Coming off of back-to-back appearances in the national championship game, the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team knows what it takes and brings the experience on the roster to create more magic.
The Hawkeyes are lost Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall, three starters from the last two squads appearing in the title game. But, they are reloading by adding Lucy Olsen, one of the top-ranked transfer additions, via the portal to plug in as a very talent guard.
Predicting the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament bracket roughly 11 months ahead of time is an impossible task, but it gives a rough idea of what some may think of teams heading into next season. In ESPN’s first version of their 2025 women’s bracketology, the Iowa Hawkeyes are the No. 8 seed in the Region 3 Birmingham bracket.
This would be a sharp change for the Hawkeyes. They would be hitting the road for the first two rounds, which goes against the tradition they have built of hosting the first two rounds at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The No. 1 seeds are South Carolina, Notre Dame, UConn and USC, an incoming Big Ten member. The Big Ten has a good showing in the early bracketology. Nine conference members have spots in this projection: UCLA (No. 2 seed), Ohio State (No. 4), Nebraska (No. 5), Illinois (No. 6), Maryland (No. 7), Michigan State (No. 7) and Indiana (No. 8).
While it is a long way off, the Iowa Hawkeyes have set the standard in their program of being an NCAA Tournament team year after year, and Lisa Bluder has delivered on that with 18 NCAA Tournament appearances. Making the trip next year, and possibly much higher than a No. 8 seed, should come as no surprise.
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