The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- Iowa coach Todd Lickliter's experience with the Big Ten tournament has been limited and sadly familiar. 

All he's ever seen his Hawkeyes do is play Michigan in the opening round, lose and go home. 

The Hawkeyes (10-21, 4-14 Big Ten) get the Wolverines in Thursday's opening round game for the third year in a row. Lickliter is hoping his third Big Ten tourney matchup with Michigan (14-16, 7-11) won't end with another loss. 

But whatever happens to the Hawkeyes in Indianapolis won't change the fact that they'll go down as the first 20-loss team in
school history. The challenge for this young Iowa team is to gain some confidence after it ended the regular season with blowout losses at Wisconsin and Minnesota.

(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)