Tag: Iowa women’s basketball

After back-to-back years appearing in the national title game and the departure of generational talent Caitlin Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s college basketball team will have a new face this year.

Lisa Bluder retired. Jan Jensen is taking over as the head coach. Lucy Olsen transferred in from Villanova and will play a large part in the offensive scheme.

Despite the changes, the familiar faces of Sydney Affolter and Hannah Stuelka remain with the Hawkeyes ready for their chance to leverage their experience and talent as the leaders of this team.

With the shuffling and the new year come new rankings. The preseason AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll is one of those rankings and has the Iowa Hawkeyes just on the cusp of getting ranked.

Iowa is unranked in the preseason poll but is sitting just outside the poll as the top team receiving votes.

Coming in at No. 1 in the poll is the defending champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks. The rest of the top five are No. 2 Uconn, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 UCLA.

Other Big Ten teams in the preseason rankings include No. 14 Ohio State, No. 23 Nebraska, and No. 25 Indiana.

Here’s a look at the full preseason AP Top 25.

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:

Iowa 37, TCU 30, Utah 24, Illinois 23, Stanford 17, Michigan State 16, Gonzaga 16, Vanderbilt 12, South Dakota St. 7, Miami 4, Tennessee 3, Fairfield 3, Middle Tennessee 3, Georgia Tech 2, Syracuse 1, Princeton 1.

For the first time in program history, Iowa signed four top-100 prospects in the 2024 signing class according to ESPN.

Guards Aaliyah Guyton, Teagan Mallegni, Taylor Stremlow and center Ava Heiden were all regarded as top-100 talents per ESPN. Iowa also inked in-state guard Callie Levin out of Solon High School to round out its 2024 signing class.

First-year Iowa head women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen met with the media during the Hawkeyes’ annual Media Day on Thursday. Jensen had plenty to say in previewing her 2024-25 squad.

While fielding questions on the season ahead, naturally, everyone wanted to know who has been standing out thus far from this freshman class.

“You know, I think we have a really solid great freshman class. We’re pretty well-versed in most of the positions except like maybe a true, true big.

But the versatility of Teagan Mallegni, she’s a big forward. She can post-up a little bit. She’s got a really quick good three shot. So she’s been doing a lot of great things for us,” Jensen said of her freshmen.

Jensen also made note of what Stremlow has been doing for the Hawkeyes so far. Stremlow is a 5-foot-10 guard out of Verona, Wis.

“Taylor Stremlow I’ve mentioned. She’s crafty. She’s shifty. She’s not afraid to take a chance on a pass, and that’s kind of fun. Thankfully we’re used to that with Caitlin, so when she’s trying to whip it from a long way away, we’re able to manage that. But what I like about that is she sees the court and she’s not a true point guard, and she’s edgy. She’s willing to take a little risk.

“What’s important about that for freshmen is a lot of times they’re just so worried about learning it and doing it perfectly, Taylor’s ability to kind of push the edge, that makes you better. It makes herself better. But what I like about that, she has a freedom to play for us. She has a freedom to be like, hey, I’m going to try this. No one has told me I can’t do this, so I’m going to try it. That’s really important, I think, to becoming all that you can be when you’re not so worried about making a mistake. I think those two are kind of standing out,” Jensen said.

Heiden has also been impressive. The 6-foot-4 big is out of Sherwood, Ore.

“Ava Heiden is coming. She’s a really nice big player. She’s versatile. She’s very athletic. I’m excited we have Randi Henderson back for many reasons on our staff, but as many of you will recall, Randi was our first All-Big center here, so I’m glad that Ava is going to have four years learning from her. So those three are getting some valuable minutes in rotations which we need. They’re kind of our biggest needs,” Jensen said.

Iowa women’s basketball will play its lone exhibition on Wednesday, Oct. 30 against Missouri Western.

Then, the Hawkeyes open the season on Wednesday, Nov. 6 versus Northern Illinois from inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

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The encore act for Hawkeye women’s basketball will be anxiously anticipated in Iowa City.

After the heights that Caitlin Clark lifted Iowa up to, buzz and interest surrounding the program remains high entering the 2024-25 women’s college basketball season.

A pair of Iowa games were featured among On3’s top 10 Big Ten dates in the 2024-25 season.

Iowa’s annual Cy-Hawk date versus Iowa State on Wednesday, Dec. 11 was listed as the No. 5 ranked game involving a Big Ten squad per On3’s Talia Goodman.

Hawkeyes vs. Cyclones is a rivalry matchup that is sure to be entertaining even without Caitlin Clark. Iowa State has only won one of the last eight matchups, but they’ve got the better roster this time around. Can the Iowa Hawkeyes win this one post-Clark? – Goodman, On3.

Iowa State brings back one of the nation’s best bigs in sophomore center Audi Crooks. The 6-foot-3 center averaged 19.2 points and 7.8 rebounds in leading the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament’s second round. The Cyclones also return double-figure scorer Addy Brown, a sophomore forward that averaged 13.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.

Iowa’s home date versus UCLA was ranked as the No. 10 Big Ten date on the slate by Goodman.

If Iowa can retain its dedicated fanbase from years past, playing the Hawkeyes at their place is no easy task. The Bruins, being on the West Coast, will have to do a lot of traveling. This is a game that may trip them up on the road if Lucy Olsen’s talents translate to the Big Ten as expected. – Goodman, On3.

UCLA was ranked No. 5 in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25 back in May. The Bruins feature junior center Lauren Betts and junior guard Kiki Rice. Betts averaged 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, while Rice averaged 13.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

The Bruins added graduate guard Charlisse Leger-Walker from Washington State and junior guard Timea Gardiner from Oregon State. Leger-Walker led Washington State in scoring, averaging 13.2 points per game. She also added 6.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Gardiner averaged 11.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Obviously, it will be a new-look Hawkeye bunch given that Clark, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall have moved on. Iowa should still be plenty good, though.

Thanks to the addition of the nation’s No. 3 scorer from a season ago in Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen, Iowa reloaded its backcourt in a hurry. Olsen will join a backcourt group that also features Sydney Affolter, Kylie Feuerbach and Taylor McCabe.

The Hawkeyes also signed freshman guards Taylor Stremlow, Aaliyah Guyton, Teagan Mallegni and Callie Levin.

Inside, Iowa returns junior forward Hannah Stuelke and senior center Addison O’Grady. Freshman center Ava Heiden could factor into the rotation quickly as well.

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