As a diehard Iowa basketball fan, I can't remember an upcoming season filled with so much anticipation and excitement. You might remember my article from a little over a month ago talking about how Iowa is a favorite to win the 2021 NCAA basketball title. Well, they're off to a good start at that goal, being ranked in the top 5 in a pre-season poll.

According to 247Sports, CBS Sports college basketball analyst Gary Parrish has revealed his top 25 in the nation. He has the Hawkeyes ranked 5th!

For good reason too, if Luka Garza, the presumed preseason National Player of the Year, returns for his senior season he'll be the catalyst for a loaded veteran laden Iowa roster. That roster includes the return of "Mr. Clutch", and three-point bomb specialist, Jordan Bohannon after season ending hip surgery. Parrish added:

"Fran McCaffery should have the best team he's ever had in 22 years as a Division I head coach."

The pre-season hype is real and deserved. The 2020/21 season could be one to remember my fellow Hawkeye fans. Could they win a Big 10 regular season title for the first time in over 40 years? How about their first "Sweet-16" appearance since 1999, or they're first return to the "Final 4" since 1980, and maybe even, a national championship? (I could die a happy man)

Iowa basketball players will be allowed to return to campus for voluntary workouts on June 15. For now, Iowa fans are sitting on "pins and needles" over the next couple of weeks, eagerly awaiting Garza's final decision on his future. The NBA, or one more record-setting year with his Hawkeyes? C'mon "big man", you know what to do. As Luka's father , Frank Garza would say, "Let the peacock fly"!

Of course, a fall/winter resurgence of COVID-19 is always there, lurking in the shadows. If this dreaded virus does have a second wave in the wintertime, and takes away possibly the best season in Iowa basketball history, I swear, I will bang my head against the wall. Hopefully, for everyone's sake, the sports world will be back to some sort of "normalcy" by then. For now, all we can do is dream, and I'll take that. #GOHAWKS

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