There may never be another athlete quite like Caitlin Clark, Gabbie Marshall, or Kate Martin, but the success of Iowa women’s basketball is far from over. Give them a few seasons and the Hawkeyes will reach new heights of success.
“Anytime you lose a very senior-heavy class or maybe I should say experienced class, there’s just a gap for a while,” first-year head coach Jan Jensen said during her media day press conference. “There’s no speedy trick for experience. You just have to fall on your face a few times. You have to make a few mistakes.”
Jensen called it from the start; despite starting the season 8-0, the best start to a coaching tenure in program history, the Hawkeyes had plenty of lackluster moments.
Many associate Iowa’s flaws with a five-game conference losing streak in January, but the truth is there were issues even before that. The Hawkeyes took Tennessee to the wire in their first loss on Dec. 7, but an 11-1 Lady Vol run at the end of the fourth quarter and 30 turnovers were the final nails in the coffin.
It’s a shame that Iowa’s season ended in the Round of 32 of the NCAA tournament after back-to-back championship runs, but looking ahead, the future holds a lot of promise.
Let’s start with the five rising second-years on the team, including four recruits in ESPN’s Top-100 and 2024 Miss Iowa Basketball Callie Levin. With fourth-year guards Lucy Olsen and Sydney Affolter among the graduating players, the Hawkeyes first-year players are shaping up to be crucial in the next few years.
Players like first-year Taylor Stremlow made a big impact as guards for Iowa this season, and her role is only expected to grow with the departure of Olsen and Affolter. Meanwhile, the graduation of fourth-year Addison O’Grady is expected to thrust first-year Ava Heiden and third-year Hannah Stuelke further into the spotlight.
“I think with any team, it’s just the next man up,” Heiden said in a postgame press conference after the Hawkeyes’ 92-57 win over Murray State on March 22. “It’s always being ready on the bench, ready to come off and do well and perform for the team.”
With highly-touted recruits like Addie Deal and Layla Hays representing more new talent joining the Iowa roster, time will tell exactly what Hawkeye basketball will look like a few years from now.
But with Jensen’s first 20-win season already in the books, things are looking like they can only go up from here.
“I hope what people will remember about this season is what these young women did with probably one of the most difficult rebuilding jobs,” first-year head coach Jan Jensen said after Iowa’s loss to Oklahoma on March 24. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”