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Random Thoughts By Rick Klatt R PI. BPI. Quality wins. Quality losses. Strength of schedule. Strength of opponent schedule. Home game schedule. Away game schedule. Conference schedule. Nonconference schedule. Last three games. Last five games. Last 10 games. Joe Lunardi. Ken Pomeroy. On the bubble. Off the bubble. A bubble-buster. Last four in. First four out. Next four out. NCAA Selection Committee. March Madness. Yeah. It is Madness, but, oh, how wonderful it is to be mad again! Let���s hit the pause button and take a minute to think about this. Here we are getting ready to turn the page on the calendar to the third month of the year ��� the month that means the most to fans of college basketball ��� and the men���s basketball team at the University of Iowa is part of the conversation for the first time in what seems like forever. How much fun is that? Sure, there���s work to be done. Plenty. Regular-season games against Indiana, Illinois, and Nebraska loom on the horizon. Then, there���s the trek to Chicago and the United Center, where multiple opportunities to impress decision-makers are available for those who want to grab them and squeeze them for all they���re worth. A win or two inside the building Michael built are difference-makers. Of course, it goes without saying that one-and-done isn���t good for anyone���s resume. Every game in March is big for those who want to be part of the spectacle that is the NCAA Tournament. And the Hawkeyes ��� like every team that���s dancing on a bubble this time of year ��� to hear their name called on Selection Sunday and to see ���Iowa Hawkeyes��� on a line in all of those brackets that will be literally everywhere Monday morning. But, let���s take a step back and review the bigger picture. The fact that it���s late February we���re talking ��� in very realistic terms ��� about what it would take for Fran���s squad to receive the phone call in the late afternoon/ early evening on the third Sunday of March is incredibly exciting���and kudos to Fran, his staff, and the student-athletes for doing the heavy lifting. ** On the one hand, you have a program ��� Fran McCaffery���s UI men���s basketball program ��� attempting to climb back up a mountain. On the other, you have another ��� Lisa Bluder���s UI women���s basketball program ��� that was very successful recently in not to slipping off. In my uneducated opinion, Bluder���s Bunch punched its ticket for participation in its national championship by punching Purdue squarely in its nose on Sunday, Feb. 17. On that afternoon, the Hawkeyes shook off the burden of a five-game losing streak and thumped the nationally ranked Boilermakers by 20 ��� yes, 20 ��� on Keady Court, a place that had been none-too-kind to Bluder and her team over the last 15 years. The win was Iowa���s seventh of season against a team ranked in the Top 25 at tipoff and, barring unexpected calamities in the Hawkeyes��� final regular season games and at the Big Ten���s postseason party, I think ��� and shame on me for going out on a limb a second time in less than a month ��� the Hawkeyes shouldn���t worry so much about whether they���re ���in������but where they���ll be seeded. They already know their destination. It will be Carver-Hawkeye Arena, one of the eight first and second-round sites for this year���s NCAA women���s basketball championship. 33