The Hawkeyes got the ranking their sensational season deserves when the latest AP poll was released Monday.
Iowa, a perfect 7-0 in Big Ten play, is the nation's new No. 3 team, up from No. 9 a week after seven of the eight teams previously ranked ahead of them suffered defeats.
The Hawkeyes' latest impressive victory came Sunday, a 12-point win over ranked Purdue, the fourth win over a ranked foe during Iowa's 7-0 Big Ten start. Those four wins are season sweeps of Michigan State and Purdue.
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The Hawkeyes are 16-3 overall this season, their losses coming against Dayton, Notre Dame and Iowa State. They're getting plenty of additional national attention, too, with ESPN's Joe Lunardi placing Iowa as a No. 2 seed in his Bracketology forecast of the NCAA tournament field. Those three teams Iowa lost to also made Lunardi's bracket projection, and two (Iowa State and Notre Dame) were ranked in this week's poll.
Iowa has a big test upcoming, playing Maryland on Thursday night in College Park.
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Elsewhere in this week's top-25 rankings, Maryland dropped one spot from No. 7 to No. 8 following its loss at Michigan State on Saturday. The Terps are 17-3 on the season and boast a 6-2 conference record heading into Thursday's top-10 showdown with Iowa.
Michigan State dropped one spot, from No. 11 to No. 12. Despite a big win over Maryland on Saturday, there was a loss to Nebraska a few days prior, which had the biggest effect on the Spartans' drop. Sparty is 17-4 on the season but just 4-4 in conference play. Games against Northwestern and Rutgers come this week.
Indiana jumped up from No. 25 to No. 19. The Hoosiers are also off to a perfect 7-0 start in Big Ten play and are one a 12-game winning streak, but their schedule has been heavily criticized, having faced no ranked conference opponents yet. Four more games against unranked teams are next up before a Feb. 11 game against Iowa.
Purdue, despite losing by double digits at Iowa on Sunday, moved up one spot from No. 22 to No. 21. The Boilermakers, at 17-4 on the season and 5-3 in conference play, face Minnesota and Nebraska this week.