The #15 Iowa Hawkeyes have the fifth best scoring offense in the nation, and tops in the Big Ten. They’ve scored at least 82 points in every game except four. You might not think of the Iowa Hawkeyes (16-4, 5-2) as a glitz and glamor college basketball program, but they have three Final Fours in their history, and are playing some fun to watch high-scoring basketball today. So what makes the team in Iowa City, Iowa “white collar basketball?”
Well, what makes all those “blue collar” basketball players and “blue collar” basketball teams, as so many idiots in the mainstream media ascribe them, blue collar?
Nothing.
White collar people work just as many 50 and 60 work weeks as blue collar people do. So when you hear someone use the “blue collar” cliche, or “lunch pail,” you know immediately to tune out anything else they say because it’s worthless. So I’m striking back at all these unoriginal commentators by talking “white collar basketball”, and the Iowa Hawkeyes (RPI 21) are the perfect team.
I’m even using ironic photos of former Iowa Hawkeyes, who aren’t even on the team anymore (Cully Payne, Matt Gatens, Eric May) doing things that banal vanilla analysts would describe as “blue collar” to further prove my point. When you read this White Collar Basketball Iowa Hawkeyes article, it should change your mind about the “blue collar basketball” idea.
The Hawks have a top fifteen ranked team which enters a huge game Tuesday night at 6PM vs #7 Michigan State. It will be a big game no doubt.
After UI won at Northwestern 76-50 Saturday morning (11am tip-off?? Seriously, who does that anymore?? Don’t we have enough TV channels that we don’t have to do this? Baseball and football are day sports, basketball and hockey are like live comedy acts- the night time is the right time), Iowa Hawkeyes Coach Fran McCaffery talked about the big showdown on their home court Tuesday.
“Obviously we’re well aware of what Michigan State has accomplished this year, and what they’ve done under Tom Izzo,” McCaffery said.
“They have one of the best teams in the country, they’re preseason #1. And they’ve done it without Adriean Payne which is impressive, they’ve done a good job developing their bench.”
All of Iowa’s losses have been to teams that are currently ranked; and the final deficits were all in the single digits. They have a very deep team, as McCaffery has enough talent to roll eight or nine deep. And they do it with very balanced scoring. Roy Devyn Marble is the only guy on this roster with a NBA future. For his sake, hopefully it will be better than the NBA career of his dad, Roy Lane Marble, who played just one year with the Atlanta Hawks, and five games in another season with the Denver Nuggets.
Marble is the Iowa Hawkeyes main scorer and primary weapon, but UI is balanced enough that they can win when he’s off. He had a scoreless half versus Northwestern, and they still won by 26. Aaron White is the team’s second banana. And that’s a compliment, not an insult. Being #2 on a potential Final Four team says something.
NU Coach Chris Collins on what makes this Iowa Hawkeyes team so special:
“They’re too potent offensively, we weren’t going to hold Iowa in the 40s, I knew that. I was trying to keep the game in the low 60s and hopefully we were going to make some shots…they just wore us down with their athletes and their size.”
“They have a good thing going, you look what Coach McCaffery has done, this is his fourth year and he’s built it year by year. They’re reaping the rewards now from a really great building project. There are not many flaws when you try to prepare against them. They’re as good as anyone we’ve played against.”
Yes, I understand now why there is Final Four hype for this Iowa Hawekeyes basketball team. Winning, and winning big with White Collar Basketball.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar in media studies, he’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on ESPN, NBC, CBS and Fox Sports Radio. A former writer for NBCChicago.com and WashingtonTimes.com, he’s also been featured on the History Channel. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)