Top prospect Addie Deal commits to Iowa over USC, hopes to follow in Caitlin Clark’s footsteps

This might not be the final Iowa-USC battle of this women’s basketball season.

Things are looking up for Iowa women’s basketball for the present and future. The Hawkeyes won their third Big Ten Tournament Championship in a row this season. Like USC, they expect to be a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Caitlin Clark is a lock to be No. 1 pick in next month’s WNBA draft. Iowa has a lot to be happy about. Now the Hawkeyes have added five-star hooper Addie Deal.

A California native out of Mater Dei (Santa Ana), Addie Deal is one of the top players in the 2025 recruiting class.  She announced her verbal commitment. At No. 12 in HoopGurlz’ national rankings, the shooting guard became the highest-rated Iowa recruit since Caitlin Clark (No. 4, 2020)

“I’ve been an Iowa fan long before the notoriety,” Deal, a top-15 prospect nationally, said this past week. “Before I had the offer, I was reaching out to my coaches and I was like, ‘Hey the University of Iowa, I’d really love to go there and talk to the coaches.’ I was super interested in that school. So my coaches here were able to help me.

“I just think it’s amazing how far they’ve come. It’s definitely nationwide now. Everyone knows Caitlin Clark. Everyone knows Iowa women’s basketball. HawkCentral.com.

Deal picked Iowa over UCLA, LSU, Ohio State, Indiana, Duke and USC.

We will see if Iowa and USC have another basketball battle on the court — at the 2024 Final Four, potentially.

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