NCAA sends parting message to Iowa Hawkeyes star Bennett Stirtz after the team’s Elite Eight loss to Illinois in March Madness.

The Iowa Hawkeyes (24-12) are headed to Toyota Center on Saturday where they will play the Illinois Fighting Illini (27-8) in the Elite 8. Iowa opens this contest as 6-point underdogs. The over/under is set at 138.

The Iowa Hawkeyes lone representation in this list should come as no surprise.

Record-breaking temperatures outside Carver-Hawkeye Arena turned Iowa’s basketball home into a sauna Saturday afternoon, and the second-seeded Hawkeyes nearly melted down in the oppressive heat. With the on-floor temperature peaking at 90 degrees during the fourth quarter,

Coach Ben McCollum leaned on Missouri roots and former Northwest Missouri State stars like Bennett Stirtz to lift Iowa into the Sweet 16.

IOWA CITY — It had been long assumed that the Iowa Hawkeyes would be hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, a surety that was confirmed Saturday. The seed? It had looked like a “2” for the past four weeks or so.

It has been 46 years since the Iowa Hawkeyes reached the Final Four in men's basketball. The last time came in 1980, when a balanced, experienced group put together one of the best tournament runs in program history.

Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler of SM Northwest is headed to the Final Four. Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz, a native of Liberty, also excelled in the South Regional final.

Caitlin Clark has taken on a bigger challenge now but three years ago but three years ago, she achieved something that put him in history books of both men and women's hoops.