Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Iowa fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
As we quickly approach the midway point of the 2025-2026 season, the first for the Iowa Hawkeyes under new head coach Ben McCollum, it’s time to take some stock of how things have progressed.
It’s an interesting debate, given McCollum came to Iowa City with a long track record of absurd
success, but none of it at the high major level. Add to that the fact the entire roster, save for Cooper Koch, turned over year-to-year and this version of the Hawkeyes is essentially made up of Drake players, some of whom were D-II players just two years ago.
Expectations for this season were likely all over the map depending on who you asked for those very reasons. At the end of the day, I think a reasonable hope was that this would be a team that reignited the fanbase and pushed for contention for an NCAA Tournament bid come March.
Heading into the second weekend in January with 16 games remaining, the Hawkeyes find themselves at 12-3 overall and 2-2 in Big Ten conference play. They’re currently in 8th place in the conference and firmly in the Tournament if things ended today, being ranked #19 nationally (and 19th in the NET, KenPom as well as Torvik and 18th in KenPom).
But they’re also winless on the road this season and without a quad one win, which will be critical come March. Things certainly feel a bit different at the midway point of this week than they did to start it after the Hawkeyes fell on the road at Minnesota on Tuesday evening, ending a four-game winning streak.
So our question in this week’s Reacts Poll is how year one of the Ben McCollum experience has stacked up vs your pre-season expectations. Let us know in the poll below, and then stop by the comments to let us know what your expectations are for the remainder of this season. Where do you see the Hawkeyes finishing in the conference play? Any full season record predictions? And let’s talk tournament seeding!
