See where various national experts list both Hawkeye squads as the calendar flips to March.
We've almost made it, folks.
The calendar officially flips to March on Sunday, and there's two things that happen - players, coaches, and journalists get little sleep, and the frenzy surrounding college basketball amplifies.
Bracket projections will now be posted nearly every day, and each game is a life-or-death scenario for teams - with the ultimate goal to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
As of Feb. 27, the Iowa men's and women's basketball teams are in a comfortable position to earn a spot in the Field of 68. The women likely secured a hosting seed with a dominant 62-44 win over then-No. 6 Michigan on Sunday, while the men clinched their first 20-win campaign in four years with a 74-57 win over a desperate Ohio State team on Wednesday.
It's safe to say that both teams are on the upswing, but before we find out the latest bracket projection, we have to take a look at each squad's NCAA Evaluation Tool, or 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.
- Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
- Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
- Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
- Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
The number of Quadrant 1 wins and Quadrant 3/4 losses will be incredibly important when it comes time for NCAA tournament selection and seeding.
With all of that being taken into consideration, here's where both Iowa basketball teams rank in the NET:
Women: No. 10
Iowa still has one more regular season game remaining (at Wisconsin on March 1), but its likely done more than enough to host the first weekend of the NCAA tournament in the friendly confines of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes own seven Quad 1 victories and don't have a bad loss on the resume.
Start making plans for two more home games, Iowa fans.
Men: No. 26
Iowa has been carried by its strong predictive metrics for most of the season, but the Hawkeyes do boast three Quad 1 wins. Iowa will have two more Quad 1 opportunities before the postseason (vs. Michigan, at Nebraska). Beating Penn State on Saturday is obviously step one for Ben McCollum and Co., but winning one of those ranked matchups could help the Hawkeyes avoid the dreaded No. 8 or No. 9 NCAA seed.
Women's Bracketology:
Charlie Creme, ESPN: No. 2 seed
Bracket released on Feb. 27 Mitchell Northam, USA TODAY: No. 2 seed
Bracket updated on Feb. 26 Connor Groel, CBS Sports: No. 2 seed
Bracket released on Feb. 24 Men's Bracketology:
Joe Lunardi, ESPN: No. 8 seed (East Region)
Bracket released on Feb. 27 CBS Sports: No. 7 seed (Midwest Region)
Bracket released on Feb. 27James Fletcher III, On3: No. 6 seed (South Region)
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