It’s infuriating. Even though Women’s Hoopz deleted their post and apologized, the damage has been done. Even WNBA players are commenting on the out of context quote!
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Hawkeye Women’s BBall Season 2023-2024
- Thread starter huntermmm
- Start date
This is a 10 minute WBB video about the Kinnick game. I think that kids in particular should watch it a couple of days before the game to give them a perspective and fire them up.
Notice who speaks in the video: Bluder, three senior starters, and.... Stuelke.
Notice who speaks in the video: Bluder, three senior starters, and.... Stuelke.
For context, I thought that Bluder’s “Next level” comment was rejecting the idea of limiting Clark to only the tools she could use in the pros.
Most Americans can't digest the information in a three sentence paragraph anymore. They catch two words and spew out a reaction.
Addi, Hannah, and most recently Kylie/Sydney have appeared on the HR podcast lately. I won't link it here of course but I had to mention it b/c, while the conversations are far from revelatory (tbh TK has no business hosting podcasts), there is a hilarious moment where Sydney tells a story about a visiting campus during a game and and mentions Megan G. She literally says "Megan was there...I can never remember how to say her last name...Goose-stof-o-sun?" I actually laughed out loud.
Wyatt Crosher has finished his B1G Team previews. Iowa projected to finish #1 for the second year in a row. The full piece is worth a read but here is an excerpt on his outlook for the starting line-up:
"Czinano’s successor is most likely to be Hannah Stuelke, who showed flashes of excellence in her first collegiate season. The reigning Sixth Player of the Year in the Big Ten shot well and scored in bunches during limited minutes all season, and I think she brings a bit more intensity as a rebounder and defender compared to Czinano. Stuelke was also a poor free throw shooter (45.0%) and had some foul issues which would come into play with a larger role, but both feel easily solvable as she gets more experience under her belt.
The other option inside is Addison O’Grady, who is entering her third year and has also impressed off the bench. Both O’Grady and Stuelke will likely see a minutes increase, but having that inside weapon to work with Clark, Martin and Marshall will be critical to Iowa’s offense remaining as elite as it has been.
There’s also Sydney Affolter, who fits Warnock’s archetype as a 5-11 wing who was a great rebounder off the bench last season. Kylie Feuerbach has solid experience from both Iowa and Iowa State, and could return to a prominent role after missing last season with an injury. None of these players bring exactly what Warnock did, but Iowa has a sneaky amount of returning options, all of which Bluder has worked with, which should make life without two key cogs a little easier."
He actually ends up projecting the starters to be Clark, Marshall, Martin, Affolter, and Stuelke. Can't blame him tbh. Definitely worth a read, and he links to the other team previews. After Iowa, he goes with OSU, Indiana, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan rounding out the top tier of teams.
"Czinano’s successor is most likely to be Hannah Stuelke, who showed flashes of excellence in her first collegiate season. The reigning Sixth Player of the Year in the Big Ten shot well and scored in bunches during limited minutes all season, and I think she brings a bit more intensity as a rebounder and defender compared to Czinano. Stuelke was also a poor free throw shooter (45.0%) and had some foul issues which would come into play with a larger role, but both feel easily solvable as she gets more experience under her belt.
The other option inside is Addison O’Grady, who is entering her third year and has also impressed off the bench. Both O’Grady and Stuelke will likely see a minutes increase, but having that inside weapon to work with Clark, Martin and Marshall will be critical to Iowa’s offense remaining as elite as it has been.
There’s also Sydney Affolter, who fits Warnock’s archetype as a 5-11 wing who was a great rebounder off the bench last season. Kylie Feuerbach has solid experience from both Iowa and Iowa State, and could return to a prominent role after missing last season with an injury. None of these players bring exactly what Warnock did, but Iowa has a sneaky amount of returning options, all of which Bluder has worked with, which should make life without two key cogs a little easier."
He actually ends up projecting the starters to be Clark, Marshall, Martin, Affolter, and Stuelke. Can't blame him tbh. Definitely worth a read, and he links to the other team previews. After Iowa, he goes with OSU, Indiana, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan rounding out the top tier of teams.
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Has a link to a great article he wrote shortly after Iowa upset South Carolina last spring in there too.
I could see this finally being the year where the starting lineup (or at least starter minutes) are fluid depending on situation.
Play a big team like South Carolina? Start O'Grady and Stuelke. Play a smaller team like Ohio State? Start Affolter instead of O'Grady. Is shooting vital to prevent doubles of Clark like against Maryland? Start McCabe instead of Affolter/O'Grady.
I think it's gonna be tricky... if you need a big like Ogrady to perform well in the tourney against the big teams, you have to develop them earlier in the year, even though Stuelke may be the better option short term...
It seemed to me OGradys lack of pt may have been a factor in the title game... maybe you don't need to help out as much inside if she was further along...
Former Gopher (and Nebraska) Assistant Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller is now a BTN analyst. In discussing the upcoming conference season, she said she “barely has Iowa in her top 5.” Fellow BTN analyst Autumn Johnson likewise did not have Iowa in her predicted conference top 3. I’m not outraged by these takes. People can reasonably disagree about the impact of the loss of Czinano and Warnock, and the absence of any portal/freshman help.
Considering that Christy-Winters Scott had Iowa as her #1 pick (as did the B1G media/coaches), my guess is that they wanted some variety in the picks so they could have something to talk about. I'm also not mad and quite frankly I think the lower the expectations the better.
Though it does make sense and I love the respect, I was still a bit shocked to see the media/coaches pick us as #1 when most others have picked OSU over us. Though that may just be my continual disbelief that this team has gotten to where they are.
"Barely in the top 5" was definitely a clickbait-y way of saying what you just said, but I agree with you overall. If we hadn't lost to Illinois last year I think she'd at least have us "securely" in her top 5.
On the other hand, I think you could make the case that there are just as many questions about Maryland, Indiana, Ohio State, and Michigan. Like Iowa, they all graduated their best and/or second best players/scorers (Diamond Miller, Abby Meyers, Grace Berger, Taylor Mikesell, Leigha Brown, Emily Kiser).
Our fairly tough schedule to start the year will be a good barometer of where we stand. I think we are the underdog heading into the Virginia Tech game, but UNI and KSU after that are going to be tough as well. Our post rotation in particular will be put to the test going against Elizabeth Kitley (Virginia Tech) and Ayoka Lee (KSU), two of the best true centers in the NCAA.
I really worry that UNI has major "trap game" potential, being a road game sandwiched between two games against ranked P5 schools. Remember how poorly we played at Drake early last season?
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I can certainly understand someone picking Indiana and Ohio State over Iowa. I think it's harder with Maryland. I'd argue the loss of Miller and Meyers is probably more impactful overall than the loss of Czinano and Warnock.
Putting Iowa below Illinois or Michigan ventures into hot-take territory for me. Yes Illinois beat Iowa, but by the end of the year Iowa was leaps and bounds the better team.
And with all these comparisons I still think Clark is the X-Factor. South Carolina had one of the better defenses in recent college basketball history and she obliterated it in the Final Four. No she's probably not going to do that every game, but at this point you bet against her at your own risk.
I think some of that is the lingering memory of Iowa dismantling Ohio State twice last year. There are a bunch of reasons that isn't likely to repeat this year, but if you think the teams are close you probably give the edge to the team that seems to matchup better head to head and that's Iowa.
In terms of Ohio State overall I think their roster is probably more talented top to bottom than Iowa's, but I do wonder about their three-point shooting. Most of their prominent returning players shot well below 30% from 3 last year. Without Mikesell they really don't have a great shooter. Will teams deploy the Iowa vs. South Carolina defense and make them hit shots to win?
This will be an interesting season, watching to see what combination of players works best. Very likely could be multiple starting lineups based on the opposition. 50-50 we lose to one of our in state rivals, plus a few other early hiccups that will raise questions. Barring injuries though I expect a tough team down the stretch. Just hoping we are a 4 seed or best going into the tourney.
I'd be really shocked if O'Grady doesn't start the entire season, with the possible exception of her losing that spot to Goodman, which I don't expect.
It is much more effective to start a true 5 and get smaller/faster mid-game as needed than to start our smaller lineup and be forced to get bigger/slower mid-game when we inevitably have to sub. Especially for a team like us whose fastest lineup already has enough trouble staying in front of our opponent on defense.
It is much more effective to start a true 5 and get smaller/faster mid-game as needed than to start our smaller lineup and be forced to get bigger/slower mid-game when we inevitably have to sub. Especially for a team like us whose fastest lineup already has enough trouble staying in front of our opponent on defense.
I can understand someone who thinks that Illinois' portal additions, especially Camille Hobby, give them the chance to take another significant step up. Also, Shay Bollin was a top 35 player in high school per ESPN, though she missed her Jr. and Sr. years in high school with injuries, and didn't play much for Duke as a freshman. Adding two 6'3" players in the portal is just what Illinois needed in terms of size. Finally, Illinois returns its top 6 players from last year.
I also think Bluder will try to avoid not having a big on the floor. I recall last year after both the first Ohio State victory and the first MD victory, Clark said that because the opponent lacked a true center, they wanted to get the ball inside to Monica as much as possible to take advantage of the mismatch -- and credited their victories to that. Bluder clearly likes to have a strong center and I think she'll be pushing the 3 posts to step up as much as she/they can.
O'Grady's rim protection / rebounding will also be essential -- though Affolter is likely to often be just as productive on the glass -- even (especially?) if her scoring is significantly lower than Czinano's.
O'Grady's rim protection / rebounding will also be essential -- though Affolter is likely to often be just as productive on the glass -- even (especially?) if her scoring is significantly lower than Czinano's.
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I’m hoping Bluder feels more comfortable giving different combinations from the bench more minutes this year as I felt it would have helped us in the title game (due to foul trouble) had we done that earlier in the season. The one player I’m really excited to see this year is McCabe. I could see her having a break out year and being a good alternative should Gabbie go cold. If she gets hot from 3 on a consistent basis it will force teams to not only focus on Clark on the perimeter, which should then open up things under the basket as well.
If the season had ended in January I could see someone projecting Illinois > Iowa, but Illinois didn't have a ton of impressive results down the stretch.
Hobby is a decent addition, but last year was the first year she started and her numbers won't blow anyone away. I think it's tough to expect too much from Bollin until you see it. That's a ton of important development time missed. She has upside for sure, but moving to a team with a fairly established rotation might make it harder to find that upside.
Without having done extensive research on the rest of the country outside the Big Ten I'd project Illinois as a Top 20ish team. I'd have Iowa Top 10/Top 5.
Totally agree on Bollin. I rate Hobby a bit higher, perhaps because of bad memories from last year's NC State game, where Hobby and crew (Baldwin, Collins etc.) manhandled Czinano and held her to 5 points in 35 minutes, on 4 official FGA. Hobby's scoring average is also somewhat deceiving because she didn't play a lot of minutes for a starter, meaning she was very effective in her time on the floor. Her per-40-minute scoring average last year was 16.4, which makes her very attractive as a portal post pickup coming to help an undersized Illinois team.
Tiffany Reedy is replacing Jamie Cavey Lang on the radio. Had that been previously announced and I missed it?
might be a scheme issue though... Ohio state has the press, which out guards are very capable of handling. Kind of reminds me of the Tom Davis Iowa teams, they would crush teams that could be sped up, but when meeting high end teams with experienced talented teams that could handle the press they struggled.
I didn't know that until now.
Edit: after reading the announcement, I think this is likely just a one time deal because Jamie Cavey happens to be unavailable this Sunday.
Most of the offseason talk about minutes/lineups has been centered around the post rotation. Understandably so considering we graduated two of our starters there. But after the scrimmage today, I think the pecking order is pretty clear. Stuelke/O'Grady start. Goodman plays back up minutes at the 5, and Stuelke shifts to the 5 when we want to go small. Martin/Affolter cover backup minutes at the 4 by committee. AJ is an emergency option at the 5 and Jada isn't going to play.
For me the bigger unknown is the minutes distribution at the 2 and 3.
Will Davis see significant minutes at the 2 or be limited to backing up Clark at the 1?
Is McCabe's defense adequate enough to challenge for serious minutes?
Feuerbach seems back and healthy, but is she more of a 2 or 3?
Will Affolter play more at the 3 or 4? (When she's on the floor with Kate, who plays the 4?)
Are Davis, Marshall, and/or McCabe all too small to play at the same time? At the end of the scrimmage we flashed a suuuuper small lineup with Stuelke at the 5 and two of them in the game but I doubt that's going to become a regular thing.
For me the bigger unknown is the minutes distribution at the 2 and 3.
Will Davis see significant minutes at the 2 or be limited to backing up Clark at the 1?
Is McCabe's defense adequate enough to challenge for serious minutes?
Feuerbach seems back and healthy, but is she more of a 2 or 3?
Will Affolter play more at the 3 or 4? (When she's on the floor with Kate, who plays the 4?)
Are Davis, Marshall, and/or McCabe all too small to play at the same time? At the end of the scrimmage we flashed a suuuuper small lineup with Stuelke at the 5 and two of them in the game but I doubt that's going to become a regular thing.
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Rob said Jamie was taking the season off to focus on her family and her health. Tiffany said she herself was a placeholder for Jamie, but that Jamie could use our prayers. I infer it's a fairly serious issue.
What do we hope to see in the Sunday scrimmage. I'm looking forward to more time on the court for KJE and Gyamfi.
Ok, I opined far before the season began that this team will go as far as Addy can take them. Bluder and CC clearly get frustrated with her, because she tends to be slow to react, and has a rather passive approach. But she does have good size, good shooting touch, and can take up space in the paint. She's been a little hit/miss so far, and her hits are about as encouraging as her misses are concerning. But Sharon looks pretty good, so between the two of them, and w/ Hannah's presence as the 4, I think that group will be OK, and in some ways more effective than Mac and Mon. One thing I've wondered is who is behind Hannah at the 4, and that has so far not been answered. Gyamfi hasn't really shown much yet. I question Bluder's choice to make AJ the #3 post, instead of trimming her down and developing her as a 4. This is where we're really missing the size and athleticism of Ava Jones. I think we're crazy deep at the 2/3 spots, and Coach will be challenged to find minutes for all of them. Seems like Syd has locked down that spot at the 3 behind Kate, but with Warnock gone, and Syd not seeming to have developed her 3; she may lose quite a few minutes to Kylie and Taylor when the team needs outside shooting. Haven't seen much of KJE of course, but in her limited minutes vs Clarke U, I liked her approach, and her quickness. The interesting thing about KJE is how she fits into the G puzzle after CC leaves, and the new G's arrive.
It looks to me like they really like shifting Hannah to the 5 and playing small/fast. This will work against smaller teams, but against bigger top 10 teams, the post will be the concern. By using Hannah at the 4 and the 5 means she would likely need 30+minutes a game, but what happens when she's in foul trouble? I do think Jayda makes strides this year, she is not pressing much on offense when she gets in, so it's hard to get a real feel for how she will look when the team needs her offense.
I rly doubt Ava Jones would be pulling more minutes than Syd, Kylie, Taylor, Hannah, or even AJ (who will barely get any minutes this year) tbh.
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I was referring to the backup for Hannah at the 4, as it does not appear Jada is going to be seeing the floor. Also a nod to Ava's athleticism as a state high jump champ. And I did suggest that AJ might be better used as as the second 4, rather than the third 5.
Weird doubt.
We will never know...but I would have guessed around Hannah minutes from last year. Not nearly as athletic as Hannah...but that goes for literally just about everyone....but same height, has a game that can go inside...has an outside shot...just think a more athletic Warnock, better outside shot, and an inch taller.
You really think a freshman only ranked #80-something is going to jump a handful of older kids on a roster where Bluder can barely find minutes for half the team?
A lot of people were convinced McCabe would get regular minutes last year, or that Davis would come in averaging 15 pts a game. Neither prediction panned out bc it takes awhile to learn Iowa’s system (not to mention adjust to D1).
I just don’t see how Jones would crack the rotation when Bluder is already getting creative to find minutes for Affolter/Feuerbach. Gyamfi seems to have a similar profile to Jones but with a year of experience.
Btw a quick google search puts Ava’s height at 6’1 or 6’2 which is the same as Hannah.
