Iowa WBB Class of 2026 Recruiting Thread
- Thread starter BraydonRoberts5
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I fear Bjorn might be slipping away…meanwhile Greenway has Liked basically every single Jan Jensen related post from Iowa WBB on insta. I gotta get into the weeds and see if she Likes any other teams content this frequently. It’s not as easy to do on Insta as it is on Twitter. Will report back.
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So I pulled up a few wbb accounts and scrolled thru their 20ish most recent posts (so maybe the last month or so). Results, by school:
Speiser doesn’t have IG so no insights there. Happy to do more if anyone has other suggestions.
- UCLA: Lewis and Greenway are big fans. One or both of them Like basically every single post. So are Bjorn and McGaughy, to a lesser extent.
- Minnesota: Greenway Likes the occasional post.
- Duke: McGaughy has Liked 2-3.
- UNC: McGaughy has Liked 5-6.
- UConn: Ava Miles is a very big fan (but she seems to be a fan of everyone tbh). McGaughy as well but less so (no more than UNC).
- Kentucky: Adelaide Jernigan is a big fan. McGaughy and Greenway here and there.
- USC: Pretty much everyone loves this team. They’re ridiculously hype rn, makes sense. Taliyah Henderson, Amari Byles and Emilia Krstevski have the most love.
- Texas: Bjorn and Jernigan are big fans. Bjorn Likes a lot of Texas content on Twitter too…I think they’re the school to beat.
- Notre Dame: Byles is def a fan.
- Illinois/Indiana/Iowa State: Did not see one Like by any of our top targets lol. Not much of interest for Maryland/Ohio State either. I did see Maryland is going to Croatia in June. That helps explain their insane portal haul.
Speiser doesn’t have IG so no insights there. Happy to do more if anyone has other suggestions.
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Her mother (Mandy) played at USD and set numerous records. Mandy is sort of a SD legend - she set national HS records for shooting accuracy, won championships at Wagner HS. In college, won conference MVP multiple times, D11 AA and national POY.
Aaaah so that’s who people who keep mentioning (assumed it was a sister), thanks!
Has offers from Indiana and Iowa State but not us. Would hate to lose her because we held out for higher rated girls and then can't sign any of them. 6'3" with guard skills is tempting. I'll trust Jan and the staff.
Maybe she will get an offer, Who knows. May also be a case of does Jan really feel she is someone legitimately interested in Iowa, I believe Jan referenced in her presser that part of recruiting was evaluating who the staff feels truly is interested in being part of the Iowa program. Bottom line the staff may love a player but if the feeling isn’t reciprocated you are really wasting time and resources.
Could this be the case with Speiser? You just don't read much about her connected to Iowa.
She definitely has an Iowa offer. Bluder went and saw her on a weekday in February. She has been to campus many times. It’s rly a bummer Hawk Buck said she is leaning somewhere other than Iowa, but it makes sense that she wasn’t spotted at a single Wbb game this year. She does seem to still cheer for Iowa on social media and occasionally engages with people commenting that she should go to Iowa, etc.
His exact words, I believe, were that Iowa was near the top of her list but not at the very top. My guess (based on her most common social activity) is she is leaning toward Notre Dame, K-State or LSU, all of whom she has offers from. Yep, K-State is still riding some momentum despite accomplishing nothing but beating us lmao.
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Her tape is pretty good but I expected her to be more of a slasher.
Ashlyn Koupal won the SD Class A state high jump championship for the 4th consecutive year in Sioux Falls today.
listen.sdpb.org
Ashlyn Koupal claims fourth state high jump title
Wagner sophomore Ashlyn Koupal is a four-time state high jump champion in South Dakota. On Thursday at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls during day one of the state track and field meet, Koupal reached 5’4” in the ‘A’ girls division to claim the title.
listen.sdpb.org
Have to say, I'm all-in on this possible recruit. I think she's long, strong, athletic, and a potential all-BiG player. She would help give the Hawks that rare, athletic wing w/ size and skills that we've been missing. Yes, she has family connections at home, but I'd love to see Jan convince her to envision a higher level for herself; esp if we don't land players like McGaughy and Speiser in the 2025 class.
I believe it’s virtually certain that she will choose to play major college BB, the question is where?
Nebraska and Minnesota offered early - both of those coaches (Williams and Plitzuweit) are ex-USD head coaches and have developed relationships since at least middle school. I’m positive that Plitzuwiet, a pretty good recruiter, is making her (and Greenway) top priorities.
It is reasonable to assume that Iowa made inroads with the March visit, I wish they would have offered her then.
Interesting to see Lacey Goldwire’s Twitter on the Koupal tweet. Thought Goldwire might have been a rising star when she left Iowa. Not sure it turned out that way.
Koupal's recruitment is interesting because her invite to the Ohio State game made it seem like she was fairly high priority, but her offer list is growing and Iowa still hasn't offered.
I wonder if Bjorn is impacting that decision? There's no reason Iowa couldn't take both I suppose, but they would probably play similar positions. They might fear a Koupal commitment would result in Bjorn moving on.
I know things are often fuzzy with W/Fs but I was under the impression that Koupal was more of a W (ideally a SG) and Bjorn was more of a F (ideally a PF)? Altho I guess they may have different goals.
FWIW a quick scroll thru Jan’s/Abbi’s likes shows it’s rather obvious they are all in on Bjorn. That said, from what I can tell Bjorn seems to be a huge fan of Texas.
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I'm skeptical Koupal would ever see significant minutes at the 2 from a roster construction prospective. When she would get to campus Iowa will (barring transfer) have Guyton, Stremlow, Levin, and Deal all competing for minutes at the 1 or 2 spots and that's not even factoring in other guards from 2025 or 2026.
We've seen situations like that before where O'Grady could play the 4 or Warnock could play the 3, but it never actually happened in practice. It seems more likely to me that Koupal and Bjorn would both compete for minutes at the 3 or 4.
Thanks! I see what you mean. But do you think she would play best at the 2 at a different program where she wouldn’t face the prospect of a positional logjam?
I guess I’m saying I thought her preferred/ideal position is the 2, not taking into account Iowas specific positional distribution. But again I could have misunderstood. Koupal, Speiser, Bjorn and Jones all seem to be incredibly versatile and are referred to as various positions depending on where I read about them.
For example just today Kyle wrote about Speiser being a G, but tbh I’ve seen her more often than not referred to as a F. He said Iowa is unlikely to land a PF in ‘25, but he described Speiser as still in play. She strikes me as a Warnock type G, that would def play the 4 for Iowa.
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I don't see Speiser or Koupal being able to defend high level 2's or 3's. Speiser can shoot like one but projects more as a stretch 4 IMO.
Thanks! I’m glad we (theoretically) have more options at the 4 bc im pretty concerned about our front court tbh.
Was told Brittanie Crittendon, highly rated 2026 recruit from Colorado was on campus today.
Brihanna, Abby has been working on this one for a long time
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I haven't watched a ton of Koupal tape, but here's a quick highlight video on YouTube. I'd say her optimal position is a 4 with maybe a chance at playing the 3. Like SunzOut I'm not sure she's quick enough to guard most 2s. I'm not sure there's a program in the country where it would make sense to put her at the 2. Whatever you gain by having a 6'3' player at the 2 you lose in speed and ball-handling.
I don't love the guard/wing/forward distinction for women's basketball tbh. Is Kate Martin a guard, wing, or forward? I think you could argue she's all three. The number system is easier for me. Kate played the 3 or 4 positions at Iowa. I don't recall her ever playing the 2.
Posted about her on page 3. Wouldn't be surprised. Recently received offers from Maryland, MSU, Michigan, VT, and Clemson.
Could you share what Bell and Crittenden have in common?
Jan did post on Instagram last week when she was getting back from Big 10 meetings on the west coast & the Aces game about getting ready "for a big week". Guessing it was regarding some unofficial visits if Crittenden & Bell were on campus.
Possibly interviewing assistant candidates also.
I've mentioned before that I see Koupal as an athletic wing/4 w size, a role Iowa has had difficulty filling. Which is why I wonder why Iowa hasn't yet offered. With the loss of Mcgaughy, and nothing yet from Speiser, I'm curious whether Jan has a prospect she's pursuing more under the radar? I'm also agreeing with (I think it was Shikreto) that Libby Fandel may come into discussion soon. I was impressed with her AAU tape, a good all-around game, and could become an effective wing.
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