Iowa Men's Basketball: Grading Ben McCollum's First Season

March 15 marked a long-awaited day for the Iowa men's basketball program. 

After an up-and-down 21-12 campaign, the Hawkeyes officially heard their name called to the NCAA tournament field for the first time in three years. 

Whatever happened in the Big Dance was gravy for Iowa fans. Getting back to the NCAA tournament was the goal they had set for Ben McCollum's first season, but nothing could've prepared them for what happened next. 

The Hawkeyes didn't just make the NCAA tournament - they became a national media sensation. 

Iowa, which hadn't reached the second weekend since 1999, responded with a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight - its first trip in nearly four decades (1987). 

Many players stepped up in the run, but McCollum's coaching performance throughout the tournament was one few coaches can mimic. Enthusiasm for Iowa men's basketball is now at a place it hasn't been in a long time, and McCollum is the primary reason for it. 

Here's his 2025-26 season grade: 

Iowa's roster had plenty of question marks before the season began, and many of those concerns came to light as the season progressed. 

The Hawkeyes' lack of size - especially in the frontcourt - resulted in them grabbing only 29.3 rebounds per game (just ahead of Penn State), and the lack of a major scoring threat outside of Bennett Stirtz caused some problems, too. 

But despite these deficiencies, Iowa managed to scrap and claw its way to 21 victories. A roster with as much high-major inexperience as the Hawkeyes had shouldn't do that, but that's where McCollum's meticulous coaching style comes in. 

While Iowa was outmatched against most of its Big Ten opponents on paper, it had what other teams didn't have - heart and effort. It's very hard to coach effort, but McCollum's intense style easily translated to his players on the court.

Diving for loose balls, taking charges, and deflecting passes were things that were few and far between in Iowa basketball games for years, but all it took was a coaching change for that to return to Iowa City. 

The defensive-focused game plan resulted in Iowa operating at a much slower offensive pace than fans were accustomed too, but the strategy was brilliant for the 2026 Hawkeyes because it played to their roster's strengths. Iowa wasn't built to outscore opponents, but when it sucked the life out of the shot clock on every possession, it was very difficult to beat. 

Iowa's season was already marked a success, but McCollum and Co. completely blew their expectations out of the water with the Elite Eight run, which saw the Hawkeyes upset top-seeded Florida and rival Nebraska in the process. 

The Athletic published an article on the morning of Iowa's Elite Eight showdown against Illinois profiling McCollum's intense game-planning. The article is a must-read for Hawkeye fans, and it confirms what many of us in the media witnessed throughout the season: 

McCollum will do whatever what takes to win basketball games for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and that dedication is why the Hawkeye program was so successful in 2026. 

Iowa rewarded McCollum's incredible maiden campaign with a six-year contract extension that will pay him over $4 million per season and likely include an increased NIL budget. 

Expectations will be higher in 2027 and beyond, but McCollum's first season was a sensational success. 

The future of Iowa men's basketball is very, very bright. 

Grade: A+ 

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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]