Nice conversation between Iowa HC Lisa Bluder and her #2 Jan Jensen (the post guru). Nothing super revelatory, but some interesting soundbites nonetheless.
Looking back on the season + road to the Final Four: Bluder will likely get dragged on Twitter for mentioning that there were so few LSU fans at the title game lmao. Ngl I'm kind of digging her leaning into being a bit messy. But otherwise they had only wonderful memories of the experience, mentioning how they ran into Iowa fans in Seattle that they didn't even recognize. They couldn't believe their reception coming home or the support they've received from across the country. Lots of emails and letters from people saying they love to watch them play.
They gave props to Jasmine Carson getting hot from the perimeter and said she really should have been the topic of discussion instead of everything else that arose.
Coaching CC22: They are working on rebuilding trust between CC22 and some new players this summer. But they also think it may be the case that she takes a few more shots per game in '23-'24. This was only a suggestion from the host, and they replied like, Sure, that could happen...Caitlin wouldn't hate it, right? But all together it sounded like they're really working hard to continue to build chemistry.
Ava Jones: Bluder again made clear that Ava will have a scholarship as long as she wants it. Ava still has to have a surgery on her eye in the coming months and is clearly, obviously, dealing with a lot. Ava committed to Iowa and Iowa is committed to Ava.
The Portal: Jensen and Bluder both made very clear that they looked at the portal and put some feelers out there, but they weren't willing to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars and that was the end of the line. And they're not mad about it because they want to find kids who don't need to be bought. They stressed that they never want to be rushed before making an offer, and that doesn't really work with the portal.
Bluder also said there were only ~10 kids in the portal that were good enough to play for Iowa and they only were interested in F/P players, which whittled it down much farther. They also said guards generally just haven't been interested in playing for Iowa the last few years due to our depth. And apparently other coaches have (perhaps fairly) used this against Iowa in their recruiting. They were not shy at all about calling out Iowa fans who were constantly whining that they needed to find "somebody, anybody" to replace Czinano and Warnock. This was nice to hear tbh.
This Summer: They get 10 additional practices this summer because of the summer trip. They mentioned it's been great to try some new things out. I would guess it's nice to not have to try and fit in any new transfers during this precious time, which will allow them to really maximize those efforts before playing pros overseas.
The 2023-2024 roster / season: This one is worth breaking down. There were still quite a few things to discuss with regards to the post players.
- Bluder mentioned that Czinano surprised everyone back in 2019-2020 (when Gustafson had just left and everyone assumed Iowa wouldn't be able to replace her). She suggested that any of O'Grady, Edigar or Goodman could surprise everyone this time. Bluder actually mentioned O'Grady a few times throughout the conversation, likely the most of any player. She's still in the mix to start for sure. But she said that she could see any of those three becoming just as good as Monika and gave all credit to Jensen's coaching/system.
- Jensen stressed that no one needs to be Monika anyway. If their post players get more rebounds than points, they'll be happy. They're looking to do some more screens and popping as opposed to screens and rolling, and putting the posts in different spots.
- They just think it's important to stay productive even if that doesn't immediately transfer to points, and there's quite an opportunity to improve on rebounding. She mentioned this twice. They're not trying to change up their fundamentals.
- Jensen is "really excited" about what they might be able to do this year and that's in no small part due to Clark's continued progress.
- There's no reason to think that Stuelke necessarily won't be Clark's favorite target just like Czinano was.
- Bluder thinks people are underselling Virginia Tech, Indiana and Ohio State looking to next year.
- Bluder's not sure who will be the pre-season B1G favorite.
- Both Bluder and Jensen were asked who will be the biggest surprise on the '23-'24 roster. Jensen demurred a bit, asking, "Is it going to be a surprise if O'Grady continues to progress and gets more minutes? Is it going to be a surprise if Stuelke starts scoring more minutes?" But then Bluder interjected and said she thinks Affolter will be the biggest surprise (funnily enough Clark said this in an interview last summer as well). She also said she expects Kate Martin to have a great year, as she is looking great in practice. I think we're all happy to hear that.
- Jensen agreed with Bluder re: Affolter but then mentioned Taylor McCabe -- she called her a "dead eye" lol and said she has managed to put on some weight. Basically the shooting is where it needs to be, but everything else is a process.
- Jensen concluded (re: Affolter and McCabe): "If those two can get rolling, it'll be really fun."
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