What I was saying is that Marshall/Warnock/Wartin are pretty good players. Are they 4 or 5 star recruits, nope, and thus they are not the typical players for a Final 4 team.
I would say 'what??' to the rest.
Many feel it's time for a change? My point is what are you expecting and maybe some others expecting? Where are these highly rated recruits and studs that we are expecting to put on the court?? I guess it's time for a change to have multi year starters for a top 10 team to go to the bench, WTH??
I hope Iowa has some more good / great recruiting and the incoming freshmen can play some valuable minutes. And I hope the returning players from the BIG regular season & tournament champs improve so we can make a run to the Final 4.
The expectation is a deep NCAA tournament run. Marshall/Warnock/Martin are as you said -- pretty good players. But to make a Final Four and compete with the top tier programs you have to have players that are elite athletes.
The current Iowa roster has one elite athlete -- Caitlin Clark. Several other players have the potential but perhaps lack the physical tools.
There are high expectations for the incoming class. And I do expect that at least one player will be supplanted in the starting lineup by the start of BIG play or at the very least be relegated to playing starters minutes making a current starter a starter in name only.
I don't think Marshall/Warnock/Martin have played up to their full potential. We've seen flashes from all of them but none has been consistent, particularly on the offensive end. Martin has the highest ceiling of the group and was outstanding in the BTT. But this team needs a similar performance on a nightly basis to be a FF team. Marshall is an excellent defender, but needs to develop a floor game and to work on getting her 3 point shot off with a quicker release. Warnock needs to work on getting to the rim and defense.
If this team wants to win, we will need balanced scoring and much more effort on defense, particularly on the defensive glass. We improved slightly in both categories, but anyone watching could see how glaring of a weakness these areas are. Look at S.Carolina and how their defense plays.
We absolutely have to stop giving up 2nd, 3rd, 4th opportunities.
I believe Bluder will reward those players who rebound, play defense and take the shots that the defense gives them.
We didn't lose to Creigton because Creighton got lucky but because Creighton exploited the teams' overreliance on Caitlin and Monika. If changes/improvements are not made next season, it will be very hard for Iowa to make a Final Four run.
We had a great year. It was special to win the BIG and the BTT in the same year. But even with the success we had, there is plenty of opportunity to improve on rebounding and defense. If the freshman can help with that, then they deserve to play quality minutes.
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