flip signals an intense rush to their brains. If you want to qualify for the field of 68 and get a good seed in the process, February is the month to stack quality victories. 

As March inches closer, bracketology experts across the country are beginning to increase their weekly releases from one to sometimes two brackets throughout the week. 

Both Hawkeye basketball squads have played once so far this week, coincidentally against USC. The men won in roller coaster fashion on Wednesday night, but the No. 8 women's team suffered its first Big Ten loss in Los Angeles on Thursday. 

Those results were heavily factored into the latest bracketology forecasts, but before we can get to those, we have to reveal each Iowa squad's NCAA Evaluation Tool - commonly known as the NET ranking. 

According to the official NCAA website, the NET ranking is defined as this: The NET includes more components than just winning percentage. It takes into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.

The NET ranking also determines the quality of wins a team can have to booster its NCAA tournament resume. The NCAA created a quadrant system to break this down. Quadrant 1 wins are considered the best, while a Quadrant 4 loss is considered to be detrimental to a team's tournament resume. 

Using the quadrant system, which was in its fourth season in 2020-21, the quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent's NET ranking.

Using the quadrant system, which was in its fourth season in 2020-21, the quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent's NET ranking.

With all of that being taken into consideration, here's where both Iowa basketball teams rank in the NET: 

Women: No. 18 

Despite the loss to USC, the Hawkeyes remain in a good position to secure a hosting seed for the NCAA tournament (top-4 seed). Sunday's showdown with No. 2 UCLA will be a massive challenge for Iowa, and avoiding a blowout loss will be crucial for the metrics. Either way, the Hawkeyes have one of the best resumes in the conference. 

Men: No. 22 

Iowa has just one Quadrant 1 victory this season (at Indiana), but it's keeping its metrics high by blowing out teams in the non-conference and avoiding bad losses. Pacific Northwest trip to struggling Oregon and Washington wouldn't be horrible losses, but the Hawkeyes need to win both games to remain in a good position before facing a tough end to the regular season. 

Women's Bracketology Update: 

Charlie Creme, ESPN: (No. 3 seed, Sacramento Region 4)

CBS: (No. 3 seed, Fort Worth Region 3)

Matthew Walter, The IX Basketball: No. 2 seed (Fort Worth Region 4)

Men's Bracketology Update: 

Joe Lunardi, ESPN: (No. 8 seed, East Region)

Brad Wachtel, Hoops HQ: (No. 8 seed, West Region) 

Mike DeCourcy, FOX Sports: (No. 8 seed, East Region) 

Erick Smith, Paul Myerberg, Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY: (No. 8 seed, East Region)