Ben McCollum and the Iowa Hawkeyes aren't shying away from competition. The Hawkeyes' 2026-27 schedule has turned up the heat with early-season tests from the jump.

The nonconference slate is littered with quality opponents, which are sure to play a role in Iowa's NCAA Tournament resume. Looking at the lineup of games before Big Ten play begins, some things stand out.

Iowa is not padding its schedule with a slate of cupcake games against Quad 3 and Quad 4 opponents this year. Sure, there are a few tune-up games on the slate (sorry, Lipscomb, Eastern Illinois, UMBC, and Western Illinois), but every team needs those.

Iowa is taking on teams from the ACC, Big East, Big 12, and the SEC with games against Virginia Tech, Creighton, Xavier, Iowa State, and Alabama.

Iowa has five chances to pick up wins against teams that are expected to be NCAA Tournament-bound, or at the very least, fighting for a spot in the newly expanded field of 76 teams.

The Hawkeyes don't have to pick up all five games, but you have to think that anything less than going 3-2 against these teams would feel a bit underwhelming and dig a hole for Iowa before Big Ten play even begins.

Talk about a favorable travel schedule. This is about as good as it gets for the nonconference slate. Of Iowa's 12 games, the Hawkeyes see 11 of them staying within the borders of the state.

Not all are at home in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, though. Eight of these contests are in Iowa City, while three others are being used to appeal to fans statewide.

Virginia Tech and Iowa meet up in Sioux City, Iowa, which is still going to be a pseudo-home game for the Hawkeyes. The other two games against Creighton and Alabama are taking place in Des Moines, Iowa.

The game against Creighton figures to be a split of fans, with Des Moines sitting essentially as the midway point for the two schools.

Maybe it's buying into what we saw last year too much or believing in Ben McCollum's past success at every stop, but there is a very real path to 10 wins here, which would be outstanding for the Hawkeyes.

Looking at the schedule, I break the games into three tiers: likely wins, potential losses, and toss-ups.

Likely wins: Lipscomb, Eastern Illinois, Virginia Tech, UMBC, Prairie View A&M, Western Illinois, Bethune-Cookman, South Dakota

Potential losses: Iowa State, Alabama

Toss-ups: Creighton, Xavier

If Iowa can figure out a way to split the games that could be potential losses and toss-ups, there are 10 wins right there. Realistically, though, there is bound to be a bad shooting night along the way.

As good as 10 wins would be with this schedule, getting out of here with a 9-3 record would be a success for Iowa to build on.