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Iowa WBB 2025 Recruiting Thread

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I know she officially visited Utah, North Carolina, Duke, Washington and Iowa. Not sure if she made visits to the other teams on her top 12 list. She had her early contact with Jan Jensen and developed a strong bond with her early. Hopefully that will put the Hawks on top.
 
Here was McGaughy's Top 12 Tweet. I haven't seen any evidence she ever visited UConn, USC, UCLA, Indiana, Tennessee, or Florida. Never say never, but logically if a recruit is visiting a bunch of schools before a commitment, you'd think they visited the school they ultimately chose.

Using @shikreto's methodology, I checked McGaughy's Instagram likes for the 6 remaining programs for the past month. She didn't like anything I could see from Utah or Oregon.

Of the four remaining options, she liked a few posts from North Carolina and Duke in late April/early May and nothing since. She liked a couple Washington posts in May. She liked an Iowa post in late April, then a couple in mid-May regarding Lisa's retirement and Jan becoming HC.

I'd be surprised if her choice isn't one of Iowa, UNC, Duke, or Washington.

 
I respect her keeping to her original timeline -- she said she wanted to make a "pre-summer" decision and she did that. I hope this means she didn't wait around for UConn. We should all keep in mind she entered her spring recruiting journey very high on both Uconn and North Carolina. Those were clearly the teams to beat based on her own comments to media (for some reason NC maintains a very high amount of cachet in WBB, despite the team/coach accomplishing very little tbh).

On another note, she either canceled her Oregon trip or decided it wasn't worth sharing/posting about (can't blame her). She did Like this tweet from Kyle just now (he does mention she took an OV to Oregon -- not sure if he has inside intel on that or is mistaken...he clearly kept in touch with, for example, Addie Deal, and knew about her commitment before it was public):



And the most recent program-specific Tweet she has Liked on Twitter is this:



There's quite a bit of a gap between that post and basically anything from any other program over the past couple ofm onths (not including commitments -- she does Like a lot of stuff about her peers committing to various schools, and that includes North Carolina). Here's her relevant Liking activity on Instagram:
  • She last Liked a UNC post on May 2.
  • She last Liked a Duke post on May 5.
  • She last Liked a UConn post on May 14.
  • She Liked Washington WBB posts on May 5 & May 12.
  • She hasn't Liked anything from Utah WBB going back to April 1 (farthest I scrolled).
  • As for Iowa, she Liked two posts related to Bluder/Jensen May 14 & 15.
This is really a mixed bag. The only conclusion I can gather...is that it could look worse for Iowa. But that could also be my black and gold goggles. A non-invested party might look at this and basically call it a crapshoot. lf she Likes/reposts anything else relevant before tomorrow (whether Iowa related or not) I'll share here.

Question for the class: do we think Brad H / the Swarm would drop any hints/be knowledgeable about such a commitment? They were so involved with Lucy...is this not really the same situation?
 
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Here was McGaughy's Top 12 Tweet. I haven't seen any evidence she ever visited UConn, USC, UCLA, Indiana, Tennessee, or Florida. Never say never, but logically if a recruit is visiting a bunch of schools before a commitment, you'd think they visited the school they ultimately chose.

Using @shikreto's methodology, I checked McGaughy's Instagram likes for the 6 remaining programs for the past month. She didn't like anything I could see from Utah or Oregon.

Of the four remaining options, she liked a few posts from North Carolina and Duke in late April/early May and nothing since. She liked a couple Washington posts in May. She liked an Iowa post in late April, then a couple in mid-May regarding Lisa's retirement and Jan becoming HC.

I'd be surprised if her choice isn't one of Iowa, UNC, Duke, or Washington.

I have zero inside knowledge, but this earlier rather than later commitment date I think is good news for the Hawks. I have been watching for news on her closely and my biggest fear was eleventh hour visits to places like UConn or USC. So far she's stuck to her list of schools to visit.
 
I respect her keeping to her original timeline -- she said she wanted to make a "pre-summer" decision and she did that. I hope this means she didn't wait around for UConn. We should all keep in mind she entered her spring recruiting journey very high on both Uconn and North Carolina. Those were clearly the teams to beat based on her own comments to media (for some reason NC maintains a very high amount of cachet in WBB, despite the team/coach accomplishing very little tbh).

On another note, she either canceled her Oregon trip or decided it wasn't worth sharing/posting about (can't blame her). She did Like this tweet from Kyle just now (he does mention she took an OV to Oregon -- not sure if he has inside intel on that or is mistaken...he clearly kept in touch with, for example, Addie Deal, and knew about her commitment before it was public):



And the most recent program-specific Tweet she has Liked on Twitter is this:



There's quite a bit of a gap between that any much bout any other program (not including commitments -- she does Like a lot of stuff about her peers committing to various schools, and that includes North Carolina). Here's her relevant Liking activity on Instagram:
  • She last Liked a UNC post on May 2.
  • She last Liked a Duke post on May 5.
  • She last Liked a UConn post on May 14.
  • She Liked Washington WBB posts on May 5 & May 12.
  • She hasn't Liked anything from Utah WBB going back to April 1 (farthest I scrolled).
  • As for Iowa, she Liked two posts related to Bluder/Jensen May 14 & 15.
This is really a mixed bag. The only conclusion I can gather is that it could look worse for Iowa. But that could also be my black and gold goggles. A non-invested party might look at this and basically call it a crapshoot. lf she Likes/reposts anything else relevant before tomorrow (whether Iowa related or not) I'll share here.

Question for the class: do we think Brad H / the Swarm would drop any hints/be knowledgeable about such a commitment? They were so involved with Lucy...is this not really the same situation?
My general thought is people in the know seem less likely to "spoil" info from HS players committing to college than college players transferring. I think for HS commitments its more about letting them have their moment. The Deal commitment wasn't spoiled by outside sources that I can recall. It was just fairly clear from her social media.
 
I am going to guess NC is the team to beat. I don't know why they keep getting such big recruits but just a feeling as they seemed to be the team to beat after UCONN never offered....hope i am wrong!
 
I am going to guess NC is the team to beat. I don't know why they keep getting such big recruits but just a feeling as they seemed to be the team to beat after UCONN never offered....hope i am wrong!
Gut feeling it’s NC also. But what a bonanza for JJ if she gets the commit 🤞
 
There are many positives about Iowa WBB in terms of positives to pitch to recruits right now, but one thing in particular...

I think how well Kate Martin is playing and being embraced in the WNBA is going to help us with recruiting. The fact that she is playing so much as a rookie with that loaded roster shows that Iowa can prepare recruits for the next level. If we don't get McGaughy, I think we will have some other high-level recruits to commit.
 
Is there any concrete reason to think she will choose the Hawkeyes or is this like hoping lightning strikes?
There are plenty of reasons to think Iowa could be the pick. She appears to be most interested in Iowa, Duke, UNC, and Washington.

Iowa has had much more recent success than the other three. Washington is closest to her home, but the program has also been bad since 2017 and is still a 4 hour drive away. Duke and UNC are on opposite sides of the country.

Her official visit to Iowa was also during the NCAA Tournament when she got to see Iowa's crowd as opposed to during the off-season.
 
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Three players on the court for Indiana vs. Las Vegas, and their college coaching staff there to support? Hell of a closing pitch.

Anyone confirm the pronunciation of McGaughy's name? "Mc-Guy"?
 
Not gonna lie. I'm a bit excited here. We get Brynn and NCAA championships in the very near future become a justifiably distinct possibility. I hope this is how every recruiting class for us looks going forward. To be in on only top players and having a high chance to get them each year. It's pretty damn exciting!
 
I think the home state school may be tough to beat. It was her last visit and she didn't take any more. I know she likes Jan but the coaching change could cause concern. Tomorrow we'll see. If we can add Brynn with Deal and Houston, that would be two solid classes.
 
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Well, you know Jensen/Bluder had to have had a recent conversation with her with the coaching change, so that's a plus.

I guess we'll know soon. Would certainly throw some new momentum into the mix if she decides for Iowa.

*And "No" doesn't mean "never" these days, so there's always that to think about.
 
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I'm never deeply shocked if anyone ends up at their home school...but for a kid whose dream school was UConn (and who was considering other "brands" like UNC, Duke, and even Iowa tbh) she would be taking a very different path by staying home. UW hasn't made the NCAAT since 2017 and finished 10th in the PAC-12 last year. She could certainly be guaranteed PT as a frosh (whereas if she came to Iowa she would certainly not start over a senior Hannah Stuelke at PF, and may be a step behind Ava Heiden at C) but she should expect a likely brutal journey attempting to restore UW's former glory, especially now that it's in a new (stacked) conference. Washington has a single ESPN top 100 recruit in 2024 (#39), no one signed in 2025.

Washington State has been far more successful as of late, actually....and they're anything but a blue blood....maybe she envisions herself as the next Kelsey Plum...and there's something very understandable about that.

But what's also crazy is that I scrolled down thru through her Twitter Likes all the way to last July...and I did not see a single Like for anything related to Washington WBB (except for when her friend Avery Howell visted a handful of schools, including UW -- and Brynn liked all of them...including UW).

And it's not like she is particularly focused on any one school...she has Liked a ton of stuff from players and coaches at many schools, P5 and otherwise. TBH she has clearly been an Iowa fan for about a year, our content is very well-represented there. She has Liked stuff about Jensen/Bluder, Molly Davis's recovery, sold out season tickets, the LSU game, a couple of other random posts from Kyle, etc. I know that this all probably amounts to nothing in the end but still...fairly surprising to say the least. It's possible that the coaching change was a net negative...or she had one hell of an OV at UW.

FWIW, writer on 247 Iowa site saying buzz around Washington. We'll see tomorrow.
Mind sharing what this buzz is? Do they know someone at WA? Is it social media chatter? Something on another message board maybe? Just curious.
 
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I'm never deeply shocked if anyone ends up at their home school...but for a kid whose dream school was UConn (and who was considering other "brands" like UNC, Duke, and even Iowa tbh) she would be taking a very different path by staying home. UW hasn't made the NCAAT since 2017 and finished 10th in the PAC-12 last year. She could certainly be guaranteed PT as a frosh (whereas if she came to Iowa she would certainly not start over a senior Hannah Stuelke at PF, and may be a step behind Ava Heiden at C) but she should expect a likely brutal journey attempting to restore UW's former glory, especially now that it's in a new (stacked) conference. Washington has a single ESPN top 100 recruit in 2024 (#39), no one signed in 2025.

Washington State has been far more successful as of late, actually....and they're anything but a blue blood....maybe she envisions herself as the next Kelsey Plum...and there's something very understandable about that.

But what's also crazy is that I scrolled down thru through her Twitter Likes all the way to last July...and I did not see a single Like for anything related to Washington WBB (except for when her friend Avery Howell visted a handful of schools, including WA -- and Brynn liked all of them...for all the various schools).

And it's not like she is particularly focused on any one school...she has Liked a ton of stuff from players and coaches at many schools, P5 and otherwise. TBH she has clearly been an Iowa fan for about a year, our content is very well-represented there. She has Liked stuff about Jensen/Bluder, Molly Davis's recovery, sold out season tickets, the LSU game, a couple of other random posts from Kyle, etc. I know that this all amounts to nothing in the end but still...fairly surprising to say the least. It's possible that the coaching change was a net negative...


Mind sharing what this buzz is? Do they know someone at WA? Is it social media chatter? Something on another message board maybe? Just curious.
These were his words: "Yeah, the buzz seems to be Washington."

He was right there on the Lucy Olsen commit, but the portal and recruiting are two different animals. I'm still hopeful; Duke, UNC, UCLA, USC I could see. Washington seems odd; if she really wants to be close to home WSU or even Gonzaga make more sense.
 
Was hoping we would get her but I can't blame her for wanting to play closer to home. Maybe will still have a shot at Speiser but haven't seen much about her lately.

Edit: Other than the in-state factor, can't see the pull to Washington. Their fan support is not good, they averaged 2,626 fans per game vs. 15,000+ at Iowa. Washington's academics are rated higher but bot by alot, depends on your major though.
 
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