Elite Company

March 22, 2014

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IOWA CITY, Iowa – As Lisa Bluder continues to prepare her University of Iowa women’s basketball team for Sunday’s first round NCAA Tournament game against Marist, friends and fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes can take pride in the fact that the University of Iowa is one of only seven institutions to have had their football team participate in a January bowl game and both of their basketball teams have their tickets punched for their respective national championship.

Iowa, whose football team squared off against LSU in the 2014 Outback Bowl after an 8-4 regular season that saw Kirk Ferentz’s squad double its win total from the 2013 season, is joined in this elite group by Big Ten Conference peers Nebraska and Michigan State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma of the Big 12 Conference, and Stanford of the Pac-12 Conference.

Fans of the Hawkeyes – and the Big Ten Conference – can also take particular pride in this next fact: Only three of the seven schools that scored the aforementioned triple also had all three programs rank in the Top 25 in attendance. The list includes three Big Ten teams: Iowa, Nebraska, and Michigan State.

“It was exciting to see Kirk’s team rebound during last year’s regular season and make yet another trip to Tampa for the Outback Bowl. It was also tremendously rewarding, particularly for Fran, his staff, and all of the student-athletes who have been a part of his program including this year’s seniors, to see `IOWA’ on the board on NCAA Selection Sunday,” said Gary Barta, UI director of athletics.

“Now we get the opportunity to cheer Lisa’s team again here in Carver. Fans of the Hawkeyes should be very proud of the great work of the coaches and student-athletes in these three UI programs. And, of course, we thank them for giving us a great home field and home court advantage.”

IOWA IN ELITE COMPANY
Fans of the Hawkeyes can also take pride in the face that of the seven schools that had teams advance to a January bowl game, and the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments, the UI was of just three that also had all three teams ranked in the Top 25 in attendance.

Note: Source for attendance rankings was ncaa.org