Now Iowa needs to have Jan go get Raegan Beers. How good of a post could she be with Jan coaching her? She is from Colorado. Many Addy knows her. That would be perfect and a big that I could really use. And she is not a one year player. Go Hawks!
Iowa needs to go get Raegan Beers from Oregon State
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They need to move Ava Jones to medical. She would still stay on scholarship but she would never be able to play. I love that the Iowa honored the scholarship after her injury. But they need that scholly. Ava will never play with her injuries. You are right they are at the max 15.
It took guts to post that, but it’s the truth.
I wonder if they feel that leaving her on full scholly is giving her extra incentive and hope during her rehabilitation?
She is progressing really well by all accounts, but she will never be back to what she was before from a bball playing perspective.
I completely understand and am not going to badmouth you for saying it like some might. I also don't expect to ever see her in a game aside from potential for a token appearance at the end of her career like Molly had in the championship game.
But, the 15th person on a roster doesn't really matter that much barring a catastrophic series of injuries. In WBB, roster spots 11-15 are really for freshmen that aren't ready and injured players, of which we'll have several next year.
What really sucks for a team is if players 11-14 don't fit the above criteria. Gyamfi as a junior and Ediger as a senior have to be able to step into key contributor roles this upcoming season. And really Ediger should be challenging to be a starter considering her recruiting profile. If those two aren't in our top 10 players, then they should absolutely consider moving on this offseason.
If Iowa would like to continue to be a WBB powerhouse they need to make all the roster spots matter. Placeholders on full scholarship not good. If there is any chance to add a BIG to this roster that could start, it needs to happen!
Why? Lisa usually plays 8 or 9 and maybe 10 players tops, so you think it would be good to have 5 players not playing rather than 4? The men have 13 scholarships and they all survive. Maybe Ava will be one of the 5 on the bench not playing next season. I hope so.
"guts" isn't the first word I thought of.
Iowa has 4 bigs next season, that should be enough and maybe those already here might not like getting recruited over. This isn't LSU.
Bluder needs to stick with her word and keep Ava Jones on basketball scholarship. In doing so, Bluder keeps intact her leadership, character, and her commitment to her players instead of the "do whatever it takes to win" mentality. If Bluder goes the opposite, it would be out of character for her and would lead to long term collapse of what she's built in Iowa City.
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They need to do no such thing.
Just keep crushing a young woman's world. How do other teams manage with only 12/13 on their roster? Also how does Colorado have 17? (The last one is a serious question, I know they are restricted to 15 scholarships but is that also a roster size limit?)
Probably a stupid question but can you pull a scholly from someone then give it back to them later? i.e. can education be covered by NIL?
Beers is going to UConn. Their whole staff and team followed her on IG. We also have a 6’4 kid coming in from Oregon who is going to be our next Center. She is the type of player Bluder has been waiting to land. #40 in her class, #4 C. Bluder is not going to recruit over her. I expect her to run as much offense thru her as she can handle as quickly as possible. Next.
Apparently yes, there are ways, according to Brad…
Apparently yes, there are ways, according to Brad…
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I understand that the 15th spot could be valuable for bringing in a transfer. It could be a season changer to get a transfer. That said, I'm totally in agreement to keep Ava on scholarship. She deserved and needs to feel like she's part of the team. It give her motivation to keep working hard and I hope she's able to get into a game at some point. Getting a transfer could be a season changer but keeping Ava on scholarship is a life changer.
This is the price of success. Unfortunate to some degree, but it is what happens. I've said all along I don't see Ava ever playing at Iowa. Beyond the physical I think there are mental cognitive issues as well. Would love to see her active on this roster as I think she'd have had a shot to be a real force in the next year or two. Still I'd concur her situation and AJ's (as was Sharons) are basically place holders, and that is not a really good think when we have limited bigs on the upcoming rosters. Other then Heiden they really have to either sign the Alaska gal or land some quality big who is a SURE thing because we have zero depth in the front court........Just to add I don't want to dash the girls dream anymore then anyone here. The question is do we want Iowa to continue with the current momentum they have? I've mentioned for the last year that our recruiting is VERY guard heavy. IF we are going to build on this it must be in this 2025 -2026 classes, and we REALLY need bigs. Its either make some room or forget about Maddyn Greenway and some other girls they're after. You can't have your cake and eat it too.....
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You guys she is going to UConn.
- Named 2023 Pac-12 Freshman and Sixth Player of the Year, the first player in league history to earn both awards in the same season
This incredible national attention Iowa's women's basketball team got was not just because Caitlin Clark was on the team. It was also that they WON a lot!!! Iowa needed both Caitlin and winning. If the team does not continue to win the attention will all go away. Lisa Bluder and her staff have done great job. Getting Olsen was huge.
In college you are only as good as your next recruiting class. Iowa has one of the best post coaches in the NCAA. You must always get the best player available (of course that fits your system). Iowa lost the NC game because they could rebound or handle SC bigs. SC also had a really deep bench. They had ten players that were good enough to start. Iowa must get better bench players.
Yes, I think Iowa should recruit over players. If they can get a good player off the transfer portal. Go get'm. Yes, you are correct it will cause player to transfer. That is the way the game is played. Last year, Bluder's coaching group exposed that SC three point shooting was a weakness and beat them. What did Dawn Staley do but get Paopao to transfer in and recruit freshman that can shoot.
Iowa fans need to decide what they want this team to be? Do they want to win a National Championship. Iowa has a chance become a Blue Blood in WBB. Like UConn and SC. Figure out a way to get a player like Beers. UConn will take her and they have a loaded team already. But they will get the players they need to win!
We all should be proud of Iowa coaching staff for honoring their word to Ava Jones. They gave her a four year all paid college education. They should not and will never not honor that. I have no inside information but from all reports Ava is doing great but will never play basketball at an elite level ever again. Placeholders of roster spots just don't work if you really want to win. Decisions need to be made. Sometimes they are not easy ones.
In college you are only as good as your next recruiting class. Iowa has one of the best post coaches in the NCAA. You must always get the best player available (of course that fits your system). Iowa lost the NC game because they could rebound or handle SC bigs. SC also had a really deep bench. They had ten players that were good enough to start. Iowa must get better bench players.
Yes, I think Iowa should recruit over players. If they can get a good player off the transfer portal. Go get'm. Yes, you are correct it will cause player to transfer. That is the way the game is played. Last year, Bluder's coaching group exposed that SC three point shooting was a weakness and beat them. What did Dawn Staley do but get Paopao to transfer in and recruit freshman that can shoot.
Iowa fans need to decide what they want this team to be? Do they want to win a National Championship. Iowa has a chance become a Blue Blood in WBB. Like UConn and SC. Figure out a way to get a player like Beers. UConn will take her and they have a loaded team already. But they will get the players they need to win!
We all should be proud of Iowa coaching staff for honoring their word to Ava Jones. They gave her a four year all paid college education. They should not and will never not honor that. I have no inside information but from all reports Ava is doing great but will never play basketball at an elite level ever again. Placeholders of roster spots just don't work if you really want to win. Decisions need to be made. Sometimes they are not easy ones.
AJ's position isn't a placeholder, as you will discover next year.
Other than having 15 players and excluding Ava Jones, do you have some new point rather than rehashing your original post some time ago?
Again….we already have an agile, physical 6’4 post player coming in from Oregon. Bluder will not risk losing her. TBH she is likely already planning to PLAY her. I assure you Heiden is not gonna be riding the bench. She’ll likely start by January IMO. Once Stuelke is gone, Bluder likely expects Heiden and Deal to be the new focal points of our offense.
Ppl need to understand Bluder is okay with having a rebuilding year. She is going to focus on developing the players she has rather than putting together some super team that has no chemistry. She has always been that way. If you don’t like that, you pry shouldn’t follow too closely bc you’re going to be frustrated. Bluder is one of the best developers in the country, we are lucky to be able to watch her do that work. We should all be excited about what’s to come with Heiden.
I keep coming back to this but Bluder is expending a ton of energy/resources to build a highly impressive class for ‘25 and ‘26. Those are the prize here — she’s playing the long game. She didnt want to burn any years of eligibility on a underclass transfer — that is clear based on her targets from the portal this year. She only pursued guards with 1 year of eligibility left.
Getting Olsen was the best possible thing that could happen and our ceiling for next year is much higher bc of it — there’s literally no reason to fret.
A starting lineup of Guyton / Houston / Deal / Stuelke / Heiden (and then Mallegni when Stuelke graduates) can certainly go farther than a Sweet 16 and compete for a B1G title. Bluder knows that. This next year will be a stepping stone to that.
Furthermore, if Bluder lands even one or Speiser, McGaughy, Hays, Lewis, Greenway, or Bjorn, a path to another Final Four could be in sight. We have to be patient tho — we should overall expect a couple of seasons where we can compete to host the first two rounds, but likely have a ceiling of a Sweet 16.
It could be a lot worse, most programs would kill for those kinds of expectations. And most programs at our level don’t have an Addie Deal on the way either.
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If you think for a minute, you might realize that Olsen chose Bluder and Iowa precisely because it is a team of players that care about each other rather than a group of NIL mercs. I think "family" was in one of her quotes today.
I'll take this way over the other every time.
I'll take this way over the other every time.
Putting her on medical scholly doesn’t put Bluder’s leadership or character into question. The girl still gets her schooling paid for.
I’m thinking Proctor could effectively neutralize the post player going to Iowa State t he s next few seasons… but isn’t Proctor a male? You think he’s gonna “transgender” for the Hawks?
I dont know much about Heiden and Beers. Can Heiden run the floor really well? Does this Beers run the floor well? Bluder runs the fast paced offense and if Heiden can do it then go with her and maybe some frosh mistakes and dont bring in Beers unless Ava goes medical scholarship
Beers isn’t even interested in Iowa you guys please be serious this is comical.
And yall should rly learn more about our new recruits, there are hundreds of posts about them.
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The blue bloods are stacked with full rosters of blue chip recruits and now with the portal they can pretty much eliminate having down years. Iowa was able to play with them with a much less blue roster thanks in large part to the exceptional talent that is CC. If Iowa wants to be a regular in the club then recruiting will need to approach the same level as the long time members.
There is no doubt that “the rich will get richer” as this scheme UNfolds and becomes the norm. There will be an occasional outlier but for the most part, what we have today in men’s football and basketball will be what one can expect year in and year out. Ladies basketball wil be determining itself the next couple of years…but there will be perennial “haves” and “have nots” in college sports….The NCAA has taken the role of “ticket taker” in college sports….Rules and standards are scoffed at.
I truly hope your right. Still I have little thought that in year 4 of someones career the light suddenly come on. Same goes for AOG. Yes I realize that AJ's been injured for a part of that, but she doesn't look like a high level player. I guess we'll see......
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