ESPN Men's Basketball

Baylor made history in New York.

The Bears became the first Big 12 team to win the NIT, soundly defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes 74-54 on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

"I’m proud of these guys," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Really proud of their heart and determination, and they’ll always be remembered. Whenever you make history -- you don’t get a lot of chances to do that."

Baylor led 27-22 at halftime, and Iowa cut the deficit to 28-27 early in the second half. But the game turned into a rout from there. Pierre Jackson, the Bears' leading scorer (19.9 PPG), heated up, scoring 13 of his 17 points after intermission. He also collected 10 assists, giving him a fourth consecutive double-double, and was named the tournament's most outstanding player.

"In the second half, they were getting some good screens for me to get to the paint," Jackson said, "and I got to the right spots and knocked down shots."

"They’re a terrific offensive team," said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. "They had us spread out. They were moving the ball, and they’ve got a lot of weapons, and Jackson is tremendous."

Iowa, on the other hand, had a nightmarish game on offense. The Hawkeyes shot just 18-for-69 (26.4 percent) from the field and 5-for-24 (20.8 percent) from beyond the arc. They missed open looks on the perimeter and several chippies around the rim, clearly bothered by the presence of 7-foot-1 center Isaiah Austin (15 points, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks) and 6-foot-9 forward Cory Jefferson (23 points, 7 rebounds).

Roy Devyn Marble, who had scored 21 or more points in each of Iowa's first four games in this tournament, finished with just six, shooting 3-for-12 from the field.

"[It] seemed like we just kept missing easy shots," McCaffery said. "The stat that jumps out at me is we had 20 offensive rebounds against this team. That’s effort. That’s special. That should have equated to more success offensively."

Baylor (23-14) was ranked No. 19 in the country in the preseason, so ending up in the NIT was a disappointment. But the Bears certainly finished the season strong.

"You look at most teams in the NIT, they probably lost a lot of close games, and with our team, we lost some close games," Drew said. "And the common denominator was when we shot over 70 percent from the free throw line, we won, and when we shot in the 50s and 60s, we lost. That’s with a young front line."

Drew will lose his starting backcourt of Jackson and A.J. Walton, both seniors. But if the talented post players return, Baylor will be dangerous next season.

Iowa (25-13) had its NCAA tournament bubble burst Selection Sunday but gained valuable experience by playing five more games. Senior swingman Eric May departs, but everyone else should be back, and the Hawkeyes should go dancing next season, for the first time since 2006.

"There’s just no substitute for experience," McCaffery said. "Come to Madison Square Garden, the greatest venue in sports, and play twice against two really good teams, win one, lose one, learn from that -- it can only make us better."

Well, well, well. Apparently, a few teams want to go to the tournament after all.

OK, so of course everyone wants to play in the NCAA tournament. But watching the past week or so of college hoops, you could have been convinced otherwise. Why, it was just last Saturday that basically every SEC bubble team lost a bad game, while Arizona State, St. John's, Iowa State, Indiana State and Akron, just to name a few, suffered the kind of losses that can cost you a bid in the tournament.

The weekdays since haven't been much better. Virginia spent all week undoing the résumé boost earned with its victory over Duke. Kentucky lost at Georgia. Baylor flopped against Texas. It got so bad we had to begin considering the fringiest of the fringe -- Southern Miss, Iowa, Providence, Maryland -- even though it was almost physically painful to imagine most of those teams in the tournament.

And then, finally, mercifully, some of these teams started acting like they wanted to play meaningful basketball in March. Kentucky, Tennessee, Boise State and Baylor all got huge wins at home. Iowa State held on at West Virginia. Even Cincinnati, which had been quietly slipping toward the bubble in recent weeks, avoided a brutal loss to South Florida.

It wasn't all good news. Oklahoma lost at TCU. Arizona State fell flat at Arizona. Xavier, Providence and St. John's all missed chances to get somewhere near reality in this thing. There were, as there always are, a handful of head-scratchers -- how Louisiana Tech goes three months without losing once and then drops back-to-back games in the matter of two days is beyond this humble bubbleologist.

But the end effect is clear: The bubble is just a little more firm than it was at the start of the day, a little tougher to crack. Good things happen when players play like they actually care about making the tournament. Who knew?

WINNERS

Kentucky: The biggest bubble story of the day, and almost certainly the most impactful, Kentucky's win over Florida put the Wildcats back on the right side of the bubble in their final regular-season opportunity. Considering where Kentucky was after its loss at Georgia this week -- all self-recrimination and disbelief -- it was a bit remarkable to stand up at the last possible moment, once and for all.

I won't spend a whole lot of time here, because you can read my reaction from this afternoon here. Long story short: UK is no lock to make the tournament, and it still has to navigate a tangle of prospective bad losses in the SEC tournament, but right now, compared to much of the rest of the bubble, the Wildcats are closer to being in than not.

Baylor: I am not above making a tired and dumb bodysnatchers joke -- see pretty much anything I've tweeted about Keith Appling for the past three weeks -- but rare is the opportunity to do so in regards to a team that plays inexplicably well. Today, Baylor is that team.

I mean, how else do you explain the Bears not just beating Kansas in Waco, Texas, but blowing Kansas out? When in the past seven days we've seen a) Baylor lose at home to K-State on one of the most heartbreaking (and poorly executed) final seconds of the season and b) lose 79-70 at Texas? That team -- a team that was admittedly still playing hard but looking utterly lost in doing so -- turned around and beat the Jayhawks by 23 points in the penultimate game of the regular season. How does that happen?

Complete shock aside, the bad news for the Bears (sorry) is that they're just 2-10 against the RPI top 50, 5-10 against the top 100, and still have a prohibitively high RPI (No. 73 entering Saturday). As nice as Saturday's win was, and for as much as it helped the Bears, the damage they did in recent weeks isn't so easy to overcome in one fell swoop. They still need more -- and a first-round Big 12 tourney shot against Oklahoma State is an awfully good place to start.

Boise State: In case you're not up to speed on the Broncos -- and no, they don't play their home games on blue hardwood -- they established their potential tournament case all the way back on Nov. 28, when they shocked Creighton (then the No. 11 team in the country) on its home floor. (Eight days earlier, they had pushed Michigan State 74-70, and we all wondered what was wrong with the Spartans. Go figure.) Since then, they've trucked along in the Mountain West in almost exactly the fashion you'd expect: They've beaten some of the league's toughest teams (UNLV, Colorado State) at home and fallen to some of the league's lesser squads (Air Force isn't a bad loss; Nevada is) on the road. In other words, today's win over San Diego State wasn't exactly revolutionary; it was a realistic get, and the Broncos got it. The one thing really setting Jeff Elorriaga & Co. apart from the rest of the bubble dregs is their quality wins. Add one more.

Tennessee: What is it with Tennessee and late-season boosts? The Volunteers did this last season, too, when they turned a brutal first two months into a 10-6 SEC performance and a late desperate push to get into the NCAA tournament. It didn't happen then, but after Saturday's home win over Missouri -- a thank-you card addressed to Phil Pressey is currently in the mail - it looks very much like it's happening now.

I'm not saying that a home win over Missouri is this huge bubble landmark. It's at least a degree or four below a win over Florida. Missouri's only true road wins all season came at Mississippi State and South Carolina. Road warriors these Tigers are not, but combined with UT's other work -- eight wins in its past nine games, including a 30-point demolition of Kentucky and its own victory over Florida -- the résumé is now right in the middle of the bubble picture. Like Kentucky, or really any of these SEC teams, anything can happen going away. But for now, the news is good.

Iowa State: Of any of these bubble winners, Iowa State should be in the best shape. For one, the Cyclones are easily the best team in this group; even a cursory glance at their efficiency numbers (especially when contrasted with the rest of these teams) reveals one of the best offenses in the country and a top-35-ish team overall. I also happen to think the committee will go outside its nitty-gritty sheets and delve into Iowa State's two losses to Kansas, both of which came in overtime, the latter of which was ripped from them thanks to some truly diabolical officiating. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to say any of this had Iowa State lost at West Virginia on Saturday. It didn't, and so I can.

Ole Miss: The Rebels won by 14 at LSU. Were they in better position to start the day -- had they not lost to Mississippi State last week, perhaps -- I might have stuck them down in the "Survivors" category. As it is, they remain in the picture, but have a ton of work to do in the SEC tournament. One win won't get it done.

LOSERS

Arizona State: The Sun Devils are basically done. It's not just a loss at Arizona -- that is obviously forgivable, even if the Wildcats aren't nearly as good as we thought they'd be this season -- it's the four losses in a row (to Washington, UCLA and USC, the latter two of which were on the road, before today's loss at Arizona) as well as an RPI in the 90s, the 283rd-hardest schedule, and so on. Credit Herb Sendek and Jahii Carson for getting this program back in the mix in short order, but it's hard to see an at-large here.

La Salle: The Explorers aren't in bad shape, relatively speaking, and you can hardly fault any team for taking one on the chin at Saint Louis, which they did today. But La Salle has been sort of quietly sliding toward the bubble in the past couple of weeks, and losing 78-54 at this point in the season is hardly the best way to impress the committee. Definitely worth keeping an eye on right now.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma has been in great tournament shape for the majority of the past month -- the Sooners have been playing solid hoops, and their RPI and SOS figures are great -- but it nonetheless entered Saturday outside the comfort of lockdom. And then the Sooners lost to TCU. That probably isn't enough to put Oklahoma below a score of the teams you see here, but when you really dig in to its résumé, there's not much about it that screams "lock." A first-round loss to Iowa State next week could have the Sooners wavering by Selection Sunday.

Colorado: This week's Bubble Watch included a little homily on how the Buffaloes' résumé wasn't all that much different from UCLA's, but Colorado was frequently a No. 10 seed while the Bruins were most often placed on the No. 6 line. That was wrong, I wrote. Naturally, Colorado proceeded to lose at home to Oregon State. Like Oklahoma, the Buffaloes are still in better shape than, say, Baylor, but their regular-season finale was enough to introduce some serious questions going forward.

Louisiana Tech: Before this week, La. Tech's last loss was at McNeese State all the way back on Dec. 12. This week, the Bulldogs lost two in a row, and whatever slim chance they had of getting an at-large look is now officially gone.

Minnesota: How do you follow up a win against Indiana? If you're Minnesota, you lose at Nebraska and Purdue. I don't really understand how that works, but I don't understand anything about this Gophers team. I don't think Tubby Smith does, either. The good news is Minnesota is still in much better shape than almost anyone on this list, thanks to its batch of top-50 wins and some pretty peerless computer numbers (RPI: 20; SOS: 2). But the Gophers did just finish the Big Ten season at 8-10, and what if they fall in the first round of the Big Ten tournament? You have to at least consider them to be on the bubble right now, right?

SURVIVORS

Alabama: The Crimson Tide scraped out a three-point home win over Georgia on Saturday. That is the definition of bubble survival: A loss probably would have knocked Anthony Grant's team totally out of the conversation. As it is, it's still a bit of a long shot -- the Tide were Joe Lunardi's last team among the first four out Saturday evening -- with absolutely zero good wins on its docket. Just a totally uninspiring résumé.

Southern Miss: Speaking of totally uninspiring résumés: the Golden Eagles, everyone! To be honest, it sort of baffles me that Southern Miss is even in the conversation; its best wins are at Denver and a sweep of East Carolina. But the Golden Eagles are hanging around the very fringes of the bubble, and Saturday's home victory over UCF preserved that ungainly status.

Iowa: If Iowa doesn't make the tournament -- and right now it looks very much like Iowa is not going to make the tournament -- Fran McCaffery will really only have himself to blame. The Hawkeyes' nonconference schedule was that of a team still in rebuilding mode, looking for some forgiving opponents and early-season wins. It didn't help that Northern Iowa wasn't as good as advertised, but still, the overall nonconference schedule rank of 308 looks like it is going to keep this .500 Big Ten team -- which would normally be a worthy distinction -- from serious bubble consideration, barring a big push in Chicago next week.

Cincinnati: What if Cincinnati had lost to South Florida on Saturday? That would have been the Bearcats' seventh loss in their past nine games, would have put them at 8-10 in Big East play and, worst of all, would have been a loss to South Florida, which has been just flat-out bad all season long. Fortunately, Cincinnati didn't lose to South Florida. Mick Cronin's team held on 61-53 and should be in solid shape moving forward.

Belmont: This sort-of-kind-of doesn't count, because Belmont won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament in thrilling fashion Saturday, and its Dance status is now of the automatic variety. But had they lost, it's entirely possible the Bruins would have missed the tournament altogether.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

Xavier: Two weeks ago, despite the young Musketeers' growing pains, it was impossible to look at Xavier's schedule and not have your saliva glands start working a little overdrive. Chris Mack's kids would get VCU, Memphis, UMass and Saint Louis all at home, and then they'd finish the season with a trip to Butler. The Cintas Center is a difficult place to play; a 4-1 record was entirely believable, and could have been a season-changing stretch. Instead, Xavier went 2-3 -- it lost at Butler on Saturday 67-62 -- and its tournament credentials look about as so-so as they did back in mid-February. Alas.

Providence: An even bigger long shot than better-than-you-think brothers-in-arms Iowa at this point, at least Providence, which would close the season at Connecticut, had the best chance of notching an impressive road victory on the final weekend of the season. Instead, UConn held on 63-59. Keep an eye on the Friars going forward; like McCaffery at Iowa, Ed Cooley has them playing better basketball than anyone expected this early in his tenure. But a tournament bid will have to wait.

St. John's: After suspending D'Angelo Harrison, sitting Sir'Dominic Pointer for a one-game fighting suspension and losing three in a row, St. John's looked totally cooked coming in to the weekend, both on the bubble and on the court. But the Red Storm didn't roll over. Instead, they gave Marquette a genuine test, forcing guard Vander Blue to make a last-second running layup to win and secure Buzz Williams a share of the Big East title. It was an impressive showing by the Red Storm, albeit one that came up just short. No chance this team gets in the tournament now.

1. Highly-touted freshman forward Sam Dekker will be a major factor for Wisconsin. But he's not the player who has wowed coach Bo Ryan during the first 10 days of official practice. Sophomore center Frank Kaminsky is the player who has caught Ryan's eye more than any other. "He's one of the most improved guys I've ever coached,'' said Ryan of Kaminsky, who averaged 1.8 points in 7.7 minutes a game last season. "He's really doing some nice things. It's going to be hard to keep him off the floor. He moves his body, he know how to move. He has a good feel for passing as a big and he's knocking down the 3-pointer like crazy. He's a big that can stretch and in the post he's developed more than last year.'' Somehow no one should be surprised that Ryan has found yet another big that developed and will suddenly be on the Big Ten radar two years into his career.

2. Iowa is a legitimate sleeper in the Big Ten. I had a question tweeted to me that Iowa coach Fran McCaffery answered on our ESPNU college basketball podcast Monday. The question was simple: Can Iowa win the Big Ten? McCaffery's answer was direct. "I do think it's possible,'' he said. "Can you win the Big Ten with a freshman point guard? Aaron Craft (Ohio State) did. And last year nobody was talking about Trey Burke at Michigan except for me. We're going to beat each other up but we can't lose games by four. At some point we have to win the close games. Michigan did that last year with a freshman point guard. We'll have to do that with a freshman point guard.'' McCaffery is referring to freshman Mike Gesell, who will be the point guard. Meanwhile, Michigan did have a freshman point guard in Burke and the Wolverines finished in a three-way tie for first with Ohio State and Michigan State last season.

3. One of the reasons I have long speculated about why Tubby Smith has stayed at Minnesota is how much he enjoys working with his son Saul on the staff. I spent time with them two years ago and saw how rich their relationship had become professionally with Saul on the staff. Saul's arrest for suspicion of a DUI and subsequent suspension has to be a crushing blow to Tubby. The Minnesota experiment has not been smooth since Day One and this is yet another major obstacle. But this is personal and it will be very interesting to see the long-term effects on the father if Saul doesn't come back to the bench.

PHILADELPHIA -- Andrew Francis sat in a hotel meeting room this past April, one of a handful of young assistant coaches assembled for a seminar. Sitting in the audience was another top assistant, a guy with a reputation as an outstanding recruiter.

“He couldn’t get a job," Francis said.

Francis, an Iowa assistant, was retelling this story from his bleacher seat on the first day of July recruiting. In front of him loomed the long hot month that most every basketball coach calls the "lifeblood" of his program. Like everyone else, Francis would spend the next weeks crisscrossing the country, hoping to lure the great players to Iowa City.

There was a time when acing this and only this part of the job was enough to skyrocket a top assistant up the success ladder.

Francis insists that time has passed.

“You have to be able to recruit, there’s no question,’’ he said. “But you don’t want to be known as just a recruiting guy anymore. There’s almost a negative to it. People want to know that you can get good players, but you also have to know what to do with them. You have to know how to run a program and represent a university.’’

The business of coaching, much like the business of sport, has changed dramatically. The fiscal responsibility entrusted to a top coach turns him into a CEO as much as an X’s and O’s guy, and rare is the university president willing to entrust his multimillion-dollar business to a man who can only do one aspect of the job.

That’s why groups like Villa 7, the consortium designed as a networking organization for young assistants, have prospered and why people like Francis spend as much time sitting in seminars as they do in bleachers.

“Schools want people who know how to talk to recruits, yes, but also to donors, to alums, who they can entrust to run their program and not embarrass their university,’’ Francis said. “Let’s be honest. There’s an awful lot of money in this job these days, so it has to be the right person for the right reason.’’

The challenge is how to distinguish yourself from the pack. Landing players, growing a reputation as a guy who could bring top talent to a roster used to be the golden ticket to instant head coaching.

Now it’s a lot harder. The job market is more crowded than ever and, because of the pressure and expectations, good jobs are tougher to come by.

Francis has followed the old-fashioned route, starting as a volunteer assistant coach at Concordia College, before joining Jay Wright’s staff at Villanova as an administrative assistant and video coordinator. After two years, Philadelphia native Fran McCaffery hired him as an assistant at Siena and after helping to build the Saints into a mid-major winner, made the jump to the Hawkeyes.

And so the natural progression on Francis’ career arc would be to become a head coach if he helps McCaffery steer Iowa in the right direction.

But the vicious cycle is tricky. To get Iowa on track, you need players and to get players you have to be a great recruiter, but being a great recruiter isn’t enough anymore.

“Without question, this is a huge part of my job,’’ Francis said. “There are a lot of great coaches out there, but if you can’t get great players, it doesn’t matter. You can’t win. Still I think the bigger issue is if you get those great players, what will you do with them? Will you make them better players and better men who represent your school well? If you can do all of that, then you’re ready to be a head coach.’’

As part of our Summer Shootaround series, here are the best- and worst-case scenarios for the Big Ten:

Illinois

Best-case: No one's expecting much from Illinois in 2012-13, and the reasons are obvious: With zero in the way of fresh blood entering the program this season, this is essentially the same team that lost 12 of its final 14 games last season (necessitating the firing of coach Bruce Weber) only without its best player, center Meyers Leonard. I get it. But there hasn't been a mass exodus at the program. Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson will be senior guards capable of blowing up at any time (Paul especially). The supporting cast has its holes, but harnessed correctly that's a backcourt that could give plenty of Big Ten teams trouble -- at the very least.

Worst-case: What happens when you add a dearth of young talent, experienced players who pretty much gave up on their last leader and a new coach asked to bring it all together? There is no one answer. Frankly, anything is possible, and while that includes the aforementioned revival from Paul and Richardson, it could just as easily lead to Paul looking around, deciding he's the best player on his team by a lot (not that he would be wrong) and posting yet another incredibly inefficient, borderline-greedy offensive season. I don't think Illinois will totally bottom out this season, but that's only if coach John Groce can convince everyone, Paul included, that's no way to spend a year on the hardwood. If he doesn't, this could get ugly in a hurry.

Indiana

Best-case: Don't look now, Indiana fans, but I'm going to do it: IU's best-case scenario is the NCAA collegiate men's basketball national championship. I know. Crazy, right? What's even crazier is that it doesn't require a huge stretch of the imagination. After all, Indiana will feature the best returning player in college basketball in Cody Zeller, who was dominant as a freshman and (according to every dispatch out of Bloomington this summer) is only beginning to showcase his newfound core strength, defense and versatility. The Hoosiers have a coterie of scorers around Zeller: stretchy wing Christian Watford, rim-attacking guard Victor Oladipo, sharpshooting floor general Jordan Hulls and do-everything Will Sheehey, not to mention a recruiting class that features at least one sure-fire immediate rotation player in point guard Yogi Ferrell. This team is deep and well-rounded and scores like crazy, and it's going to be a lot of fun to see where Zeller & Co. can go.

Worst-case: To go where they really want to be, the Hoosiers are going to have to play better defense. It's just that simple. Indiana improved some last season, but where it really excelled was offense: Tom Crean's team ranked fourth in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency but just 64th on the defensive end (IU's 102-90 tournament loss to Kentucky was thrilling evidence of this disparity). Hulls' size disadvantage makes him unreliable at the point of attack; Zeller and Watford must become better rim protectors; and in general Indiana must find some trait to sustain itself on that end of the floor. At some point in the tournament, everybody goes cold. Eventually, your D has to carry you through.

Iowa

Best-case: It's Year 3 of coach Fran McCaffery's rebuilding cycle, and everything seems to be going according to plan. Iowa has made strides in each of his first two seasons. Now with two talented freshmen from the Iowa-Nebraska border (center Adam Woodbury and point guard Mike Gesell), this could be the year the Hawkeyes officially emerge from their post-Todd Lickliter morass. Other than the freshmen, the keys are rising sophomores Aaron White and Josh Oglesby and junior Melsahn Basabe, who took the Big Ten by storm as a freshmen but fell off a bit last season. If there is a collective step forward and the freshmen prove productive in a hurry, this is an NCAA tournament team waiting to happen. Right on schedule.

Worst-case: Let's not forget, of course, that senior guard Matt Gatens was by far this team's most efficient scorer, not to mention its senior leader -- the guy who almost single-handedly shot Iowa into the tournament last season. His loss is a crucial one. Just as crucial is defensive improvement. In 2011-12, the Hawkeyes were a top-35 offensive team but ranked No. 180 in defensive efficiency and No. 278 in opponents' effective field-goal percentage (eFG%). There is plenty of reason for optimism here, but if Iowa doesn't guard someone, it won't be dancing yet.

Michigan

Best-case: Just last week, Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year Trey Burke told the media he saw his team as a national title contender. That's a very optimistic best-case scenario, sure, but in such a wide-open hoops landscape, I'm inclined to agree. Burke is one of the nation's best lead guards, and he's complemented well by Tim Hardaway Jr.'s outside-in game. The Wolverines also have a pair of top 25-ranked freshman to fawn over. Like Hardaway, Glenn Robinson III comes equipped with NBA genes, while just last summer forward Mitch McGary was once considered one of the best five prospects in the class of 2012. This is unquestionably the most talented Michigan team in a decade, and if the freshmen excel early, Burke's opinion won't seem farfetched.

Worst-case: It's hard to see this team, which is indisputably more talented and almost certain to be more dynamic, somehow not being in Big Ten title contention by the end of next February. But if somehow the Wolverines are merely above average in 2012-13, it could be because they carry over last season's just-OK defensive effort (No. 60 in adjusted defensive efficiency). Or because they lack the breadth of reliable 3-point shooters (Evan Smotrycz transferred, while Zack Novak and Stu Douglass graduated) who have come to define coach John Beilein's two-guard front offense, which relies on 3-point shooting to stretch the floor. I think Beilein will make it work, and I think Michigan will be very tough to beat. But increased success is far from guaranteed.

Michigan State

Best-case: As good as Michigan's backcourt is, could Michigan State's actually be better? If Gary Harris, the No. 2-ranked shooting guard (and No. 11-ranked player overall) in the Class of 2012 lives up to his considerable hype, it's a distinct possibility. But for seniors Draymond Green and Austin Thornton (and one-year graduate rental Brandon Wood), the Spartans return everybody from last year's 29-8 redeem team, including big-bodied forward Derrick Nix, still-blossoming athletic freak Adreian Payne and impressive freshman Branden Dawson, who should recovery from an ACL tear in time to join the team for the Big Ten season. But the key to it all is point guard Keith Appling. If Appling is a star -- and I would bet he will be -- the Spartans will be right back near the top of the Big Ten, same as usual.

Worst-case: I brushed over Green's departure casually in the above paragraph, but there's really no way to overstate just how important Green was to Michigan State in 2011-12. Not only was he the team's tireless vocal leader, he was its best scorer, rebounder and passer. Without Green to solidify everything the team did, it's not unfathomable to see Michigan State take a step back into respectable but not great territory.

Editor's note: ESPN.com’s Summer Shootaround series is catching up on the offseason storylines for each conference. For the rest of the best- and worst-case scenarios for the Big Ten, click here.

In two years at Iowa, Fran McCaffery's overall record is 29-37. His Big Ten record is 12-24. His only postseason appearance to speak of is the NIT. Yet Tuesday, Iowa announced it had signed McCaffery to a major contract extension, extending the coach's deal by seven years and increasing his salary to a minimum average of $1.66 million per season.

That's a lot of money for a coach with a sub-.500 record. It might give rise to the question: Why?

A better question would be: Why not?

McCaffery inherited an utter mess when he left Siena for the Hawkeyes in 2010, thanks to the residue of Steve Alford's flame-out and, more importantly, former coach Todd Lickliter's failed tenure. Lickliter damaged the Hawkeyes not only on the floor, but at will call, where already blasé Iowa fans were turned off by ugly, slow-paced basketball that came with no payoff. McCaffery has taken the program in the complete opposite direction. He realized early that even if his teams couldn't match up piece for piece, they would play hard, and they would play fast, and they would refuse to sit back and let the Big Ten's slogging behemoths dictate the style of the game. That style has kept McCaffery's teams competitive despite often being outmatched, and more importantly it has given Iowa fans something exciting to cheer for again.

Of course, the past two seasons were just about foundation, about constructing the program's parameters and goals. Now, as he approaches Year 3, a next step -- a move out of the Big Ten cellar, into real competition for an NCAA tournament bid -- is within reach. McCaffery will lose two starters from last season's team, Matt Gatens and Bryce Cartwright, but retains the rest of a young, developing squad. Melsahn Basabe was a beast in the paint as a freshman before suffering a drop-off as a sophomore in 2011; if he reverts to form as a junior, a big year could await. Aaron White was a promising forward presence as a freshman last season. Freshman guard Josh Oglesby posted a 114.5 offensive rating, with a squeaky-clean 8.5 percent turnover rate, in his first year with the team. There is some talent here -- raw but intriguing, and most importantly young.

Even better, the Hawkeyes are adding some legitimate in-state talent to the roster this season. Sioux City, Iowa native Adam Woodbury is the No. 10-ranked center in the class of 2012, and he's joined by the No. 13-ranked point guard, Mike Gesell, a native of the Nebraska side of Sioux City (a detail which I, as an Iowa native, am required to distinguish). Both players are capable of getting big minutes -- and delivering contributions, if not star turns -- as freshmen. Perhaps most important is their origin: Every fan base wants to recruit and cheer for its provincial homegrown talent, and Iowa fans are no different. McCaffery's proven his ability to lure such players, and that no doubt had much to do with the big contract boost Iowa negotiated for its coach this week.

McCaffery's new deal puts him among the top half of salaries in the Big Ten. That little fact tells you all you need to know about Iowa's basketballing ambitions. The Hawkeyes don't expect a Big Ten title every year. They just want to be in the mix.

Thus far, with the possible exception of extreme chair abuse, the former Siena coach has done nothing but hint that he's the man to get them there. Indeed, the best is yet to come.

Consider, for a moment, the kind of week Iowa guard Matt Gatens just had.

On Sunday, he set a then-career high in points, scoring 30 in a 78-66 win over Indiana. Four days later, Gatens scored 33 -- yes, another career high -- in a 67-66 win over Wisconsin. Taken as a whole, Gatens was 22-of-36 from the field, including a scorching 14-for-20 from 3-point range. On Thursday night, he hit two free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining, enough to hold off Wisconsin's final push.

"My teammates are like, 'What's gotten into you, man?'" Gatens told ESPN.com by phone Friday. "It's just one of those things. It feels good. It's all been clicking. It's great."

Wherever the hot stretch came from, its timing couldn't be better. That's true of the Hawkeyes, who are suddenly, desperately clawing their way toward fringe NCAA tournament consideration.

Few people are lucky enough to know what they want to do in ninth grade. Gatens was one of them. That's when Gatens, a top-100 recruit in the class of 2008, committed to then-Iowa coach Steve Alford. This may have been the least surprising commitment of all time. Gatens was born and raised in Iowa City. His father, Mike Gatens, played at Iowa in the 1970s. His mother, Julie, is a former Hawkeyes cheerleader.

Gatens remembers visiting practices as a kid, watching Tom Davis' old teams, idolizing point guard Andre Woolridge -- whose No. 5 jersey Gatens adopted as a child (and still wears today) -- lead the Hawks on the break in front of a rocking Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd. Back when Carver-Hawkeye used to rock.

Since he was born, Gatens has bled black and gold. If only he'd been born at a different time.

"When I came to Iowa, my goal was to get to NCAA tournaments and compete on a national level," he said. "We obviously haven't done that."

Gatens couldn't have known it at the time, but his commitment would be followed by one of the more fallow periods in Iowa hoops history. Before 2006-07, Alford's final year with the program, the Hawkeyes had reached the NIT or NCAA tournament in 24 of the past 28 seasons. This dated back to Lute Olson's tenure in the late 1980s and early '90s. Alford resigned at Iowa after the 2006-07 season, just one year before Gatens was set to enter the program.

He was replaced by former Butler coach Todd Lickliter, whose tenure at the school might charitably be described as a "disappointment." "Disaster" is probably a better word. Lickliter went 38-57 overall and 15-39 in the Big Ten in three seasons. His final season, a grating 10-22 campaign, pushed football-obsessed Iowa fans away. In 2010, Lickliter was replaced by former Siena coach Fran McCaffery, and Gatens faced the prospect of playing for the program's third coach in five years.

Through no fault of his own, the hometown kid who only ever wanted to play for Iowa found himself caught in a vicious rebuilding cycle. He was a talent, perhaps Iowa's only talent, capable of scoring in bunches -- Gatens has averaged double-digit points in each of his four seasons -- but not quite good enough to carry a program on his back. The easy thing to do -- what many college players do, and understandably so -- is transfer. But Gatens never gave it a thought, never wavered on his teenage commitment. Why?

"I grew up loving the Hawkeyes," Gatens said. "It was always my dream to play here. Iowa fans have a saying: 'Once a Hawkeye, always a Hawkeye.'"

In McCaffery's second season, the Hawkeyes are still rebuilding. McCaffery has two ESPN top-100 recruits, both Iowa natives, on board for 2012. Which is all well and good, Gatens said, but as a senior with just a few more weeks left in his career, he isn't content to go down without a fight. Frankly, he's running out of time.

"I'm just trying to get this program back to where it deserves to be," he said. "We've got a lot of young guys here. The program is going to be fine. But we seniors want to go out and create our own memories for the fans too.

"You just want to get everything you can out of it. We want to get the tournament. We haven't done it, but if we keep playing the way we are down the stretch, I think we can get into that conversation."

It isn't going to be easy. Iowa, which is 2-8 away from Carver-Hawkeye this season, will travel to Illinois and Nebraska for two of its final three games. Both are must-wins, and they're followed by a home date against bubble team Northwestern in the March 3 season finale. After wins over Indiana and Wisconsin, the Hawks' at-large résumé is much better than it was, but their bad RPI (No. 126) and ugly nonconference strength of schedule (No. 305) mean they have to win out (for a 10-8 Big Ten record) and possibly make a run in the Big Ten tournament to get within striking distance of at-large consideration.

It's a long shot, sure, but it's one that didn't even exist before Gatens dropped 63 points and 14 3s on two ranked teams this week. As his career winds down, and the prospect of life after Iowa basketball comes into stark focus, Gatens is trying to be remembered as more than the hometown kid whose career came at the worst possible time.

"Hopefully the fans will remember me as a guy who loved Iowa, whose dream it was to play here, a guy that remained loyal to the fan base through good times and the bad," he said. "But hopefully, they'll remember me as someone who went out on a higher note. Hopefully they can remember me a winner too."

On Jan. 10, the Hawkeyes were in a tough spot. Michigan State was doing what Michigan State often does to teams like Iowa -- defending like crazy and scoring at will and blowing the Hawks off the floor in East Lansing, Mich. -- and by the 11-minute mark in the second half, with MSU leading 69-41, Iowa coach Fran McCaffery had seen enough.

You've seen what happened next: McCaffery lost it. He directed his ire first at the referees, for which he received a technical foul, and he was arguably lucky not to be thrown out of the game. A minute later, he turned his anger inward, gesticulating wildly during a timeout before picking up a padded MSU bench chair and slamming it forcefully down on the Breslin Center court.

McCaffery's actions were met by the Big Ten with something less than enthusiasm. League commissioner Jim Delaney said the conference "communicate[d] its concern" to Iowa's athletics department about McCaffery's outburst, and Iowa athletic director Gary Barta had to walk the line between supporting his coach and agreeing that the chair toss was slightly over the line. When asked about the incident, McCaffery was largely defiant, saying he wasn't going to sit on his hands and watch his players get blown out by 40 points without "fighting" and "coaching with passion." All in all, the chair-slam ended up being less controversial than funny, the subject of more amused ("Ha, look at McCaffery lose it! And here comes the chair! Bam!") reactions than outrage. Really, the whole thing seemed premeditated: McCaffery was trying something, anything, to snap his team out of its doldrums.

And that was the last of it, or so we thought. Turns out, McCaffery's infamous chair found another use this weekend: fundraising.

Per Iowa communications director Matt Weitzel, the chair was sold Sunday at an auction/steak fry (mmm, steak fry) benefiting the Iowa baseball program. The chair included McCaffery's signature and two handwritten messages: "Go Hawks!" and "Coach with passion!" The going price? $2,100. You can see a large image here.

Really, it's a win-win: Iowa raises a bit of cash, McCaffery turns his follies into a benefit for his athletics program, and some lucky fan with moderately deep pockets adds a rather hilarious memento to his rumpus room collection. In the meantime, McCaffery's signed message -- "Coach with passion!" -- may just become his trademark calling card. Given McCaffery's typically demure demeanor, perhaps that's the biggest surprise of all.

(Hat tip: The fine folks at Midwest Sports Fans)

How many NCAA tourney bids will the Big Ten receive? Five seem safe at this point, but beyond that is anyone's guess -- especially after Illinois' home loss to Northwestern on Sunday.

1. Ohio State: The Buckeyes went to Madison and beat the Badgers at their own plodding game Saturday. Thad Matta's squad isn’t just the best team in the Big Ten right now. It’s arguably the top squad in the country based on the way it’s played during its five-game winning streak. The Buckeyes could really pull away from the rest of the field with a win against Michigan State Saturday.

2. Michigan State: Spartans fans can exhale now. Draymond Green scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a 64-54 win over Michigan Sunday, days after leaving the team’s road loss at Illinois with a knee injury. The Spartans get a shot at Ohio State Saturday in Columbus. And they possess the physical style to stifle the Buckeyes.

3. Wisconsin: Can’t knock the Badgers for putting up a 40-minute fight against an Ohio State team that’s been the league’s best squad for weeks. A few late mistakes cost the Badgers. Their challenges from the 3-point line (18.5 percent against the Buckeyes) continue to hurt a team without an inside force. But they’re going to challenge every team in the Big Ten with their stingy defense.

4. Michigan: Yes, the Wolverines had their fourth conference loss of the season Sunday against Michigan State. No, they’re not out of the Big Ten title race. The Wolverines get Ohio State, Purdue and Illinois at home in the coming weeks. And they play Nebraska, Illinois, Northwestern and Penn State on the road. The Wolverines, however, continue to suffer inside with their limited frontcourt depth.

5. Indiana: The Hoosiers have won three of their past five games. Saturday’s 78-61 win at rival Purdue served two crucial purposes for Tom Crean’s program. It saved Indiana from a 5-7 Big Ten record and it snapped its four-game road losing streak in conference play. Only two of Indiana’s final seven games will be played outside of Bloomington.

6. Illinois: The Illini followed Tuesday’s 42-41 home win over Michigan State with a 74-70 loss to Northwestern Sunday … in the same arena, Assembly Hall in Champaign. Really? You try to figure out this up-and-down Illini team because I can’t.

7. Purdue: The Boilermakers have lost three of four. And they play Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana in their last eight Big Ten games. Why are those opponents significant? Because they all have the inside threats that can expose Purdue’s void in the paint.

8. Minnesota: The Gophers have won five of their past seven games. After losing their best player, Trevor Mbakwe, to a season-ending knee injury in November, they could easily be at the very bottom of the Big Ten standings.

9. Iowa: The Hawkeyes are 3-2 at home in 2012. Fran McCaffery’s team has won two in a row. That’s certainly an accomplishment for this rebuilding team.

10. Northwestern: The Wildcats entered the season amid ongoing hope that this would be the first time the program makes the NCAA tournament. That’s not going to happen this season.

11. Penn State: The Nittany Lions have the worst record in the Big Ten at 2-9. But there’s just something about State College. Big Ten teams always seem to encounter trouble when they play there. Plus, Tim Frazier (18.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 6.3 apg) is one of the top players in the league. That’s why they avoided the No. 12 slot.

12. Nebraska: The Cornhuskers’ introduction to the Big Ten hasn’t been a smooth one. And that’s too bad because Bo Spencer (15.3 ppg and 3.5 apg) is a special player and he deserves more praise.

It's been a pretty great week for the state of Iowa. On Tuesday, 140,000 or so Iowan Republicans got together and proved that local politics -- the idea that actually going door-to-door and meeting people on the campaign trail, radical though it may be -- actually matters. In the process, CNN aired the greatest, most adorable, most Iowa phone call of all-time. (Edith did not like the suggestion that her numbers did not add up.) Whatever concerns you may have about the impact a minuscule number of Iowans may have on the future of the American presidency, those of us from the state tend to think we do a pretty good job, regardless of political belief.

If anything can overshadow the gleeful democratic enthusiasm in the Hawkeye State this week, well, it may just be the Hawkeyes themselves.

OK, that may be a slight exaggeration. OK, the exaggeration probably isn't "slight." But either way, it's worth taking a step back and noting exactly what this Iowa team has done in the past week. On Saturday, Fran McCaffery's team got one of the more surprising road wins in this season or any other, a 72-65 road win at Wisconsin. Yes, you read that right: "road win at Wisconsin." Four days later, I'm still processing this. But it happened.

The question going forward was whether that performance was a fluke -- an aberration borne of some unusually poor Wisconsin shooting, not unlike the Badgers' first home loss of the season to Marquette -- or the real deal. Before Wednesday night, I was leaning toward fluke. How could you not? Sure, Iowa nearly toppled Purdue in Iowa City a week ago, but how significant is that? After Wednesday night, when the Hawkeyes escaped The Barn with a 64-62 win over Minnesota, I think the answer might be "pretty significant." "Real deal" might not be quite so far off.

Which is not to say the Hawkeyes are setting the world ablaze. Still, the contrast from where this team was early in this season is impossible to miss. Iowa's nonconference performance was ugly, and that's being polite. The Hawkeyes were trounced by Creighton. Clemson easily handled them at home. They put up minimal fight at UNI and Iowa State, losing by a combined margin of 36 points. And I haven't even mentioned the coup de grace, a Nov. 23 77-61 home loss -- yes, home loss -- to Campbell. The Fighting Camels were 16 points better than Iowa on Iowa's home floor. For a rebuilding team that entered the season with sneaky expectations -- of the "hey, Iowa could be respectable this year, look out" kind -- the Campbell loss was an apparent confirmation of how deep a hole this program is in. If you get blown out by the Camels on your own floor, chances are you're taking your licks in the Big Ten.

And that would have been OK! McCaffery is in his second year of a deep rebuilding project; his best player last season (Melsahn Basabe), impressive though he was, was originally recruited to play in the MAAC at Siena. McCaffery has a good recruiting class arriving in 2012, the first Hawkeyes fans have seen since the Steve Alford years. Iowa fans could afford to be patient.

If the past week's performances are any indication, they may not need to be. At the very least, Iowa has proved that it won't be terrible. The Hawkeyes rank No. 87 in Ken Pomeroy's efficiency rankings; their offense is averaging 1.08 points per possession on the season. Defense has been an issue, but in the past two games the Hawks have allowed an average of 1.0 ppp -- a massive improvement made all the more impressive by the fact it happened twice on the road. If Iowa can maintain that level of defense, it can score with Big Ten opponents.

Of course, the Hawkeyes are hardly a Big Ten title contender. A top-half Big Ten finish, a .500-or-better record, is still a long way off. But Iowa has, at the very least, proved one thing: It isn't terrible. Given this program's struggles in the past decade, its desperate search for relevance both locally and nationally, and its early-season performance -- again: this team lost at home to Campbell -- that alone is an accomplishment.

Anthony Hubbard will get his second chance from a coach who knows all about second chances.

Iowa had taken a chance on signing Hubbard before abruptly releasing the junior college transfer and 26-year-old ex-felon from his national letter of intent in July so he could attend school closer to his Virginia home.

Now according to the Des Moines Register, Hubbard has enrolled at Morgan State to play for coach Todd Bozeman, who received an eight-year show-cause penalty for paying the parents of a Cal player before landing his current job.

"Everybody I talked to told me Anthony was a good kid," Bozeman said. "People make mistakes in life. Some of us get more attention than others. But everybody deserves to move on. I made a mistake in my professional career, got another chance and made the most of it."

...

Bozeman had a question of his own: How is Hubbard [in deciding to leave Iowa] any different from all the coaches who change jobs?

"How's that different from Dana Altman going to Arkansas and coming back to Creighton? People change their minds."

Bozeman told the paper he didn't have any indication that Hubbard was forced out at Iowa, but the circumstances of the departure remain unclear.

The Hawkeyes have not said much about Hubbard's departure since announcing his release, with coach Fran McCaffery saying it was the player's decision. The team had explored Hubbard's background before signing someone who had served nearly four years in prison after being convicted in connection with a 2003 home robbery.

Athletic director Gary Barta has since said Hubbard did not have added restrictions while at Iowa without confirming or denying whether the 6-foot-5 guard was dismissed.

McCaffery told the Des Moines Register last week that he wished Hubbard the best at Morgan State.

"Things happen in recruiting," McCaffery said. "I don't take anything personally. I still think the world of the kid. I think he’s going to be great. I hope he gets his degree, has two good years and then hopefully plays some professional basketball."

McCaffery discounted speculation that Hubbard was told to leave because he didn’t fulfill a set of standards put in place for him after he signed.

"He decided to transfer," McCaffery said. "That was it."

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- During last week's EYBL Peach Jam, ESPN.com surveyed 15 head coaches on a range of topics. Here are their responses on a topic involving their fellow coaches.

There are five seconds left in a tie game. Your opponent has the ball. What coach would you most worry about diagramming the last play?

Rick Barnes, Texas: Dean Smith. “No question. He was a great situation guy.’’

Mark Fox, Georgia: “It’s the guy with the best players. I don’t care what the play is.’’

Darrin Horn, South Carolina: “It’s about the players, not the pen. Whoever has the best players wins.’’

Ben Howland, UCLA: Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim or Jim Calhoun. “Those three guys have been through just about every situation you can imagine.’’

Bob Huggins, West Virginia: Rick Pitino. “I think he’s a pretty good coach but I also think he inspires confidence in his players and that’s so important in those end-game situations.’’

Tom Izzo, Michigan State: Mike Krzyzewski. “He’s been doing this a long time and his track record speaks for itself. Plus he can say, ‘Eenie, meenie, miney mo and pick the guy who will beat you.’’

Kerry Keating, Santa Clara: Eric Reveno. “He went to Stanford. He has three degrees. One of them has to help him come up with a good endgame play.’’

Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s: The tree of Thad Matta. “Matta, Sean Miller, Chris Mack. They have so many plays that they can cover just about anything.’’

Fran McCaffery, Iowa: Tom Izzo. “He runs really good late-game stuff. You have to be concise with your switching and your trapping.’’

Josh Pastner, Memphis: John Calipari. “In those situations you have to be quick with your thinking and he really is. He grabs the board and draws up something immediately. It’s a gift, really.’’ Pastner also named Jeff Van Gundy.

Rick Pitino, Louisville: Dean Smith. “He was a great timeout guy. He lived for that. Plus he had great players. Who do you want, Jordan or Worthy to beat you?”

Mark Turgeon, Maryland: John Beilein. “He’s a terrific X's and O's guy.’’

Bruce Weber, Illinois: Kevin Stallings. “I coached with him and I know how good he is. I always say he’s an offensive genius.’’

Roy Williams, North Carolina: Dean Smith. “We practiced it every day. There was nothing we could face that he hadn’t practiced, so when it happened you were ready.’’

Jay Wright, Villanova: John Beilein. “I know he lives and dies by the 3 but he’d also have an option, a guy driving to the rim. He wouldn’t go to a player but to a play.’’

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- During last week's EYBL Peach Jam, ESPN.com surveyed 15 head coaches on a range of topics. Here are their responses on a topic involving their fellow coaches.

Who is the smartest coach in college basketball right now?

Rick Barnes, Texas: “I don’t know if I can name one guy.’’

Mark Fox, Georgia: Mike Krzyzewski. “He’s on a different level than everyone else. Conceptually, philosophically he’s just ahead of everyone else.’’

Darrin Horn, South Carolina: Tom Izzo. “His consistency and to do what he’s done at a place that isn’t Kansas or UCLA, with 50 years of amazing tradition, that’s just incredible.’’

Ben Howland, UCLA: Brad Stevens and Jamie Dixon. “He looks pretty darned smart to do what he’s done. And Jamie’s winning percentage at Pittsburgh is incredible.’’

Bob Huggins, West Virginia: John Calipari. “I cannot understand how he can have all these things going on and still be as good as he is. Who can do that? To be involved in all he’s involved in, that’s incredible. I don’t think anyone realizes what a great job he’s done the past two years basically starting over with a new team. And he’ll do it again this year and still be good.’’

Tom Izzo, Michigan State: Mark Fox. “I watch what he’s been able to do with his program and I’m really impressed. His demeanor, the way he runs his program and handles his players. I think he’s a really great young coach.’’

Kerry Keating, Santa Clara: Jim Calhoun. “Whoever won the last championship has to be the smartest guy because he figured it out. We are all only as good and as smart as our last game. Plus, Coach Calhoun was smart enough to recruit Kemba.’’

Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s: Jim Boeheim. “I don’t think people appreciate how well he knows the game. You could ask him the top freshmen right now and he could tell you. He really studies the game.’’

Fran McCaffery, Iowa: John Calipari. “He’s so innovative, off and on the court.’’

Josh Pastner, Memphis: Mike Krzyzewski. “He takes everyone’s best shot every night and he never wavers. The teams that they’re supposed to beat by a large margin, they beat by a large margin. To be up like that all the time just speaks volumes to the level of motivation he gives that team.’’

Rick Pitino, Louisville: Mike Krzyzewski. “He’s the most experienced and no matter what the situation, he never panics.’’

Mark Turgeon, Maryland: Kevin Stallings. “He’s a very intelligent guy and an excellent coach.’’

Bruce Weber, Illinois: Tom Izzo and Roy Williams. “They both run competitive programs. They recruit kids that graduate. They win championships and they have good reputations.’’

Roy Williams, North Carolina: Mike Montgomery and Mike Krzyzewski. “I think Mike Montgomery is pretty darned sharp and I have no problem saying that I think Mike Krzyzewski is, too.’’

Jay Wright, Villanova: Mike Krzyzewski. “He’s got it all. He’s a great X’s and O’s coach. He has the personality. He’s a great motivator and he develops his players.’’

If you don't recall the ballad of Anthony Hubbard, start here. The short version is as follows: At the age of 18, Hubbard committed armed robbery with a group of friends, a crime that sent him to prison for four years. After he served his sentence, Hubbard discovered his basketball ability -- he didn't even play in high school -- ability that eventually landed him at Frederick Community College, where he has shone on the floor ever since.

That ability led college coaches to come calling, but it's not exactly easy to recruit a 26-year-old felon to your program. A fair amount of hesitation is par for the course. So Iowa coach Fran McCaffery tentatively reached out. He did some homework. He spoke to Hubbard's coaches. He learned of Hubbard's work with disaffected youth and his attempts to rectify the mistakes he made as a lookout driver for an armed robbery and home invasion. He met with Hubbard in Iowa City.

After it all, McCaffery came away convinced Anthony Hubbard had changed, that his life was on the right track, and that he was "somebody we'd like to have in our program," as he said in April.

The feeling is no longer mutual. According to a release from Iowa athletics, Hubbard has decided he wants to find a college destination closer to his current home at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Md. From the release:

"Obviously, we're disappointed. We invested a substantial amount of time and energy in the recruitment of Anthony. The positive is that we learn today of Anthony's decision versus learning of it in August or September," said UI men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery. [...]

"I am disappointed for Fran, our staff and the other staff on our campus that were involved from the start on what was clearly a very unique recruiting process. It's unfortunate it hasn't worked out as we had hoped. We, of course, wish Anthony the very best," said Iowa Director of Athletics Gary Barta.

If we had to guess, "disappointed" is a very diplomatic, restrained way of saying "absolutely furious." Coaches hate losing players to transfers; it amounts to a huge waste of resources and time. They especially hate losing talented contributors, and Hubbard was projected to be one of those, too.

In this case especially, however, those resources and time -- the effort and energy spent shepherding Hubbard through the letter of intent process at Iowa, the interfacing with various university and athletics officials, the extensive background checks and meetings, the vouching for character, all of it -- was all done in vain. Hubbard's decision doesn't invalidate his character, but it is a stomach-punch level bummer for a program that just spent much of its summer on a risky proposition.

In the end, Iowa deserves a lot of credit here. Not only was it willing to give Hubbard a shot, but it greeted this decision with a fair amount of class. The Hawkeyes have placed no restrictions on Hubbard's potential transfer destinations, nor have they acted to stall the process or prevent the player from leaving. Instead, Iowa took its licks, let Hubbard do what he felt was best for him and moved on. That's as praiseworthy as the original story and arguably no less difficult.

INDIANAPOLIS -- With its NCAA tournament bid hanging in the balance, Michigan State rallied from a seven-point deficit midway through the second half and then held on in the final minutes to beat Iowa 66-61.The Spartans overcame a second-half right leg injury that limited guard Kalin Lucas and made just enough plays to eke out a victory over the 11-20 Hawkeyes.

Turning point: Down 52-45, State got some key stops and scored on five straight possessions to take a 55-54 lead. The Spartans never again relinquished the lead, although it got down to a single point in the final 90 seconds.

Key player: Durrell Summers. The senior guard has had a horrible season, but he scored the Spartans' final seven points to pull them through.

Key stat: Facing at-large bid elimination, Michigan State reverted to an old staple to pull this one out. It hit the glass. Michigan State outrebounded the Hawkeyes by eight, led by Draymond Green's 14 total rebounds and six on the offensive glass.

Miscellaneous: All-Big Ten freshman Melsahn Basabe was benched by Iowa coach Fran McCaffery for the final minutes after some poor possessions in which he turned over the ball on a somewhat selfish offensive move and failed to hustle back defensively.

What’s next: Michigan State will face Purdue on Friday in a game that would seemingly cinch a bid. Iowa's season is over.