As with most things months away, a lot can happen between now and then but my initial reaction to the recently released Big Ten conference basketball schedule is it did the Iowa basketball team zero favors.
Fran McCaffery and his retooled Iowa basketball squad are set to open Big Ten Conference play by traveling on the road to Ann Arbor to take on Juwan Howard and his Michigan team. Three nights later, they get a tough Minnesota team at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The schedule to start the new year isn’t half bad though with a mix of home games against some of the tougher teams in the conference (Maryland, Michigan, and Wisconsin) and road games against some of the weaker teams in the conference (Penn State, Northwestern, and Nebraska) but that’s not what I am worried about.