I'm probably on an island here, but it makes me a little uncomfortable to see the phrase "hawks gone wild" in a WBB thread
Iowa WBB Class of 2026 Recruiting Thread
- Thread starter BraydonRoberts5
- Start date
Btw, thanks for that archive reference. No longer trust archiving to web.archive.org (wayback machine) since it was hijacked several months ago.
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As we consider the 2026 class, it's worth looking at how the 2024 and 2025 classes will likely impact Iowa's depth chart for the 2026/2027 season. That helps show what Iowa's needs are in the class and how some prospects might fit.
5) Heiden and Hays: This is probably Iowa's most set position. For the 2026-2027 season Heiden will presumably be the starter with Hays as her backup. Heiden has already shown flashes of having an impact on both ends of the floor. Iowa doesn't appear to be seriously pursuing a 5 in the 2026 class and that makes sense with this depth chart.
4) Mallegni and Houston: Is Mallegni a starting 4 on a top 10 team? Frankly, I’m not sure yet. McKenna Warnock was, and Mallegni’s game is similar. She does some things better than Warnock, but so far her three-point shooting has been bad. Warnock also benefited from Clark of course. I think this is why Iowa is pushing for Bjorn and Woliczko. If Iowa lands either, they could split minutes with Mallegni early and you’d feel really good about the position. This might also explain Iowa’s lack of interest in Koupal early on. If Iowa lands Bjorn or Woliczko there really isn’t room for her.
3) Stremlow, Deal, and Houston: Is Stremlow a starter on a Top 10 team? Right now I’d lean no. Or at least not ideally. I’m not sure she offers enough offensively. Her defense and aggressiveness would be really big off the bench, though. Deal will presumably be a starter by her Sophomore year (if not sooner) but at what position? If she settles in as the starting 3, Iowa would be fairly set at the 3 with Houston offering depth.
1) Guyton and...?: Point guard is a big need still. Guyton can play it, but I'd argue she's more ideally a 2. Stremlow can maybe contribute, though it's not ideal either. Kennise Johnson and Callie Levin haven't gotten much playing time at Iowa. Maybe Deal could play some PG in a pinch? This actually could be a big selling point to Harpring. With Iowa's current roster/commits, she could probably slot in as Iowa's starting PG from day 1. Teams like South Carolina have enough depth already that even highly ranked recruits rarely start as Freshman.
2) Deal, Guyton?: This is probably Iowa’s least set position. If Iowa lands a PG, then Guyton will probably play a lot here. Deal could also be an option, though that weakens the 3. Lewis or Kussow would at minimum add depth and could potentially be early starters if Deal and Guyton start elsewhere.
5) Heiden and Hays: This is probably Iowa's most set position. For the 2026-2027 season Heiden will presumably be the starter with Hays as her backup. Heiden has already shown flashes of having an impact on both ends of the floor. Iowa doesn't appear to be seriously pursuing a 5 in the 2026 class and that makes sense with this depth chart.
4) Mallegni and Houston: Is Mallegni a starting 4 on a top 10 team? Frankly, I’m not sure yet. McKenna Warnock was, and Mallegni’s game is similar. She does some things better than Warnock, but so far her three-point shooting has been bad. Warnock also benefited from Clark of course. I think this is why Iowa is pushing for Bjorn and Woliczko. If Iowa lands either, they could split minutes with Mallegni early and you’d feel really good about the position. This might also explain Iowa’s lack of interest in Koupal early on. If Iowa lands Bjorn or Woliczko there really isn’t room for her.
3) Stremlow, Deal, and Houston: Is Stremlow a starter on a Top 10 team? Right now I’d lean no. Or at least not ideally. I’m not sure she offers enough offensively. Her defense and aggressiveness would be really big off the bench, though. Deal will presumably be a starter by her Sophomore year (if not sooner) but at what position? If she settles in as the starting 3, Iowa would be fairly set at the 3 with Houston offering depth.
1) Guyton and...?: Point guard is a big need still. Guyton can play it, but I'd argue she's more ideally a 2. Stremlow can maybe contribute, though it's not ideal either. Kennise Johnson and Callie Levin haven't gotten much playing time at Iowa. Maybe Deal could play some PG in a pinch? This actually could be a big selling point to Harpring. With Iowa's current roster/commits, she could probably slot in as Iowa's starting PG from day 1. Teams like South Carolina have enough depth already that even highly ranked recruits rarely start as Freshman.
2) Deal, Guyton?: This is probably Iowa’s least set position. If Iowa lands a PG, then Guyton will probably play a lot here. Deal could also be an option, though that weakens the 3. Lewis or Kussow would at minimum add depth and could potentially be early starters if Deal and Guyton start elsewhere.
This is what kills me about Greenway not committing more than anything else. The roster need & difficulty getting great PG's to come to Iowa in men's or women's basketball. Like so many Fran teams that were just one-step-up in PG away from being elite - I wonder if we will say the same about the next 2-3 years regarding Jensen's squads.
What year would have one step up in PG have made Fran's team elite. I wouldn't worry too much about the women being at the men's level in the years ahead.
The Iowa WBB program has actually done very well recruiting pg’s. Caitlin, Samantha Logic, Kathleen Doyle, Tania Davis, Kamile Whalin.
Maybe the year that we had Luka Garza, Joe Wieskamp and Keegan Murray and finished 8th in the country? Maybe that year.
Is it Bjorn or Woliczko
Or
Could it be Bjorn and Woliczko?
Like could it be:
Heiden
Woliczko
Bjorn
Deal
Guyton(or Harpring 🙏🏼)
Edit: Forgot about Lewis if the Crystal Ball is true:
Heiden
Woliczko/Bjorn
Deal
Lewis
Guyton
Is probably what we’re looking at if we hit on Lewis plus one more..
Or
Could it be Bjorn and Woliczko?
Like could it be:
Heiden
Woliczko
Bjorn
Deal
Guyton(or Harpring 🙏🏼)
Edit: Forgot about Lewis if the Crystal Ball is true:
Heiden
Woliczko/Bjorn
Deal
Lewis
Guyton
Is probably what we’re looking at if we hit on Lewis plus one more..
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My ultimate point about our greatest weakness in recruiting is point guard - still stands. Tania Davis was honorable mention all big 10 her senior year. Whalin was third team twice and honorable mention once. That's good but is that level good enough for where we want to be? Regardless of the talent around them we all know guard play is the engine that drives success in the tournment. By the way, the best ever (complete outlier by orders of magnitude and we only got her when she changed her mind at the LAST possible second) and two very good point guards in the last 20 years isn't exactly disproving my point.
This year we're relying on a true freshman and a transfer to play PG. We've lost games because of freshman growing pains and waiting for the team chemistry to gel with the transfer. Perhaps Jen, et al can consistently use the transfer portal moving forward to sufficiently bolster this area. We'll find out.
Yes, it can be that lineup you have listed because Bjorn can handle a ball like a guard for that #3 spot and dunk it as well for the #4. However, Lewis has a crystal ball and that needs to be considered in this mix.
One problem that would most likely bring a conflict with your lineup is if Lewis commits prior to either Bjorn or Woliczko. Would think all these Top 20 recruits would want a starting spot so they'll gauge their likelihood of getting one based on how Jan pitches their role to them within her system, all current players and those who have already committed prior to them.
Now Lewis could be the odd person out if Bjorn AND Woliczko commit 1st or even Kussow (eg any another shooting guard) commits prior to her. A coach has to take those who commit 1st when they are working with these highly rated recruits.
If Harping doesn't commit, then it might be possible for Deal to slide to #1 and Lewis to #2. We'll have Deal for a year to see all the spots she can potentially fill. The portal is always a wildcard if needed to see what shakes out to cover for unexpected deficiencies of current players and the incoming class.
Think it's highly improbable to bring in Bjorn, Woliczko, Lewis and Harpring along with having Deal and Heiden as they will almost certainly start. That's 6 players for 5 starting spots. If you're UConn or SC you could most likely pull it off, but IA doesn't have that luxury just yet, imho. Would love all 4 to commit but someone is SOL (sh*t outta luck) for a starting spot and major playing time.
The new NIL/Rev Share happens to be another wildcard on how it gets divvied up between the IA sports programs. That changes in a few months also. Who knows maybe we have a higher than normal payouts and someone might be willing be take a backseat (not starting) for a nice compensation package they can't get elsewhere. It just might be the catalyst for us to become another SC or UConn where we have 4 to 5 stars sitting on the bench just as much as they do with having playing time.
These top players are involved with so many top level circuits and tournaments in the off seasons of their high school career that they talk to each other. Some of them will try to workout their own Dream Team along with other players needed from programs with established recognition so they have a better chance to make NATTY runs. Let's hope we're one of those programs they choose for it.
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Nah, you're wrong. This program has done a fine job of recruiting point guards.
Definitely need one for the next few, though.
Wow, there must be some magic in the air in the early morning hours! I would be very pleased if we could bring in just one or (amazingly) two of the players discussed in the immediately preceding messages!!! I am a pretty optimistic guy but we are trying to swim in pretty deep pools here! Although, I agree- you miss on every shot you don’t take!
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I think the inability to recruit true top level talent across multiple positions is what has always been the problem as far as Iowa being able to take the next step from being a really solid program to a true top level program year in and year out. I don’t think it’s a position specific (ie PG) problem. Jan is trying very hard to increase the talent level at virtually every spot on the floor, Keeping my fingers crossed.
Can’t this be said of every team in America that doesn’t make the final four every year?
Pretty much. Obviously occasionally a really poor shooting game at the wrong time, A key injury late in the year can be factors etc. But in regard to Iowa being a truly elite program I just don’t think you can put the blame on lackluster recruiting at a specific position (PG) as being the key factor.
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My thinking is if there’s ever a time for Iowa to take a leap in recruiting it’s right now.
We had a good 24 and 25 class but Deal is really the only true elite prospect. We had our foot in the door for a few others in 2025 but sometimes the relationships were down the road before the CC effect could boost us. McGaughy stayed home, Skinner went to Duke, and Speiser was leaning K State.
The 26 class has a shot to make an impact, so I’m going to dream big. Bjorn and Lewis have been to Iowa a TON. Long standing relationships. Then Woliczko and Harpring you just pray that the excitement Iowa/Clark created can pull a big fish. Then you got Kussow as a possibility but has been very quiet.
Hoping Iowa pulls off 2 at least then can find impact transfer where needed to sustain high level success.
It certainly makes sense that good players want to play with good players. Probably the reason for uvonns recruiting success.If another couple top players were to commit it could result in a spectacular class.
Kinda hard to say journey Houston who was 19th two years ago got injured so drop way down there because was not playing now that she is and killing it for Davenport is not a top recruit so it ain’t only deal
Agree Matt, Some of us have been saying for awhile that the 26 class could be the key class as far as determining the arc of the program under Jan. Will it pan out, Hopefully, The one thing that can be said is Jan is going for it. I remember while watching/reading one of the countless videos/articles on Caitlin’s recruitment that Lisa and Jan said they may not get C.C. but no one would outwork them in trying. Iowa may not get some or even any of the top 26 targets but I don’t think Jan and staff will be outworked in the process.
I’m definitely curious to see if there’s another re-rank this spring and where she lands. Hopefully she proves the drop in rankings wrong.
Last time I'll beat this dead horse and clarify my point. Men's it was the key factor, yes. Biggest relative weakness in recruiting I believe still applies to the women's program too. Two all third team all American years in the last 25 not counting the ultimate outlier. The only objective evidence we have backs up it up with recruiting rankings, too.
WTF did you just post. A lot of jibberish.
We have four All American players in the last 25 years, 3 point guards and one post, and you conclude that supports an argument that point guards have been the relative recruiting weakness?
David Eickholt put out a tweet stating that Trinity Jones was at the game today.
(Idk if linking TOS is frowned upon but I couldn't find a rivals profile for her)
That’s at least Jones second visit to Iowa.
Creeper alert by me. Noticed that none of the coaches have liked any Jenica Lewis instagram posts recently. Since mid December.
Yeah this one is a bit confusing, Apparently Trinity reposted pics of her Iowa visit in the fall of 23 on her instagram account today. Kyle said he was told she did not visit today and has not visited again since that fall visit.
I was just going to add that the pics looked familiar and that I wonder if they were old.
Was thinking maybe she did visit and reposted.. but to not visit and repost is odd.
Well hopefully she is hearing some buzz from some of her peers (ie Bjorn has liked her Iowa post) and the door has swung open for the Hawks in her recruitment. I believe Raina is still following her on Instagram.
I wouldn’t read too much into that, She just visited for the USC game a couple of weeks ago.
I wouldn’t go that far. Just noticed it.
They’ve been liking almost everything from Harpring, Bjorn, and some of Woliczko’s recent stuff.
Actually need to give credit where credit is due.
We are talking about recruiting here. What is known before their college career even begins.
Think recruiting McDonald's All-Americans are very high on a coach's list (Most years only 24 players can claim this).
If you can't get them, McDonald's All-American Nominees are next in line (~350-500 in this group a year).
Believe being drafted at the end of career gives them some clout as well that they had talent.
I only included Scott's recent list + up until now and not back 25 years.
Kamille Whalin (2008-2011)
McDonald's All-American Nominee (2007) <---
Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2008)
Samantha Logic (2012-2015)
McDonald's All-American (2011) <---
Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2012)
Big Ten All-Tournament Team (2014)
Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List Finalist (2014)
2Ă— First-team All-Big Ten (2014, 2015)
Third-team All-American – AP (2015)
All-American – USBWA (2015)
WBCA Coaches' All-American (2015)
First-team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association (2015)
WNBA draft 1st round, 10th overall pick - Selected by the Atlanta Dream (2015)
Nancy Lieberman Award Finalist (2015)
John R. Wooden Award Ballot (2015)
2015 Naismith Trophy Midseason 30 List (2015)
Dawn Staley Award Watch List (2015)
Tania Davis (2015-2018)
ESPN Top 40 guard (ranked No. 36) <---
ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 recruit, ranked as the 36th-best prospect nationally and the 12th-best point guard
"[Davis:] I want to win Miss Basketball my senior year, win a state championship and hopefully play in the McDonald's All-American game," Davis told The Flint Journal earlier this summer. "This is my last year, so I'm just trying to go hard and make the best of it." <---
Kathleen Doyle (2017-2020)
McDonald’s All-American nominee (2016) <---
Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2017)
2x First-team All-Big Ten (2019, 2020)
Third-team All-American – AP, USBWA (2020)
WBCA Coaches' All-American (2020)
Big Ten Player of the Year (2020)
WNBA draft 2nd round, 14th overall pick - Selected by the Indiana Fever (2020)
Next is CC (2020-2023) and we you know her long list of accolades including McDonald's All-American. <---
WNBA draft 1st round, 1st overall pick - Selected by the Indiana Fever (2024)
Aaliyah Guyton (2024-?) McDonald’s All-American nominee. <---
Addie Deal (2025-?) McDonald's All-American. <---
Think you're skating on thin ice here. Basketball is a team sport. The PG certainly matters a lot. Think we can all agree on that. However, you still need points from others, defense, rebounds and other high IQ intangibles that don't show up in a box score from multiple players that are on the same page to make deep tournament runs.
Yes, CC is an outlier and she covered up a lot of sins for the rest of the team because she has highly exceptional skills and IQ to match it. There's no one close to CC before and after that can carry a team like she did. Let's try to come back to reality here because that's a haystack needle.
When you look at what this current team is doing in comparison and the way we've played against a Top #2, #4 and #8 team, we're not doing too bad without a generational McDonald’s All-American PG. What you see in our recruiting over these years is its been above average to the point of ~Top 30 or better. It's why we get in the tournament every year. I don't see any abnormal patterns with our PG recruiting or anything that says it's a glaring weakness in past years.
I would argue that if we had a Megan G type on this current team, we might have the same record as last year or even better yet, undefeated. There's no uber PG needed. The point is that it's a team effort and production can come from all 5 spots.
Rather have upgraded potential in the 4 other spots, than expect an exceptional PG is always going to commit to IA and they're going to magically supercharge the rest of the team. Now hopefully we get to that point where we can have that top talented PG or 2 on the squad every year, but we're not there yet. 2026 recruiting is a pivotal key to see if we can keep on elevating our starters/bench with more 4 or 5 stars like the last 2 years of Top 10 and Top 15 classes or do we fall back to normal with ~Top 30 recruiting classes again.
Hell the coach's system even plays a vital part. You can have all the great players starting and also on the bench, but if that coach doesn't have innovative plays to match the players strengths, they can make a Final Four looking team look like a play-in team.
The key is there are many pieces to the puzzle here. PG is not something you can point to and say that it's most definitely a weak link over the years. It's more like Scott said in that it's been hard for IA to get top talent at all or most positions at the same time. When we don't have these other positions with top talent, then opponents can pick on our weak links to keep us at above average instead of us having something around the elite level.
Think of it this way. Top talent wants to play with top talent if their goals are NATTY runs. They want to stack the deck in their favor. We need to fill in more pieces at the other spots as well as PG if we want that top talent to keep on coming back. At that point, hopefully we start to see Top 5 classes as well.
We are talking about recruiting here. What is known before their college career even begins.
Think recruiting McDonald's All-Americans are very high on a coach's list (Most years only 24 players can claim this).
If you can't get them, McDonald's All-American Nominees are next in line (~350-500 in this group a year).
Believe being drafted at the end of career gives them some clout as well that they had talent.
As stated, someone could argue the opposite of what you're claiming. Our PGs may have over produced based on other team players around them.
I only included Scott's recent list + up until now and not back 25 years.
Kamille Whalin (2008-2011)
McDonald's All-American Nominee (2007) <---
Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2008)
Kamille Wahlin - Women's Basketball 2010-11
Kamille Wahlin - Women's Basketball 2010-11
hawkeyesports.com
Samantha Logic (2012-2015)
McDonald's All-American (2011) <---
Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2012)
Big Ten All-Tournament Team (2014)
Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List Finalist (2014)
2Ă— First-team All-Big Ten (2014, 2015)
Third-team All-American – AP (2015)
All-American – USBWA (2015)
WBCA Coaches' All-American (2015)
First-team All-American by the United States Basketball Writers Association (2015)
WNBA draft 1st round, 10th overall pick - Selected by the Atlanta Dream (2015)
Nancy Lieberman Award Finalist (2015)
John R. Wooden Award Ballot (2015)
2015 Naismith Trophy Midseason 30 List (2015)
Dawn Staley Award Watch List (2015)
Samantha Logic - Women's Basketball 2011-12
Samantha Logic - Women's Basketball 2011-12
hawkeyesports.com
Samantha Logic - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Tania Davis (2015-2018)
ESPN Top 40 guard (ranked No. 36) <---
ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 recruit, ranked as the 36th-best prospect nationally and the 12th-best point guard
"[Davis:] I want to win Miss Basketball my senior year, win a state championship and hopefully play in the McDonald's All-American game," Davis told The Flint Journal earlier this summer. "This is my last year, so I'm just trying to go hard and make the best of it." <---
ESPN Top 40 guard Tania Davis of Goodrich commits to Iowa
Goodrich’s top-ranked floor general Tania Davis has finally made her college decision.
www.mlive.com
Kathleen Doyle (2017-2020)
McDonald’s All-American nominee (2016) <---
Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2017)
2x First-team All-Big Ten (2019, 2020)
Third-team All-American – AP, USBWA (2020)
WBCA Coaches' All-American (2020)
Big Ten Player of the Year (2020)
WNBA draft 2nd round, 14th overall pick - Selected by the Indiana Fever (2020)
Kathleen Doyle - Women's Basketball 2016-17
Kathleen Doyle - Women's Basketball 2016-17
hawkeyesports.com
Kathleen Doyle - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Next is CC (2020-2023) and we you know her long list of accolades including McDonald's All-American. <---
WNBA draft 1st round, 1st overall pick - Selected by the Indiana Fever (2024)
Aaliyah Guyton (2024-?) McDonald’s All-American nominee. <---
Addie Deal (2025-?) McDonald's All-American. <---
Think you're skating on thin ice here. Basketball is a team sport. The PG certainly matters a lot. Think we can all agree on that. However, you still need points from others, defense, rebounds and other high IQ intangibles that don't show up in a box score from multiple players that are on the same page to make deep tournament runs.
Yes, CC is an outlier and she covered up a lot of sins for the rest of the team because she has highly exceptional skills and IQ to match it. There's no one close to CC before and after that can carry a team like she did. Let's try to come back to reality here because that's a haystack needle.
When you look at what this current team is doing in comparison and the way we've played against a Top #2, #4 and #8 team, we're not doing too bad without a generational McDonald’s All-American PG. What you see in our recruiting over these years is its been above average to the point of ~Top 30 or better. It's why we get in the tournament every year. I don't see any abnormal patterns with our PG recruiting or anything that says it's a glaring weakness in past years.
I would argue that if we had a Megan G type on this current team, we might have the same record as last year or even better yet, undefeated. There's no uber PG needed. The point is that it's a team effort and production can come from all 5 spots.
Rather have upgraded potential in the 4 other spots, than expect an exceptional PG is always going to commit to IA and they're going to magically supercharge the rest of the team. Now hopefully we get to that point where we can have that top talented PG or 2 on the squad every year, but we're not there yet. 2026 recruiting is a pivotal key to see if we can keep on elevating our starters/bench with more 4 or 5 stars like the last 2 years of Top 10 and Top 15 classes or do we fall back to normal with ~Top 30 recruiting classes again.
Hell the coach's system even plays a vital part. You can have all the great players starting and also on the bench, but if that coach doesn't have innovative plays to match the players strengths, they can make a Final Four looking team look like a play-in team.
The key is there are many pieces to the puzzle here. PG is not something you can point to and say that it's most definitely a weak link over the years. It's more like Scott said in that it's been hard for IA to get top talent at all or most positions at the same time. When we don't have these other positions with top talent, then opponents can pick on our weak links to keep us at above average instead of us having something around the elite level.
Think of it this way. Top talent wants to play with top talent if their goals are NATTY runs. They want to stack the deck in their favor. We need to fill in more pieces at the other spots as well as PG if we want that top talent to keep on coming back. At that point, hopefully we start to see Top 5 classes as well.
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Addie Deal and Kate Martin liked it and they both commented on this within the last couple of hours.
Think it might also have something to do with her coming back from a torn ACL a few days ago. She just played in her 1 st game in a while.
Article Title: Girls basketball: Jones returns, but Naperville Central can’t slow Yorkville (2/18/25)
"That was Jones, a 6-foot-2 junior and high Division I prospect who had missed the entire regular season with a torn ACL.
But there she was, in uniform and putting up shots.
...
Indeed, Jones' season debut didn’t prevent the Foxes from taking care of business."
...
Jones, who has been practicing with Naperville Central for a week and a half, didn’t start, checking in three minutes into Tuesday’s game. She immediately flashed her tremendous athletic ability, going over a Yorkville player to rebound a missed free throw and sticking in a score.
Jones, though, only played in spurts, scoring six points and grabbing a handful of rebounds."
Girls basketball: Jones returns, but Naperville Central can’t slow Yorkville
Yorkville senior Brooke Spychalski was as curious as anyone in the gym Tuesday at the sight of Trinity Jones warming up. Four weeks after Spychalski and the Foxes beat Naperville Central, they receive...
www.dailyherald.com
A third team all american is an extremely good player you bozo
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