Iowa just missed out on the opportunity to nab a double bye in the 2020 Big Ten men’s basketball tournament.
Losses to Purdue and Illinois this past week pushed Iowa back in the tourney seedings. And now the Hawkeyes will open up play in Indianapolis on Thursday afternoon as the No. 5 seed. They will take on the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota, who play one another the night prior.
Big Ten tournament odds
Here is a look at Iowa’s odds to win the Big Ten tournament title at some major legal sportsbooks in the US.
DraftKings +800
FanDuel +1000
BetRivers +800
Interesting to note is where the books have Illinois, coming off that win, in relation to Iowa. FanDuel has Illinois at +1000, right there with Iowa. There’s some major discrepancy at DraftKings, as Illinois is +1400.
Maryland and Michigan State, meanwhile, are the co-favorites to win the tourney at most sportsbooks. The Terps and Spartans are usually coming in around +350.
Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State are usually on the next level, typically coming in around +500.
Can Iowa find its rhythm?
Iowa has had major rebounding issues lately. That was underscored in Sunday night’s loss to Illinois as the Illini ripped down 12 offensive boards.
Optimists will say, though, that this Iowa basketball team responds pretty well to setbacks. The Hawkeyes had just one previous regular-season losing streak to the one they suffered to close out their 2019-20 slate. That two-game streak came in early January with the Hawkeyes falling at home to Penn State and on the road at Nebraska.
The response to that rough patch was overwhelmingly positive. On Jan. 10 in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes blasted 12th-ranked Maryland, 67-49.
Joe Wieskamp led the way in that one with 26 points in a game in which Iowa dressed just eight scholarship players.
Hawkeyes backers will hope that Wieskamp can once again find the shooting stroke that he had in the win over the Terrapins. The sophomore guard hadn’t scored over 16 points in a game in over a month. His last big-time outing came on Feb. 8 when he recorded 30 points in a win over the Cornhuskers.
