In her final Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament, fifth-year senior center Monika Czinano will be playing in her backyard.

Czinano hails from Watertown, Minnesota, just an hour away from Minneapolis.

“What a dream, right?” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “To have the Big Ten championship in your backyard and have the opportunity to play for a championship there, it would be like a dream for her to win there. I know there’s another Czinano out there that has the same dream, but it really would be special.”

Czinano will have a band of family members in attendance at the Target Center to cheer her on — possibly including her sister, Maggie Czinano, who is on Minnesota’s women’s basketball team. Minnesota was eliminated by Penn State in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday.

“It’s really special for me to have that in Minneapolis, just being able to get back to my home state and stuff like that,” Czinano said. “But it’s a really grueling, competitive three-day — or however long you’re there — stretch.”

The Hawkeyes enter the tournament as the defending Big Ten Tournament champions. Iowa took down Indiana, 74-67, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Iowa’s experienced starting five, who have played together for three seasons, also know what it’s like to lose in the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa fell to Maryland, 104-84, in the conference championship game in 2021.

“It’s truly just a grind there and it’s so much fun,” Czinano said. “There’s so much joy in it too. Just knowing our group has been there, we’ve been in the championship and lost, we’ve been in the championship and won, we’ve had to do a four-game stretch, three-game stretch. We just have so much experience in that situation that I’m really excited to be able to go up there.”

The Big Ten is hosting the conference women’s basketball tournament in Minneapolis at the Target Center for the first time in history. Before this season, the tournament was hosted in Indianapolis and Chicago.

The Target Center will be new for every Big Ten team this week, but Bluder is hoping to get her athletes comfortable before the Hawkeyes’ first game. The Hawkeyes’ veteran presence will also help, Bluder said — no matter the location, the team knows how to act during tournament season.

The Hawkeyes went up to Minneapolis early on Thursday to familiarize themselves with the building as well as live-scout their potential opponents for Friday’s game.

“I think it’s good for the players to get up there and live-scout, not just to get a feel for Purdue and Wisconsin but also a feel for the building,” Bluder said. “I took three players to the building for media day. It looks different on media day than it does when you’ve got the competitive site set up.”

The Hawkeyes have the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, securing a double-bye. Iowa will play No. 7 Purdue on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

The Hawkeyes already have the natural advantage of rest against whichever team they face, as Iowa will be competing against a squad that played less than 24 hours ago. Purdue took down No. 10 Wisconsin, 57-55, on a last-second 3-pointer on Thursday night.

“That double-bye is so important just because of rest and only having to play three games in three days, which is such an advantage in my opinion,” Bluder said. “But this seed, you’re playing a team that played yesterday.”

The Badgers and Boilermakers play on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., giving the Hawkeyes less than a day to prepare for whatever team they face. She said the coaches are mainly preparing to compete against Purdue, as the Boilermakers are the higher seed, but the Hawkeyes also had a scout of the Badgers ready.

Bluder is also looking ahead to the semifinals on Saturday — if the Hawkeyes win in the quarterfinals, they will likely meet the Terrapins. Iowa was clobbered by Maryland, 96-68, in their last meeting on Feb. 21, so Bluder wants to make sure her team is prepared.

“You know how I am about ‘One game at a time.’” Bluder said. “It’s really important to me, but if you don’t look ahead, you will not be prepared because you have no practice time. You have to be prepared for everything, and by now you’ve seen everything, so it’s a little bit easier.”