Next seasons starters?
- Thread starter amahawk
- Start date
Well I’m assuming they’ll head back to the stretch 4 experiment. HS will be on the floor, it would be best if she could play the 4 consistently
G Guyton
G Deal
G McCabe
F Stuelke
C Heiden
G Deal
G McCabe
F Stuelke
C Heiden
They might, but as I said in another thread, the sooner everyone realizes that Hannah is a five the better.
They’ll try again, just like they did this year. Regardless of what you said or didn’t say or “mean” for that matter 🤓
Hannah missed all last summer due to surgery. She could really improve as a four with the off-season to develop.
I’d guess Stremlow & Mallegni, might have a shot for some significant growth in the offseason
Funny that, anonymous message board poster calling someone weird 🤷♂️ ok
It was not an insult. I enjoy reading your posts, even if they don’t always make sense to me.
Leaning toward this, but what if KF comes back?
If Stuelke does not improve her skills required for stretch 4, I still think Heiden and Stuelke could still be effective together. Put one at the high post and the other under the basket. One of the two should have an advantage against their defender
I’m not insulted 😊 again, not being a dick just giving you insight into my mind & how I process things if truly interested. You are a stranger, on a message board, who I will likely never meet. Sometimes we agree, sometimes I irritate you. You aren’t generally in the camp that constantly bashes players and coaches, (big time irritant to me) but you will tell me you think I’m out of line (no problem w/that) screwing w/them. You are probably right 🤓
We aren’t message board buddies per se and your condemnation won’t affect me, & your lifting me up, might make smile, outside of that, what have we got…
Now that I think of it, yes, I am weird, no way around that…🤷♂️
If Feurbach comes back she obviously starts. Then there's a huge logjam at the guard position again. Next year we bring in another quality big ( or so we think and hope) and can Hannah actually make the switch to the 4? As others have said she missed the entire Summer so it basically killed her development at that position. Hate to have Heiden sit another year, so I think we give it another shot though I don't think it will work. Deal, Guyton, McCabe, Stuelke and Heiden. Unless of course Feurbach comes back, then she starts in place of Guyton which as others have said creates other problems. Stremlow and Mallegni get plenty of time as does I think Houston.
It may be that Hannah can play the 4 next year because we will need her there. This year playing Hannah at the 5, moves Syd to the 4 where she has a strong enough body to stop the other teams 4 down inside and she is more mobile than the other teams 4 when we are on offense so we have an advantage. Next year we won't have Syd to play the 4 and while someday Teagan may be a fulltime 4, her best role now may be the backup "shooting" 4. Just a theory. Time will tell. Really like the potential of the freshmen-hope they all stay.
I will be interested in seeing if Mallegni may get some minutes at the 3 next year. I know early in the year Jan commented about it being difficult to learn the 3&4 spots. Syd has lots of experience and can move to either spot, Perhaps something Teagan can do with more experience.
Jensen will work with Hannah to develop her 4 skills. Hannah's pro future will be as a forward. Ava is star ready to explode. Hayes is mobile like Ava and will Iowa a post presence beyond what we've seen. I continue to have this fantasy of Heiden's mobility at 4. Too good to be true, but she moves like a gazelle at 6'5". Jayla is fast, quick and mobile for her 6'5" size too.
I'll be 76 years old but am in decent health. I want to live long enough to see this team play next year.
I'll be 76 years old but am in decent health. I want to live long enough to see this team play next year.
I think you end up with something similar to this season with a 2 or 3 post rotation. Things really get interesting (confusing) if Mallegni finds her game and shot, or if Houston brings something that needs to be on the court. What if Heiden comes out of summer with a consistent 12ft shot? What if Deal shows that the rim run offense is back?
Yeah, who knows? I'm sure there will be a lot of thought given to the skills they have on the roster. Hopefully Jensen doesn't burn through December still trying to figure it out. Need consistency.
Mallegni is a wild card. If she dedicates herself to some strength and fitness in the next six months I think her ceiling gets a lot higher.
Would be a nice addition to have Stremlow come back with a reliable shot.
So much depends on what these players want, and how bad they want it.
Yeah, who knows? I'm sure there will be a lot of thought given to the skills they have on the roster. Hopefully Jensen doesn't burn through December still trying to figure it out. Need consistency.
Mallegni is a wild card. If she dedicates herself to some strength and fitness in the next six months I think her ceiling gets a lot higher.
Would be a nice addition to have Stremlow come back with a reliable shot.
So much depends on what these players want, and how bad they want it.
I'm not sure what Kirk Ferentz has to do with the WBB team.
(Sorry ... that was my first thought when I saw "KF.")
If Kylie comes back, I think she and McCabe battle for minutes. I don't think you can keep Guyton or Deal off the floor. I know Guyton has been in a slump, shooting-wise lately, but her ceiling is among the highest on the team.
Without question. BUT as I said earlier, she certainly has thoughts of playing in the WNBA, and theres no way she carves out a spot as a 5 in the league, SO, IF she really wants to make her dream a reality it would be in her best interest to spend from April to October doing whatever she can to improve her skills away from the basket.
I just don't see Guyton or Deal sitting, another reason I answered that bringing Kylie back doesn't make the team better. I think both will be pretty good perimeter defenders, and potentially much better on offense. Beyond the current team and commits, Jan will still be looking at portal players and future recruits. Guyton not starting next year could be a potential disaster. Just one guys opinion.....Really not trying to be "a Richard" about Kylie either. She a Hawk, and has given 4 years to the programs betterment. Having said that with Iowa now recruiting top 5-40 nationally rated players, (or praise the Lord) even being in on the nations highest ranked player in Harpering. you can NOT recruit players like Deal, or Guyton and not play them major minutes. Can NOT....
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Meh….maybe Iowa can’t, but teams do. South Carolina’s fan were up in arms that Dawn didn’t play Fulwiley enough before Watkins injury. It’s not just our fans. Just another in a long list of reasons why fans make me smile. You’d think DS was beyond repute but apparently not….
Anywhoooo, moving on. You may remember me several years ago when everyone was up in arms about Iowa losing early entries in football and I said: I personally see this as a good thing and I don’t think you’ll see the drop off you’re expecting. Fast-forward to this year and I’m not positive, we didn’t have players over stay their tenure.
So I have no preconceived notion about whether Kyle should or shouldn’t be back, that’s Jan’s decision. I will, however, give you a different way of looking at it. At this point in time,Kylie’s got a pretty good idea of who she is or isn’t, I do think she’ll work hard. I do think she’ll try to improve her shot and her overall game but she’s not gonna whine & sulk if she’s not on the floor for every single minute and to me, she is the perfect Plug-and-play defender that honestly can guard the four on down in my opinion.
This team didn’t start winning again because of their offense, sure it improved, but this is the best defensive basketball, they’ve played in 20 years. She’s the number one reason why. You can put her on almost anyone and now that she’s doing a better job of not turning the ball over, she’s rarely a liability and almost always a plus player.
Just my opinion
Personally I would replace McCabe with Stremlow for rebounding.
I’m not disagreeing with any of that. My point is if she comes back she’s already starting now. She will not come back next year and be a bench player. Agree that it might cause developmental problems with some of the younger players. But if she has that option and decides to come back Jan will start her and we know it.
You may be right on this.
However, there is something to think about here.
1) Don't think Jan guarantees starting spots. Kylie will have to earn it again.
2) Think Kylie changed her position from not coming back to let's wait until after the season.
Why? Suspect it has something to do with Rev Sharing that kicks in next year and that might change her tune on whether she comes back or not. If these players get, say $100k, to play from Rev Sharing, then that might be Kylie's wait and see moment on what that amount is before she makes her decision. Not saying this is the only reason. Just saying it could be a factor in her decision to come back or not. Hell, I don't need a guaranteed starting spot at this point.
Okay on the defensive part, but your S Carolina post is a poor analogy in my opinion, because ALL they recruit is top 5-30 players. Thats all their roster is. Someone has to get less minutes, and bide their time. Thas not Iowa's roster, at least not currently.
Oh, I'm not saying that Jan wouldn't start her, (she probably would), but that it could potentially be a mess. I know that in most of the sports at Iowa, the old "wait your turn", and "earn your spot" is Iowa's mantra, if you will. Thats all well and good, until you start recruiting top 5-20 level recruits, and then your dealing with an entirely different situation. Those players do NOT go to school anywhere and plan on sitting for a year or two. Name a player of that ilk who comes to Iowa or almost anywhere outside the top 3 or 4 teams, and doesn't play major minutes in any sport. Jay Higgens is a perfect example of the "wait your turn guy" who became a great story, but he was not highly recruited. I'd bet money that lose Epenesa will play this year. He probably won't start but I'd bet you'll see him on 25-30% of the snaps. If Jan wants to continue recruiting in the deep end of the pool, (which she is certainly doing now), there will be some adjustment to the way she handles the roster. No Iowa basketball coach (of either gender) has had a foot in the door on so many highly ranked recruits at one time since Raveling in the early 80's. If we want to stay a player in the top 10, now is the time.
Well stated. We want to be a perennial top ten, if not top five program. You simply can't sit the type of recuits that we will need to get there.
I do not see them bringing Kylie back.I'm not sure what Kirk Ferentz has to do with the WBB team.
(Sorry ... that was my first thought when I saw "KF.")
If Kylie comes back, I think she and McCabe battle for minutes. I don't think you can keep Guyton or Deal off the floor. I know Guyton has been in a slump, shooting-wise lately, but her ceiling is among the highest on the team.
Probably a poor analogy, but….the fans, right, wrong or just normal fans thought she was a no brainer heavy weight 🤷♂️!
And she wasn’t being played a ton early
Some player will take a big jump over the summer. This year, McCabe surprised me by becoming a much better all-around player. Feuerbach is a great defender, but McCabe’s defense has improved a lot.
If Stuelke develops a reliable 15 footer, she can play the 4.
As some mentioned above, maybe Heiden can play the 4 and leave Stuelke in the post. Or in some thread somewhere, they couple flip on defensive end with Heiden sliding to the post.
Finally, I love the “who will start next year” question, but minutes on the floor matters more. I took minutes played the last two seasons from the Iowa WBB stats. I expected the distribution to be very different between last season and this year. Nope.
| 2024-25 | mpg | mpg | 2023-24 |
| Olsen | 34 | 34 | Clark |
| Affolter | 29 | 29 | Marshall |
| Stuelke | 28 | 28 | Martin |
| Feuerbach | 24 | 24 | Stuelke |
| McCabe | 22 | 24 | Affolter |
| O'Grady | 21 | 23 | Davis |
| Stremlow | 16 | 14 | Feuerbach |
| Guyton | 16 | 9 | Goodman |
| Heiden | 10 | 8 | O'Grady |
| Mallegni | 9 | 8 | McCabe |
| Gyamfi | 4 | 4 | Ediger |
| Ediger | 4 | 4 | Gyamfi |
| Levin | 3 | 3 | Johnson |
It def matters more on minutes played vs. who is starting.
Hot take: I love Stremlow, but I envision her as our 6th man for the next few years unless we miss badly on 2026. BUT I see her play starter mins and will be a huge leader/impact player for our team.
Yes, she def could improve offensively and some of our future recruits may not be ready so maybe she will be starting, but I see her as a versatile/glue piece and would be a great piece coming off the bench for multiple positions, so that is part of that vision.
Either way… to compete at the level we want to (win a National title) we need depth and good bench play. That was one of the things that killed us in both title games the last few years.
Probably, but on the LSU team that beat us, they played 8 girls. One 11 minutes and one 7 minutes respectively…
Yeah, but their bench was better than ours. That was a big reason why they won. Carson came off the bench and scored 22 pts on us and when we got in foul trouble we had no one else to sub because we didn’t have competitive depth.
Same for South Carolina… Cardoso was a big (pun intended) piece for sure bec we didn’t have the size to match, but Tessa Johnson scored 19 on us off the bench.. and they have Fulwiley, etc. They had more weapons…
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I'll say it again. Hannah HAS to move to the 4. She should have a healthy summer to work on her shot. Yes, she can look good at the 5, but she can't defend the 5 and ends up on the bench with foul trouble. She absolutely can defend the 3 or 4. Jan may need to tweek the offense a little over the summer to incorporate more double post action. All would need to do is be a threat from the perimeter. She shot it a lot in AAU.
My Starting 5
Guyton
McCabe
Deal
Hannah
Heiden/Hays
My Starting 5
Guyton
McCabe
Deal
Hannah
Heiden/Hays
Yeah, I’m not disagreeing with that, but Carson is a bit of an anomaly. She had the game of her life… I think she was only averaging six points a game. Some of that was on us not identifying her soon enough.
Just going to give my assessment of what I see if Hannah doesn't get hungry for that 4 spot next year.
If Heiden takes a step up and Hays is good as I think she is, Hannah may be the odd person out like Heiden is now at the end of next year.
Actually think Hays might have better footwork and is more smooth than Heiden. I already love Heiden and wish Jan would of went with the uptempo pace with Hannah/Heiden at the 5 instead of the stand still pace with AOG from the very beginning of this season. But I digress.
What I'm saying is I can see a scenario where both Heiden and Hays could pass Hannah at the 5. Hannah has this weird habit of just floating the ball to the rim like she got fouled on her bunnies. She doesn't do it all the time. However, she does it way too much.
Think the only thing that can save Hannah at the 5 next year is if Deal can facilitate Clark-like rim-runs to her and even then Hannah can still do rim-rums from the 4 spot as well.
Just see Heiden/Hays breathing down Hannah's neck already for that 5 spot. Hays is a totally different animal than AOG. Think Hays could kick AOG's arse in about a half a season if she gets enough playing time. I'm talking both ends of floor combined here.
Guess another possible scenario that can save Hannah at the 5 is if Jan also tries to put Heiden at the 4 and Hannah stays at the 5. Maybe Heiden gets hungry for the 4 because she wants more PT and Hannah isn't developing at the 4. It just seems that either Hannah or Heiden have to win out at 4 and the the non-winner goes back to 5. That can work as well.
Don't want the double post (high/low) thing. The lane needs spacing for Deal/Guyton to work their magic to the rim, easy passes to a cutting post/player to the rim or kickouts for 3.
If they portal in a big gun at 4, I'd still want one of them to backup at the 4. Teagan and Houston are also wildcards for this 4 as well. What will they bring to the table? It will be interesting to see who is hungry enough to fill/backup this role.
Jan and crew will need to work overtime to figure out the 4 and 5 again next year. I'm just hoping some clear signs emerge early in preseason and we don't go 60% of season with trial and error again like this year.
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