Brain Gets Up Close Look At Iowa Basketball Team

I don't get to very many Iowa men's basketball games during the year. So when some friends asked if we could use their tickets for Sunday afternoon's game against Cal Poly we said, 'why not'? But these tickets got us closer to the action than we ever thought we'd be.

Before I get into the amazing sights we saw, I'd like to lead into this story with the fact that I forgot my phone in the car when we entered Carver-Hawkeye Arena. And once you're in, you can't go back out to get it. So all the amazing sights and sounds that we experienced I couldn't even take a picture of. So the only picture I have is one that several listeners sent me when I was shown courtside during coverage on the Big Ten Network. 

Our seats Sunday were as close to courtside as I've ever been. Second row right behind the visitor's bench. It was fairly easy to see that Cal Poly wasn't going to be much of a test for the Hawkeyes. Iowa got hot early thanks to some great shooting from C.J Fredricks. He led Iowa with 21 points on 7 of 8 shooting from the field. Iowa's size advantage inside was also evident right away. Luka Garza is simply huge up close. He finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds. This Iowa team has got some great size inside. With Garza, Jack Nunge, Ryan Kriener, and Cordell Pemsl, few teams should be able to outmuscle them down low.

But the guard play is another story. Connor McCaffery is OK at the point but is never going to wow you. He had seven assists Sunday and just two turnovers. Freshman Joe Touissant plays hard every minute he's on the court. But he's a freshman and he needs to improve his outside shooting to go with his penetration game. The big question is Jordan Bohannon. The senior sat out Sunday's game and is still considering a medical redshirt this year as he recovers from hip surgery in the offseason. If he can't go, this Iowa team will struggle.

[via BlackHeartGoldPants]