I understand the argument of going with the current players but the roster is young so having a 1 year player to come in and contribute, to me, would be the perfect fit.
The roster is not young. All these kids will be 3rd, 4th or 5th year players. Hailey is not a perfect fit by any stretch. Her style of play does not match Bluder’s. She has now transfered twice — huge red flag about her commitment to any team. And her interest in Iowa is CERTAINLY less than zero. It’s crazy that people don’t see why that is after all this time and all the discussion about recruiting over the years. Hvl is neither a good fit nor a realistic target for Iowa.
In order to get back to the Final Four next season, I think you have to pull in one more proven veteran player. By doing so, I don't think you hurt culture or recruiting. I think you actually help those things if it works out that you make the Final Four and continue this success without CC. Whether The Swarm has the money to bring in another big transfer would be the question.
Iowa is not going to the final four next year, with or without Olsen. We should all accept that now and cheer on this team to what could potentially be a very exciting sweet 16 / elite 8 berth.
We certainly would not go to a final four with HVL either — if anything she could hold them back. She doesn’t play great defense and she is very ball dominant. She doesn’t share well and loves to shoot in the midrange, a luxury Bluder only affords to select players. A roster of transfers will not take Iowa there either. Look at Ohio State, Maryland, the list goes on of schools that bring in multiple elite transfers and then fizzle out bc there’s no chemistry/continuity, and now they have 5-6 transfers out every single year. It’s a bad look and their fans hate it.
Iowas system is unique in that we don’t rly play in the half court — execution in transition takes time to perfect, no team of transfers is going to learn it all quickly enough to go that deep. The players we have coming back know the system and their role in it.
If we did want another player to come in and help, there are at least 10 other players in the portal who are better options. I’d rather have Scherr than HVL since she plays great defense, has size/length and distributes well.
Jensen recently said that they don’t look to the portal as though they’re shopping for the best players. They go there to fill gaps. Thats why they brought in Davis and now why they are bringing in Olsen. We had a gap, now it is filled. We were all thrilled when we landed the recruits that are now gonna be juniors / seniors, let’s give them a chance to prove themselves. It has never been Bluder’s style to hit up each and every elite transfer/prospect, she’s not gonna change that now. We have a talented team of kids who are now largely upperclasswomen, it’s time to let them shine. We have multiple options at every position outside PG, where we now have a star ready to shine as a hawk. And we have the best top to bottom recruiting class coming in as freshman. We’re in a very good position as we enter the next era of Iowa WBB and the future only promises to get better.
