We will be playing in the 2021 Cancun Challenge Nov. 25-27 at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. We will be playing against Seton Hall & USC. https://cancunchallenge.net/news/20...nounced-for-2021-womens-cancun-challenge.aspx
Hawkeye Women's Hoop season
- Thread starter IowaNiceHawk
- Start date
I welcome the tough schedule! If we're as good as we think we might be this year, this gives us a chance to prove it by racking up multiple quadrant 1 wins. Also, the NCAA tournament seeding committee recognized our tough schedule this past year and gave us a 5-seed, despite our less than stellar conference record. Of course, our performance in the B1G tournament helped with that -- but hopefully the committee recognizes the strength of the B1G again this year!
Need to send a few teams to the Final Four first. Back in the nineties, Big Ten had Iowa, Ohio State, Purdue and Penn State in the Final Four, and Minnesota in 2004.
That is true,but I think the overall level of talent in the Big is higher now. Thank AAU. I think we had 4 teams make the sweet 16 of the 7 invited.
Too bad they make you stay at their hotel to go to the games. I'd rather stay at the still nice but a lot cheaper hotel down the street!
NIL benefits will be a nice plus, but Caitlin Clark's focus is on two things: Basketball, School
Caitlin Clark will have among the most opportunities of any Iowa student-athlete, but she's keeping her priorities in check.
247sports.com
https://www.thegazette.com/hawkeye-...e-defense-defense/?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot
In this article Coach Bluder talked about improving the team's defensive effort and also changing the scheme a bit. Warnock and Clark both gave specific examples of things the team is working on to improve defense.
After reading it, I'm optimistic that the team's defense will be better next year. it sounds like both the players and coaches have bought into how important improving defense will be. They've also identified weaknesses and are working to improve them.
In this article Coach Bluder talked about improving the team's defensive effort and also changing the scheme a bit. Warnock and Clark both gave specific examples of things the team is working on to improve defense.
After reading it, I'm optimistic that the team's defense will be better next year. it sounds like both the players and coaches have bought into how important improving defense will be. They've also identified weaknesses and are working to improve them.
I’m really excited about the future of Iowa women’s hoops. Looking forward to going to some of their games next season.
I'm sure it will be improved. I do wish there were more readily available efficiency stats for women's hoops like there is on the men's side. Yes, they gave up a high raw point total, but Iowa also played at a very fast temp so they are going to give up points just by the number of possessions Iowa has in a game.
But I'm not sure how Iowa will be able to get to good on defense with the same players. They do have some physical limitations which showed up against the real good teams. But overall Bluder has done a fantastic job with the program. Level of recruiting pointing upward, she does such a tremendous job of getting her teams to play together.
I didn't read the article, and I'm not trying to sound like I'm poo-pooing the staff cuz that would be silly, but do we have any proof they can teach that level of defense needed to go deep in the tourney? Just sayin--we had the same discussion about Fran and Co. not long ago and just wondering what thoughts are.
Clark can definately play better defense and I think she will also get coached on defense as part of the USA u19 team. I expect she will improve, but that could be offset by the lack of a backup point guard. If she has to play 35 min per game every game it could lead to resting on defense. I think we saw some of that this year. I think the addition of two more big bodies means we could improve in rebounding, which was a big part of our issues last year. Kylie seems to be a good defender I think that was the skill that made her a starter for ISU last year. I think we also saw the team defense improve consistently last year for the last month or two. So I think they can and will get better. I think its unrealistic to expect them to jump from 300s to top 50, but I think they could jump up quite a ways.
The team did improve as the season developed on both sides of the ball. Kate,Gabbie McKenna,Monica and last but not least Caitlin were really good on offense. I think our defense at the end the regular season and thru the tournaments while not elite was much improved from early to mid season. That will be our starting point this year. We have talent on this team, more size for interior and with the focus we will be better next year.
She's from Nebraska (near Omaha), and her first few visits were Iowa, Nebraska, Creighton, and Indiana. She also has recent offers from Oregon, Michigan, and Maryland.
I think we probably have a better shot with Olson, but we should still have a chance with Prince too. Not sure if they know each other, but based on their ranking in the 2024 class, if they both chose the same school, they could transform that team's back court quickly.
It looks like Prince's recruiting could go several different ways. If she wants to stay local, Nebraska, Creighton, or Iowa are all relatively close. We'll likely be the best program of that group when she gets to college. If she wants to go to a good school and still likely start early in her career, Indiana, Michigan, and Iowa are all possibilities depending on the next few years of recruiting. And if she wants to go to one of the top programs in the country, Oregon and Maryland are already interested, and other blue bloods might be too.
HerHoopStats is a fairly good resource for women's basketball stats. Certainly not as in depth as some men's sites, but good nonetheless.
Taking a look, we ranked 343rd (I think that's last) in the nation in opponents PPG, but 338th in points per play. Points per play should somewhat take pace out of the equation, and I think those two stats show that pace had an impact on us ranking last in the country in opponent PPG, but not a huge one.
There is also an argument that playing fast leads to easier shot opportunities for our opponents. If we played slower, we might be someone better defensively just by being set more or by the players not being as tired. But playing slower would also limit some of the good shots we get in transition, so I'm not sure that's a tradeoff worth making.
What encouraged me most from the article was that I heard specifics. Clark and Warnock listed specific areas that the team was focusing on for improvement. Coach Bluder talked about making changes to the defensive schemes.
With Fran and the men's team last year, we kept hearing that they were working on defense, but I don't ever remember hearing what they were specifically doing. Fran's rotations were also pretty bad. I remember several occasions where he needed his best defensive lineup on the floor and he had to sub out every single starter. If none of your 5 starters are one of the best 5 defenders on the team, that's a glaring signal that your starting lineup is deeply flawed.
As for the WBB team next year, I think our best case scenario is to look something like Oklahoma football. A high-powered offense with a defense that's goal is to do just enough to win big games. We're never going to be great defensively, but if we can be below average instead of one of the worst, that could be enough. We got really far as one of the worst defenses last year.
Well said, although I hope the defensive ceiling might be as high as average.
We went deeper than the men with a much younger team. They may never be elite but they will improve, our interior depth will give us more fouls
We had a great run with Vivian and are really rocking now under Lisa. The team is so much fun to watch. My wife and I enjoy our season tickets so much. Are we a blueblood, no but we would renew at twice the price. I sure hope Lisa and the team have a surge of attendance. The team deserves it and we all enjoy seeing our our Hawkeyes win and their will be lot of that for this year and in the future
I have had season tickets for the mens games the past several seasons and have always gone to a handful of womens games in the past. For this coming year, I'll have season tickets to both the mens and womens games. Not sure I'll make it to every game (those 8:00 pm starts on weeknights are tough), but I'm sure I'll be at most.
I wonder how Carver selling beer will affect attendence.
They deserve 10000 per game. If they get this during post season- they should get it all season
Should I start the point about how 2,000 of them would be the blue hairs in the lower bowl who would still leave halfway through the 4th quarter of a tie ballgame?
I've been season ticket holder for many years. Im not a blue hair. There's very few people that leave early. Some leave and stand at the top, but they're still supporting!
No, it was more a comment on how whenever Carver discussions come up, or fan discussions, inevitably there’s commentary on how there’s a chunk of folks who have pricey men’s season tickets try to beat the traffic no matter how the game is going. Nothing personal and I think the women actually draw a more “stay to the final horn” crowd.
This is OT, but did anyone watch USA vs WNBA game last night? I watched the last half of the 2nd quarter and shut it off. They ruined the game of basketball, they definitely put I in team. They should use College Coaches and players for the Olympics or at least College Coaches.
I fear NIL is going make the college game more like the pros. When the star gets more for their NIL, everyone wants to be the star. Maybe not women's BB as much as other sports, but still...
What are you talking about? Dawn Staley has been the head coach of the women's national team since 2017 and before her it was Geno for eight years.
