Honestly Iowa has, more or less, cemented itself as the heel because of certain fanatics and trolls. What keeps on NOT happening is them fading off in to the background.
For some stupid reason people have a hard time accepting that Iowa is here and is going to be here as long as there is college wrestling to talk about. Even if they stood pat and did NOTHING, they were competing for 2nd place. They didn't stand pat.
They picked up a 149lber for the next three years and even if they didn't get much else in the TP, they absolutely were a key piece during the entire process. Why? Because it's Iowa.
They lost possibly the GOAT 125lber ever, had injury not derailed him. As far as peak performance ever? Spencer Lee is the greatest 125lber NCAA D1 wrestling has ever seen. Period. Who did they get to replace him? Ayala. Another contender. Bet your ass he is contending.
Teske and Woods are back. They may have lost Murin, but VV will be contending right where Murin left off, maybe a small step back. Siebrecht, Kennedy, Brands, Assad, and Cassioppi all back. They only actually lost one potential point scoring weight in 197. One! Yet they're not going to contend? That's a joke. Even I, the 3rd largest UofM fan on this board know that Iowa is still favored over Michigan right now. That is the way it should be, too.