After back-to-back trips to the Final Four and national championship games, Iowa women’s basketball begins the post-Caitlin Clark era in the receiving votes category of the preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
Iowa received 28 points in the preseason Coaches Poll to sit outside the initial top 25 rankings. The Hawkeyes were also unranked in the preseason AP Top 25 Women’s Basketball Poll.
For Iowa, this will be quite the departure in expectations for the returning Hawkeyes. Key returnees such as senior guard Sydney Affolter and junior forward Hannah Stuelke will enter a season without the weight of Big Ten championship and Final Four expectations.
Affolter averaged 8.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 55.2% from the field, 41.4% from 3-point range and 83.0% from the free throw line. The 5-foot-11 guard is working her way back from a successful preseason surgical scope of her knee and is expected to return in early November.
Stuelke was Iowa’s leading scorer a season ago, averaging 14.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game on 62.7% field goal shooting.
The Hawkeyes added the nation’s third-leading scorer in Villanova transfer point guard Lucy Olsen out of the transfer portal this past offseason. Olsen averaged 23.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 43.8% from the floor, 29.4% from 3-point distance and 80.7% from the charity stripe.
The top five in the preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll features No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Connecticut, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Notre Dame.
A number of other Big Ten schools find themselves within the preseason top 25 or in the receiving votes category. UCLA begins ranked No. 6, Ohio State is No. 14, Maryland is No. 18, Nebraska is No. 23 and Indiana is No. 24.
Here’s a look at the full preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
| Rank | School (Last Year’s Record) | Points | First Place Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Carolina (38-0) | 770 | 27 |
| 2 | Connecticut (33-6) | 734 | 3 |
| 3 | Southern California (29-6) | 716 | 1 |
| 4 | Texas (33-5) | 670 | – |
| 5 | Notre Dame (28-7) | 629 | – |
| 6 | UCLA (27-7) | 612 | – |
| 7 | LSU (31-6) | 567 | – |
| 8 | North Carolina State (31-7) | 533 | – |
| 9 | Iowa State (21-12) | 487 | – |
| 10 | Oklahoma (23-10) | 457 | – |
| 11 | Duke (22-12) | 449 | – |
| 12 | Baylor (26-8) | 434 | – |
| 13 | Kansas State (26-8) | 407 | – |
| 14 | Ohio State (26-6) | 405 | – |
| 15 | West Virginia (25-8) | 285 | – |
| 16 | North Carolina (20-13) | 263 | – |
| 17 | Louisville (24-10) | 261 | – |
| 18 | Maryland (19-14) | 254 | – |
| 19 | Florida State (23-11) | 177 | – |
| 20 | Creighton (26-6) | 150 | – |
| 21 | Mississippi (24-9) | 135 | – |
| 22 | Kentucky (12-20) | 106 | – |
| 23 | Nebraska (23-12) | 92 | – |
| 24 | Indiana (26-6) | 75 | – |
| 25 | Alabama (24-10) | 57 | – |
Others Receiving Votes
Gonzaga 49; TCU 37; Tennessee 32; Stanford 32; Iowa 28; Utah 25; South Dakota State 22; Oregon State 21; Princeton 18; Colorado 15; Virginia Tech 10; Illinois 9; Middle Tennessee 8; Fairfield 7; Richmond 6; California 6; Auburn 5; UNLV 4; Miami (FL) 4; FGCU 4; South Florida 3; George Mason 2; Saint Joseph’s 1; Michigan 1; Cleveland State 1;
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