Things are gazing upward in college basketball when you’re never again gazing toward numerous teams in the rankings.
Both Iowa and Iowa State took care of business in separate ways this past week, bringing about top 20 rewards in both major polls released Monday.
The Cyclones (17-5, 6-3 Big 12 Conference) knock up four spots to sixteenth in the USA TODAY Coaches’ Poll (Iowa State’s highest mark of the period) and up three spaces to No. 17 in The Associated Press rankings after anticipated home successes over West Virginia and Texas.
Iowa, in the interim, exploited its last signature-win opportunity by thumping then-No. 5 Michigan 74-59 last Friday. The outcome was a dash up to No. 20 in the two surveys.
The Des Moines Register and Hawk Central utilize the coaches’ poll as their default rankings.
The Hawkeyes (17-5, 6-5 Big Ten Conference) travel to Indiana for a 8 p.m. Thursday matchup. The Hoosiers are falling off a disturbed of then-No. 8 Michigan State this previous end of the week. Iowa at that point has Northwestern at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Wolverines are currently positioned eighth and eleventh, individually, in the mentors’ survey.
Iowa State has no time to celebrate its latest leap, with an 8 p.m. game Monday at Oklahoma. The Cyclones then face TCU at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.
Both teams are holding to their rankings as far as NCAA seeding also, with one USA TODAY projection having Iowa and Iowa State planned to go head to head in a potential second-round tournament matchup.
