The 2026-27 Iowa men's basketball season may just be the program's most-anticipated campaign in the 21st century. 

First-year head coach Ben McCollum arrived in Iowa City with a lot of hype, and it's safe to say he lived up to it. Not only did the Hawkeyes earn their first NCAA tournament berth in three years, they made a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight as a No. 9 seed - marking Iowa's first trip there in almost 40 years. 

With a deep tournament run comes higher expectations, and McCollum and Co. will be looking to deliver a stronger product in 2027. Carver-Hawkeye Arena's season tickets sales reported a 97% renewal rate, so it appears Hawkeye fans are ready to pack CHA this season. 

Speaking of the new season, it begins in just 26 days from now when Iowa hosts Lipscomb on Nov. 3. A major sign that the new campaign is fast approaching came on Thursday afternoon, when McCollum, forward Cooper Koch, and guard Kael Combs traveled to Rosemont, Illinois for Big Ten Media Days. 

After he was done talking to the media members assembled in the convention center, McCollum then moved over to the Big Ten Network desk to preview his 2026-27 Hawkeyes. 

Here are the top notes from his five-minute interview: 

McCollum probably knew the first question from BTN host Dave Revsine would be about the Elite Eight run, and sure enough, that's what happened. Revsine asked McCollum the first thing the coach thinks of when he reflects on the improbable run, and McCollum's answer didn't even involve what happened in the actual basketball games themselves. 

While the high-level play against Clemson, top-seeded Florida, and rival Nebraska in the Sweet 16 is what allowed Iowa to end decades of NCAA tournament futility, McCollum says the joy the run brought to Hawkeye fans and the state of Iowa is what will always stand out to him. Generations of Iowa fans had never seen their team play in the second weekend before last year, and seeing the happy reactions from Iowans still makes McCollum smile. 

"That was our whole thing was to to give them something that they could enjoy and be proud of in the state of Iowa, and I thought we did that during that run," McCollum said. "We did it with great kids, we did it with tough kids, and and they battled. It was a fun run." 

Though Iowa's season ended with a remarkable achievement, things weren't looking too good by the end of the regular season. The Hawkeyes entered postseason play losing six of their final eight games, and the difficult conference stretch made McCollum realize just how competitive the Big Ten is. No 20-point lead was ever safe because every team had the firepower to make a quick run. 

"It was just really the players and the venues. The venues and the crowds and stuff like that does influence your players more than you would expect," McCollum said. 

When it came down to the actual basketball conversation, the most obvious discussion point for Big Ten Network was to talk about how Iowa is preparing to move on from Bennett Stirtz. Stirtz was one of the nation's top point guards last season and the engine of the Hawkeyes' Elite Eight run, but he's now graduated and playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

McCollum said Iowa's improved size (more on that next) is going to help take the load off whoever is in charge of running the offense, but that's the dilemma the Hawkeyes are dealing with right now - they simply don't know who the next point guard is going to be. 

Things can change between now and the opening of the regular season, but McCollum told the crew Iowa would likely operate with a by-committee approach at point guard. That means Combs, Illinois State transfer Ty'Reek Coleman, or even Tate Sage and Isaia Howard could bring the ball up the floor. 

"I do think we'll play more players. I think you have to be careful with that, though, that you don't just play guys because you have them. You need to just play harder," McCollum said. 

The most fascinating addition to this Hawkeye team was probably Saint Mary's center Andrew McKeever. McCollum knew he needed some size after ranking in the bottom half of the Big Ten in rebounding last season, and it's safe to say he has it with McKeever. 

Standing at 7-foot-3 and weighing 300 pounds, McKeever is the tallest player in Iowa men's basketball history. While most athletes earn generous measurements, McCollum told BTN that McKeever is "all of 7-foot-3 without shoes." His natural size could be a major positive for this Hawkeye team, but what makes McCollum impressed with McKeever is his background. 

McKeever didn't come out of nowhere - he came from one of the nation's best mid-major programs in Saint Mary's. Longtime head coach Randy Bennett's departure for Arizona State paved the way for McKeever to transfer to Iowa, but McKeever's experience playing at a high level for a consistent NCAA tournament team has paid dividends so far.

"He's been coached, so he learns a lot quicker than your normal transfers, which has been helpful," McCollum said. "But inside, what he does is he creates a lot of gravity when he dives down the lane.

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]