The Hyball: This Is Your Team
Bobby Loesch • Go Iowa Awesome
Staff Writer
@bobbystompy
As sports fans, we are way too often asked to compromise.
Ticket prices, time stretched, loyalty testing losses... that one linebacker who maybe did that one really bad thing.
But in 2022-23, Iowa women's basketball didn't force us to compromise because they themselves were uncompromising. They asked nothing of us and gave us their everything. We sat in the sidecar of their motorcycle to the stars.
And the galaxy was spectacular. They played cohesive, consistent, beautiful basketball. They put up points. They relished the cheers. They smiled. They sneered.
And they took it all the way to the very last game.
If my soul still exists, it left my body during the South Carolina game. Whether we were going to eventually win or lose, I couldn't believe we spent the great majority of the game with the lead. It was probably the +11.5 spread that spooked me, because nothing else should've. These gals were up for nearly every challenge. No team (of any kind) is perfect — but at times this team verged on, attained, and sustained a transcendent magnificence.
When they lost games, it never felt like an effort problem. They weren't built to play elite team defense but still fought like absolute dogs, squeezing every ounce out of the orange. They burned the nets with their shooting. Dizzied the crowd with their passing. And they always made you feel like you were a part of something bigger.
Read more here: https://iowa.rivals.com/news/the-hyball-this-is-your-team
