It’s shaping up to be another exciting women’s college basketball season in the Big Ten. Fortunately for those with their season tickets to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the best team among a stacked Big Ten is Iowa.
At least, that’s what the preseason USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll voters think. The coaches ranked the Iowa Hawkeyes tied-No. 6 nationally to start. That’s tops among Big Ten squads, paving the way for the league ahead of fellow league members in No. 11 Indiana, No. 15 Ohio State, No. 18 Maryland, No. 22 Nebraska, and No. 23 Michigan.
Last season, Iowa shared the regular season Big Ten crown with Ohio State before also capturing the Big Ten Tournament title by topping Indiana. The Hawkeyes nabbed a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and finished the season 24-8 overall after being stunned 64-62 by 10th-seeded Creighton in front of a sellout Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
That’s all ancient history now. The Hawkeyes were actually a couple spots higher in the preseason Associated Press Poll where Iowa checked in as the nation’s No. 4 team to start. With star point guard Caitlin Clark and star post Monika Czinano back along with a talented supporting cast, the Hawkeyes are one of the popular picks to cut down the nets come this springtime.
Clark was recently announced as The Athletic’s Preseason Player of the Year and she was also an unanimous preseason Associated Press All-American. Clark averaged 27.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game last season, while Czinano added 21.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
The Hawkeyes’ other returning double-figure scorer from a year ago is forward McKenna Warnock who finished with averages of 11.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Needless to say, Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder is excited about the group she gets to coach during the 2022-23 season.
The full top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll looks like this: No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Louisville, No. 6 Iowa, No. 6 Connecticut, No. 8 North Carolina State, No. 9 Iowa State and No. 10 Notre Dame.
Other College Wire teams that find themselves in the rankings include No. 12 North Carolina, No. 14 LSU, No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 20 Oregon.
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