Iowa Women Make WNIT

[anon_snp6dc585nnj4]

Does women's bball even matter? If you aren't UCONN you aren't sniffing a championship. If you aren't a #1 or #2 seed you aren't getting to the final four. It's so boring and anti climatic.

 

[Row55]

I guess it depends on whether the viewer can find enjoyment in watching games that don't involve potential national champions.

 

[BGHAWK]

I support the ladies as well but do agree with those who are ready for a change. The staff has done a pretty good job recruiting so there is nice talent on the team and they are young this year.

For me that's all the more reason and one of the reasons I like Lisa, is that I believe she's a very good coach. I have been critical over the years with her level of recruiting, but not her coaching. There is so much more about her and her staff and players that I like, than what the record is each year.

 

[Hawk24]

That was two years ago, when Logic, Dixon and Doolittle graduated. Last years seniors were not impact players (Till might have been if she had two good knees). This freshman class ended up being extra guard-heavy when we were able to pick up Doyle late. Apparently the decision was made that a 4 guard lineup put the best 5 players on the floor, even if 3 were freshmen. To be fair, this year's juniors did not set the place on fire, and hard to see at this point if they will be very effective next season.

I think you touch on one of the biggest reasons for the relative drop-off the past 2 seasons....a couple of "lost" recruiting classes. Last year's batch of seniors contributed very little on the court and out of this year's class, only Ally Disterhoft made an impact (albeit a really big impact). This year's juniors - Coley and Buttenham - have been pretty big disappointments as well. Throw in the Jennings and Larson transfers and you have the makings of a downturn in success. But I'm confident that once the current sophs and freshmen are juniors and seniors, the Hawks will be back to level of success we've come to expect from them.

 

[Row55]

Some comments from coach Bluder on the NCAA's apparent disdain for the B10:

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/bluder-to-big-ten-schedule-better-20170314

 

[SpartanHawk]

Some comments from coach Bluder on the NCAA's apparent disdain for the B10:

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/bluder-to-big-ten-schedule-better-20170314

She's basically saying that if so many other teams in the conference don't schedule well, even if they win a lot in non-conference, they screw up everyone's RPI in the conference. Despite Iowa absolutely destroying an overmatched UNI team when they played them, UNI's RPI is 55, while Iowa's is 64. The other conference teams' scheduling outside of conference (or lack thereof!), is what screwed up Iowa's RPI this year.

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-women/d1/ncaa-womens-basketball-rpi

Unlike football, where many on committees can do "eye tests" with watching game clips, etc. in addition to going through stats, in the Women's basketball tourney, it is likely that stats like RPI play a lot heavier role in making these picks.

I would note though that Maryland did beat Arizona State and Louisville in their non-conference schedule, which along with UConn weren't extremely weak and also in the tourney, even if the rest of their opponents weren't that strong. Iowa certainly had more tough opponents in quantity though than other Big Ten teams, and had a young and inexperienced team, much like the men's team which had rough outings early on as well.

 

[Row55]

What helped UNI (I think) was turning around and beating Creighton and Kansas State right after getting destroyed in CHA, plus they were pretty consistent from that point on. Had the Hawks been able to keep the momentum from the ISU and UNI games going it would have been a fun, WNIT-less season.

 

[SpartanHawk]

What helped UNI (I think) was turning around and beating Creighton and Kansas State right after getting destroyed in CHA, plus they were pretty consistent from that point on. Had the Hawks been able to keep the momentum from the ISU and UNI games going it would have been a fun, WNIT-less season.

What also hurts is that one of RPI's biggest flaws in my book is that it doesn't factor in margin of victory, just wins and losses. It wouldn't have mattered if Iowa had blown out UNI or had a close overtime win instead. It would have made for each team still having the same RPI at the end of the season. To schedule appropriately, you shouldn't be scheduling teams that you know will be 30+ point blowouts. You should schedule tougher teams that will give you 10 point wins or so, where you likely will have them have higher RPIs, and your RPI doesn't get negatively affected if you win a close game versus blowing anther team out.

 

[SpartanHawk]

TV Coverage?

I haven't seen any tv coverage announced for Women's NIT tourney games. I think it's up to the local media in each locale of where the game is hosted to broadcast it or not. I did see a note in an article that the Hawkeye Radio Network should carry it, but I haven't been able to find this on any other web page. Anyone else confirm where to find the Hawkeye Radio Network schedule for Thursday?

http://www.kjan.com/index.php/2017/...ketball-teams-will-all-play-on-in-postseason/

...
The Iowa Hawkeyes will play in the Women’s NIT with their first round opponent being Missouri State. The Hawkeyes will host that first round game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday and we’ll have coverage on the Hawkeye Radio Network. Pregame will begin at 6:45pm with tip-off set for 7:00pm.
...​

Hawkeyesports only shows a link coming up for the postgame press conference, not an audio link for the game itself like it does for so many other events. If anyone has an audio streaming link for Hawkeye Radio Network streaming, please post.

http://www.hawkeyesports.com/watch/?Archive=6995&type=Live

Edit: You perhaps can watch Iowa's next opponent in their Women's NIT game on this game broadcast through Sidearm (which the above link shows Iowa Hawkeye events too) through South Dakota's site. Perhaps some should pressure those in Iowa to get this being aired like South Dakota is.

http://www.goyotes.com/watch/?Live=319&type=Live

 

[UpstreamHawkeye]

tunein has carried radio broadcast of women's games all season under "Iowa Hawkeye Sports Network". When the game is about to start, just go to tunein.com or start the tunein app on your smart phone, and search for "Iowa Hawkeyes".

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Until I care about women's final fours the current state of the program is fine with me. Quality women in charge and good girls on the team. Consistently recruiting at decent level. Fun to watch, if maddening.

 

[IamHawkeye]

What also hurts is that one of RPI's biggest flaws in my book is that it doesn't factor in margin of victory, just wins and losses. It wouldn't have mattered if Iowa had blown out UNI or had a close overtime win instead. It would have made for each team still having the same RPI at the end of the season. To schedule appropriately, you shouldn't be scheduling teams that you know will be 30+ point blowouts. You should schedule tougher teams that will give you 10 point wins or so, where you likely will have them have higher RPIs, and your RPI doesn't get negatively affected if you win a close game versus blowing anther team out.

Still can't figure out UNI getting a 10 seed, when Iowa in past years often got the "dreaded" 8 or 9 seed with some pretty good teams. And Drake beats UNI three times and gets a 10 seed too. However, if the margin of victory counted then you might have teams pouring it on instead of letting reserves get some experience.

 

[GoHawks2009]

Still can't figure out UNI getting a 10 seed, when Iowa in past years often got the "dreaded" 8 or 9 seed with some pretty good teams. And Drake beats UNI three times and gets a 10 seed too. However, if the margin of victory counted then you might have teams pouring it on instead of letting reserves get some experience.

The NCAA Womens committees generally have much less respect for the MVC than the Men's side does.