After a magical run to the Final Four and national championship last year, the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team is looking for another strong season. They return quite a bit of production and have experience across the board to make them favorites in not only the Big Ten but also the entire country.
While the season is still roughly a month away, rankings are starting to come out and storylines are beginning to develop. For Iowa, their storyline is simple. It is to win the Big Ten and make an NCAA Tournament run.
To start the year, the Hawkeyes will undoubtedly be ranked in the top 10, it is just a matter of where. In ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings for the 2023-24 women’s college basketball season, Iowa comes in at No. 6
From the moment the Hawkeyes take the court at Kinnick Stadium for their first exhibition against DePaul on Oct. 15th, until the final whistle blows for Iowa in March or April, all eyes will be on Clark’s every move. Last year was its own thrill ride to a Big Ten tournament title and the national championship game — and anything remains possible for the Hawkeyes with Clark leading the way.
The return of Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin give Clark some familiar running mates. Their experience helps mitigate the losses of Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock, but the development of 6-2 sophomore Hannah Stuelke (6.5 PPG) from Big Ten sixth player of the year to double-digit scorer is the key to Iowa’s ultimate success beyond Clark’s greatness. Previous rank: 3 – Charlie Creme, ESPN
This is a three-spot slide for the Hawkeyes in the rankings. That really isn’t due to any sort of fault of their own, but rather additions teams above them made in the transfer portal. The top five ahead of Iowa, starting at No. 1, are the LSU Tigers, the UConn Huskies, the UCLA Bruins, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Utah Utes.
LSU is the defending national champion after knocking off Iowa in the title game. They are led by star forward Angel Reese and reloaded by adding guards Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow via the transfer portal.
UConn gets guard Paige Bueckers back this year from injury and she is among the top players in the country. The Huskies should be in the conversation the entire season.
As ESPN alluded to, the Hawkeyes run through Caitlin Clark this year and she is going to have a bright spotlight on her the entire year. Clark’s first action of the year will come in front of a record-breaking crowd on Oct. 15 in the Crossover at Kinnick against the DePaul Blue Devils.
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