Dance Card: Iowa, Big Ten at-large

Who? The Hawkeyes of Iowa.

What? The Hawkeye name is derived from The Last of the Mohicans. Herky came about in 1948.

Where? Iowa City, Iowa, which was created to be the capital of Iowa (that didn't last).

When? March 23rd, in Iowa City, Iowa.

Why? Strong conference record.

How? They were an at-large selection.

Surprise? The Big Ten doesn't release predictions past the top three, so we'll never know who expected Iowa to finish where, but they ended up in fifth.

RPI: 23

SOS: 48

Record: 26-8 (14-6 Big Ten)

Good wins: Dayton. At Penn State (one does not simply walk into State College).

Bad losses: At Indiana and at Colorado don't look as good as they did earlier in the season.

Who's running this show? Lisa Bluder, since 2000, Iowa's winningest coach.

Extra, Extra! Hawk Central, brought to you by both the Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Junior center Bethany Doolittle leads the Hawkeyes in scoring with 14.2 points per game, but it's junior guard Samantha Logic from whom everything flows. The point guard averages 13.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and just for good measure, 24 steals. The Hawkeyes rely heavily on their starters; all five of them score in double figures, but after that, scoring drops off to Kali Peschel's 4.5 per game. They're not strong on the boards, (-1 rebounding margin) and have actually taken fewer shots than their opponents.