Iowa
Dochterman: Bubble stress aside, is this Fran McCaffery's best coaching job?
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Carver-Hawkeye Arena looked like a bespeckled piece of candy corn on Sunday night, as it always does when the Illinois men’s basketball team crosses the Mississippi River and heads west on I-80.
For the No. 12 Illini, whose fans made up around a third of the total crowd, improving their NCAA Tournament seeding was the only external motivation. For Iowa, its postseason fate was at stake. The Hawkeyes entered the game straddling the bubble. A sold-out Senior Night home crowd gave the Hawkeyes an even shot against their more talented rival. Instead, orange-clad visiting fans mocked the Hawkeyes with chants of “N-I-T” at the end of Illinois’ 73-61 victory.
At 18-13 overall, Iowa’s postseason future depends on how it performs as the seventh seed at the Big Ten tournament. Two victories in Minneapolis this week, and the Hawkeyes should earn their eighth NCAA bid under coach Fran McCaffery. A loss on Thursday to No. 10 seed Ohio State, and Iowa should prep Carver-Hawkeye Arena for an NIT game. A win against the Buckeyes followed by a third loss to Illinois in 21 days leaves the Hawkeyes’ postseason hopes up to the selection committee.
“I think we have work to do,” McCaffery said. “We’ve got some really good wins in a very difficult league with good wins out of conference. It’s not something you kind of want to leave to chance. You want to do some more damage this week if we can.”
One game doesn’t tell the story of an entire season, and when this campaign concludes in the next few weeks, I hope fans provide some perspective before chopping it to bits. These Hawkeyes don’t deserve the snarl their predecessors may have. This team doesn’t have the national player of the year like it did three years ago with Luka Garza. It doesn’t have a player capable of scoring a Big Ten tournament record number of points like Keegan Murray. There isn’t a first-rounder like Kris Murray or perhaps even a first-team All-Big Ten performer.
Iowa’s recent seasons have ended in disappointment and extended a streak of 25 consecutive years without a Sweet 16 appearance, and that status is the only measurement for many fans. But this team deserves more praise than derision, no matter whether it misses the NCAA or somehow shocks its skeptical fan base by advancing to the second weekend. I know it’s fashionable to want McCaffery out, but the truth is, this is his best coaching job.
Iowa looked like a cellar dweller back in December after it lost by 19 at Purdue, by 25 at Iowa State and then by 10 at home to Michigan. The Hawkeyes rallied from an 0-3 start to Big Ten play with three straight league victories. A midseason stretch of inconsistency, highlighted by a pair of losses to Maryland and road defeats to Penn State and Indiana, appeared to put them in the postseason boneyard, especially with a daunting schedule to finish. Of the Hawkeyes’ final six games, five were against likely NCAA Tournament squads.
Instead of wilting, Iowa won four of six, and both losses were to Illinois. That stretch included wins at Michigan State and Northwestern, along with an overtime victory against Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes finished at least .500 in Big Ten play for the 11th time in 12 years. Only Tom Izzo’s Spartans have equaled that accomplishment.
Over the McCaffery era, several teams have been mentally drained at this stage of the season, including a few of his best squads. This isn’t one of them. This group has fought for every inch of turf it has acquired this season. It lacks experience and the NBA-ready talent McCaffery has cultivated over the last handful of seasons. It didn’t begin the year with a dominant scorer like Garza, nor did it have a fiery leader like Connor McCaffery. Every step this group has taken has been organic. That comes down to resiliency, development and — dare I say — coaching.
“A ton of teams that go through that, they kind of fizzle out, you never hear from them again, and they don’t storm back the way we did,” said Iowa junior Payton Sandfort, who scored 23 points Sunday against Illinois. “When you have guys that want to be here and want to play as hard as they can and put their body on the line and do it for each other, I think that’s where you kind of see teams climb back out of that hole.
“I’m proud of our guys. We never separated, we always stayed together and always did it for each other.”
The Hawkeyes face one last test of their resolve after a flat performance against Illinois. Iowa had eight days off and promptly missed its first 10 shots and 13 of its first 14. It trailed 22-4 barely eight minutes into the game and by 21 points with 9:30 left in the first half.
But as they’ve done all year, the Hawkeyes rallied. Iowa trimmed its deficit to 10 at halftime and to four points by the mid-second half. But there were too many cold spells and not enough rebounds to stay with the athletically gifted basketball team standing in Iowa’s path. Collecting only three offensive boards on 42 missed shots points to the one area where the Hawkeyes’ effort waned. They took good shots early; they just missed them.
“You lose a game we all wanted to win,” McCaffery said. “The kids fought, the kids prepared, it didn’t go well today. So you don’t want to start throwing everybody under the bus and blaming.
“I thought we competed. It wasn’t our day. We have another opportunity this week.”
To reach the NCAA Tournament, it’s not as easy for Iowa as beating a lower-seeded team. The Buckeyes have been surging since coach Chris Holtmann was fired, winning six of their last eight games, including the last four. After Purdue and Illinois, there’s not much separating the Big Ten’s top 11 teams.
Whether the Hawkeyes earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament or get another game at home in the NIT, one shouldn’t base this season’s success on a pass-fail scale. This isn’t the same as getting bounced in the second round as a No. 2 seed, like Iowa did in 2021, or winning the Big Ten tournament only to fall in a classic 5-12 upset like in 2022. Those defeats deserved a cynical response. This season, no matter how it concludes, does not.
Programs like Iowa are bound to have trying seasons after losing elite players. To suggest otherwise reveals a lack of understanding about college basketball’s structure. Either way, based on how the team has competed after previous bouts of adversity, expect a strong response this week.
“I would say we’ve had our backs against the wall pretty much since early December,” Sandfort said. “We’ve never quit, we’ve never given up and that’s why we’re in the position we are in with a week left. I don’t see why we would change that now.”
(Photo: Julia Hansen / Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA Today)
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa City police are asking the public’s help identifying persons of interest connected to a vandalism investigation.
Police said a business was vandalized in the alley behind the 200 block of East Washington Street on Sunday at 2:35 a.m.
Investigators would like to speak with the persons of interest pictured. Police ask anyone who recognizes these individuals to contact them.
Anyone with information or security camera footage of the incident should contact the Iowa City Police Department at 319-356-5275. Iowa City Area Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers assesses the Cyclones’ spring
Spring commencement arrives at Iowa State this weekend, with a whole new generation of Cyclones set to get their diplomas and move on to the next things in their lives.
The options and choices will set their path for, potentially, the years and decades ahead.
Which got me thinking about the choices and circumstances of this school year that came for Iowa State athletics. There were no shortages of inflection points at which, it seems, programs and an entire athletics department pivoted to new directions.
Let’s explore.
What if Iowa State had hired Taylor Mouser as head football coach?
This seems to be the most discussed “Sliding Doors” moment for Iowa State football fans regarding head coach Matt Campbell’s departure to Penn State. And with good reason. It’s the most obvious, could have had the most immediate impact on the program and would have been largely seen as a continuation of the most successful run in school history.
Would promoting the Iowa State offensive coordinator, though, have been the right move?
If you assume a best-case scenario in which some of the star Cyclone players on offense – think Rocco Becht, Ben Brahmer, Carson Hansen, etc. – stay at Iowa State and a bulk of the coaching staff does as well, there are still likely defections that weaken the roster. Nothing like we saw back in December, but, still, there would be holes – and Campbell’s shoes – to fill by a first-time head coach taking over for a legend.
The calculation, as I see it, has to be – does the Year 1 continuity and relative stability gained by hiring Mouser provide for better long-term results than hiring Jimmy Rogers, who has the benefit of head-coaching experience?
It certainly would have made the fan base feel better back in December, but would it have positioned Iowa State to have better results in 2027 and beyond?
The roster almost certainly would have been “better” in 2026 if Iowa State retained Mouser, but would that have created a more solid foundation for the future or just delayed decay?
This “What If” becomes a lot less intricate and interesting if Rogers just wins a ton this fall and going forward.
What if Penn State had been able to hire Kalani Sitake as its football coach?
I think this is the most interesting question on the list.
By reports, Penn State was on the verge of hiring Sitake from BYU when the Cougars’ boosters – led by the Crumbl Cookie fortune – banded together to put together a financial package to keep Sitake in Provo.
What if they hadn’t, though?
Sitake goes to Penn State, and Dec. 5, 2025, is an uneventful day in Iowa State history rather than one of its most feverish.
But … what happens a few weeks later when Sherrone Moore is fired at Michigan?
Rather than plucking 66-year-old Kyle Whittingham from Utah/forced retirement, do the Wolverines try to make a Michigan Man out of an Ohioan? Does Campbell inherit the seat of Bo Schembechler?
And, for the sake of this thought exercise, if Campbell did move to Ann Arbor, does the timing of that decision change athletics director Jamie Pollard’s options and calculus about Iowa State’s opening? Is Jimmy Rogers still available? Or would he have taken a different opening or opted not to leave Pullman at that later date? Is Mouser the answer in this scenario?
Or is the Buckeye State distaste for the state Up North too much and Campbell returns for Year 11 at Iowa State?
Addy Brown on what went wrong in Iowa State’s loss to Syracuse
Iowa State’s Addy Brown talks about her team’s struggles in a loss to Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
What if Addy Brown doesn’t get hurt?
Iowa State women’s basketball was 14-0 on Jan. 4 when it played Baylor in Waco, and the season felt sure to realize the potential that was clear before it started with one of coach Bill Fennelly’s best rosters.
The Cyclones, though, returned home with their first loss and with Addy Brown sidelined with a back injury.
Four more losses in a row followed, and when Brown returned to the floor after six weeks, the Cyclones’ season was floundering.
They salvaged an NCAA Tournament bid, but a first-round exit gave way to a roster collapse with nine players – including Brown and superstar Audi Crooks – leaving via the transfer portal, putting Fennelly’s tenure and future under fire.
If Brown doesn’t get hurt – or just isn’t out as long – does that change the trajectory of the season? The offseason? And what the eventual end of Fennelly’s Iowa State career looks like?
What if Joshua Jefferson doesn’t roll his ankle?
The most recent “What If” I think is also the most straightforward.
If Jefferson’s ankle doesn’t roll in the early minutes of Iowa State’s first-round NCAA Tournament blowout win over Tennessee State, I think the Cyclones get a long second weekend in Chicago, but the Final Four drought probably remains intact.
Jefferson’s rebounding and offensive impact are, I think, enough to give the Cyclones the edge against Tennessee, but Michigan, the Cyclones’ would-be Elite Eight opponent, was just a juggernaut.
I’m not sure even a full-strength Iowa State team would have had more than a puncher’s chance. The Wolverines were just one of the best college basketball teams we’ve seen over the last few decades.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
One of the top Iowa high school football prospects in the state has made his college decision official.
Iowa City Regina High School senior-to-be Tate Wallace has announced he has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. Wallace picked the Golden Gophers and head coach PJ Fleck over a finalists Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State and Wisconsin.
Wallace narrowed down his list of schools to six at the end of April before making his final decision.
Iowa City Regina Football Standout Tate Wallace Ranked As No. 2 Overall Prospect In Iowa High School Football
The 6-foot-2, 226-pound linebacker is considered the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Iowa for high school football, and is the No. 21 linebacker in the Class of 2027, according to 247Sports.
In the 247Sports Composite rankings, Wallace is No. 2 in Iowa high school football, No. 29 at linebacker and No. 359 for the Class of 2027.
Along With Minnesota, Tate Wallace Currently Holds Offers From Schools Such As Arizona, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Iowa State
Wallace currently holds 16 total offers including from the previously mentioned Minnesota, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Iowa State, Kansas State, Purdue, Tennessee, West Virginia, Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Toledo, UNLV, North Dakota and North Dakota State.
As a junior, Wallace registered almost 50 tackles on defense, with 29 of them being counted as solo stops. He had 18 tackles for loss, 8.5 quarterback sacks and forced two fumbles, as Iowa City Regina advanced to the state championship game of the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Football Championships.
Future Minnesota Golden Gopher Has Been Key Two-Way Starter For Regals
Wallace also hauled in 40 passes for 611 yards with 10 receiving touchdowns on offense for the Regals. As a two-way player for Iowa City Regina during his sophomore season, Wallace had 27.5 tackles, including 16 solo stops, four tackles for loss and a quarterback sack, adding 51 receptions for 752 yards and eight touchdowns.
Back in March, Wallace announced seven spring visits to Notre Dame, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas State and Arizona State. He also visited Tennessee this past fall, taking in an SEC contest with the Volunteers.
Along with his success on the football field, Wallace helped lead the Regals to the Iowa High School Athletic Association Boys State Basketball Tournament this past winter. He earned High School on SI all-state honors in the process.
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