IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark no longer shoots logo 3-pointers at Iowa, and Lisa Bluder now drinks Bud Lights in arena suites away from the sideline. The most popular road show in women’s college basketball has dissipated and moved on to different ventures, but the team that dominated the NCAA Tournament news cycle the last two years isn’t going anywhere — at least not yet.
In what some people might call a bridge season, the sixth-seeded Hawkeyes (22-10) turned over their roster after a second straight NCAA runner-up finish. Clark and Kate Martin went to the WNBA and Bluder retired. Iowa landed Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen, elevated three new starters and brought in five freshmen for longtime consigliere Jan Jensen, who replaced Bluder at the helm.
That Iowa enters the NCAA Tournament as a confident No. 6 seed and victorious in 10 of its last 13 games belies the adversity the program faced in reaching this point. Two months ago, Iowa sat 2-6 in Big Ten play and was in jeopardy of missing the 15-team league tournament. Commentary swirled about Jensen’s coaching ability, whether Olsen was overrated, whether the holdovers were just products of Clark’s otherworldly talents and whether the freshmen had bought into the team concept. To prevent their season from imploding, the players and coaches had to look inward and stay positive.
“We really had to keep them steady,” Jensen said. “We’re closer than we’re farther. I mean, if I had a buck for every time I said that we’re closer than we’re farther … That’s where we just kept really celebrating anything little that we could, and it gets hard when you lose those in a row.”
At midseason, Iowa dropped five consecutive Big Ten games, and the final two of that streak were the most excruciating. At home against Nebraska, Olsen inexplicably missed five of six second-half free throws, and Aaliyah Guyton failed to convert a layup at the buzzer in regulation, leading to an overtime 3-point loss. Three days later at Oregon, Iowa scored the game’s first 11 points, but the Ducks climbed ahead late. Addison O’Grady’s midrange jumper with 3 seconds left hit the front of the rim in a 50-49 loss.
Jensen and her players reached a crossroads on the trip from Oregon to Washington, and they knew it.
“We definitely had team meetings to make sure that everyone was still on board. Like, you can’t only have a few people wanting to win this season,” Olsen said. “The coaches did a really good job of saying where we were at in the season. Like, just keep fighting and eventually it’ll all pay off.”
Instead of ramping up the pressure, the players enjoyed free time in Seattle with trips to the Space Needle, Pike Place Fish Market and bookstores. The side ventures refreshed them, and it led to their best performance that season in an 85-61 win over the Huskies. Iowa shot a program-record 71 percent from the field and drilled 9 of 13 3-point attempts.
The achievement especially was important for Olsen, who was the nation’s third-leading scorer last year behind Clark and USC’s JuJu Watkins. Olsen sat out the final four minutes against Oregon after missing 10 of 12 shots and committing five turnovers. At Washington, Olsen hit all eight shots, scored 20 points and dished six assists.
“It was definitely frustrating sometimes, just knowing how I’ve played in the past and just trying to get back to myself,” Olsen said. “I didn’t want to break the system, but I also wanted to find my role in it.
“It was just time. I was trying to think about, ‘Is this the right shot in the system? Is this not?’ Then it all just fell into place.”
The Hawkeyes returned home full of confidence. The newfound assurance surprised post Hannah Stuelke, who did not travel west after suffering a concussion against Nebraska.
“When they came back, and it was like a new mindset for everybody,” Stuelke said. “I just went right along with them. It was just different, and I really liked it.”
Two games later, Iowa officially turned the corner. Facing USC before a packed house on the day Iowa retired Clark’s number, the Hawkeyes led 18-1, then trailed by 1 point at halftime. In the second half, it was all Olsen, who scored 15 points in the fourth quarter alone for a stunning 76-69 upset. Olsen finished with a game-high 28 points — one more than Waktins — and nearly turned the Clark ceremony into a footnote.
“USC in that second half, you could see it in (Olsen’s) eyes,” Jensen said. “I coached Caitlin, I coached Megan (Gustafson), Monika (Czinano). I mean, go to them. I don’t care. We could have 6,000 plays. You are only calling this play.”
“It just clicked that game, like, ‘This is what we brought you here to do,’” Olsen said.
Over the last 13 games, Olsen has averaged 21.3 points per game. Her re-emergence has allowed the entire team to settle into their roles. All-everything senior Sydney Affolter has morphed into the ultimate garbage collector with 8.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Kylie Feuerbach has emerged as Iowa’s 3-and-D threat, a role that Gabbie Marshall held last year. Stuelke remains one of the nation’s top post players, and O’Grady alternates in shifts in the post. Shooting guard Taylor McCabe ranks second in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage. Freshmen like Guyton, Taylor Stremlow, Ava Heiden and Teagan Mallegni have filled gaps and impressed in various games.
Iowa’s three losses came either with missed shots at the buzzer or in overtime. One was by 2 points to UCLA, which earned the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed. The Hawkeyes have six Quad 1 victories and have successfully carved their own identity away from the Caitlin Clark phenomenon. Perhaps it won’t take them to the Final Four for the third straight year, but they’re excited for where they are right now, which is a date with 11th-seeded Murray State on Saturday in Norman, Okla.
“Obviously, building a new team and that chemistry, it’s gonna take a while,” Affolter said. “It definitely took longer than we would have wanted or anticipated. But I think we’ve done a great job.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Iowa Hawkeyes, Women’s College Basketball, Women’s NCAA Tournament
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