Iowa men's basketball barely sneaks into ESPN's too-early bracketology

The transfer portal is open, the dust has yet to even begin settling in the college basketball world, but it's impossible not to look ahead to what could be in store for the Iowa Hawkeyes during the 2026-27 season, head coach Ben McCollum's second year at the helm.

After turning the program around in his first year with a magical run to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament, there is a palpable buzz in Iowa City around the Hawkeyes and real hope of building on this momentum. McCollum and his squad are adding pieces in an effort to make the NCAA Tournament a standard.

Looking ahead at the very early bracket for the 2027 NCAA Tournament, ESPN is already on top of the bracketology. In this rendition of the bracket, which is nearly an impossible task to fill out, Joe Lunardi has Iowa in the field, but just barely.

Lunardi has the Hawkeyes making the dance, but as the very last team in the field. The Iowa Hawkeyes are slotted in as a No. 11 seed, playing in the First Four against fellow No. 11 seed, the TCU Horned Frogs. The winner would draw the No. 6 Miami Hurricanes in the first round.

The Big Ten is once again predicted to be one of the strongest conferences during the 2026-27 college basketball season, ranking second with 11 predicted NCAA Tournament teams, just behind the SEC's 12 predicted teams in the field of 68.

Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Riley on X: @rileydonald7