It’s a great time to be a fan of Iowa women’s basketball. The Hawkeyes enter the 2022-23 women’s college basketball season after a 24-8 season that included a share of the Big Ten regular season championship and the Big Ten Tournament title.
Of course, Iowa returns one of the frontrunners for national player of the year honors in point guard Caitlin Clark. The 6-foot junior from West Des Moines just capped a season where she led Division I in both points and assists per game with averages of 27 points and eight assists per contest.
In the process, Clark became the first women’s college basketball player to accomplish that feat. She also averaged eight rebounds per contest.
Last season, she was named Big Ten Player of the Year, earned unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honors and also earned Big Ten Tournament MVP and was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.
Clark was named the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year and was the Dawn Staley Guard of the Year Award recipient, becoming the first student-athlete to win the Dawn Staley Award in consecutive seasons. She was also a finalist for the Naismith Award, the WBCA Wade Trophy, the John R. Wooden Award and the Honda Sport Award.
Joining Clark is a nucleus of talented players that will have the Hawkeyes back in the mix for both of the Big Ten championships next season as well as one of the contenders for the national championships once the 2023 NCAA Tournament rolls around.
Forward Monika Czinano is back after registering averages of 21.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Guards McKenna Warnock, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall all return as well. That trio averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds, 7.2 points and 6.8 points, respectively. Warnock and Marshall connected on 40.4% and 39.3% of their 3-point tries last season.
With all of that excitement in tow for the 2022-23 season, there’s really no better time than the present to parlay it into recruiting successes. Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder and her staff have stayed busy this offseason as they look to bolster this current roster and ensure exciting basketball stays in Iowa City for years to come.
Let’s take a look at an addition from last month to next season’s roster and break down six recent offers the Hawkeye staff has doled out.