What a terrific year ladies!!!!

[cmhawks99]

Super exciting! And I can honestly say I never really got mad about our losses. We were always going to lose a game or 2. We know why we lost and in every instance we came back and won the next game except IU and we did smoke them early….

Elephant in the room….interior size and deficiencies.

Yes, I have no doubt we wanted more of an interior presence. Yes I think we chased some players, but it appears at the end of the day who we wanted didn’t materialize and we decided to move forward…we can speculate all day &/or lay blame but how we responded is infinitely more important…

We responded by turning these girls into a NASCAR team. A big girl like Laren Betts, Cameron Brink (watched her the other day) and the like would bring along some skills & versatility, but they would impact the speed and flexibility in a big way…

We currently at almost any given time on the court, have 4 girls who can grab the ball and go…

We almost always have 4 girls on the court who shoot the three.

We are way more athletic and by the way, I think there’s an element out there that because several of these teams, especially down south are primarily black that “we” have a tendency, meaning people or “humanity” have a tendency to suggest they are more athletic….

Running into a more athletic team really isn’t much of a concern of mine.

Foul trouble and physicality is….

But those ultra physical big teams will have difficulty keeping up with us. And no USC & LSU aren’t wildly more athletic than we are & in fact with their size they may be less so…

Kate Martin, Feurbach, CC & Affolter and great athletes!!

The way LB brought this team along while keeping everyone engaged has been masterful.

 

[cmhawks99]

Incidentally, Hanna Stuelke had some amazing plays in the post in that game! She was throwing down !

 

[kceasthawk]

Super exciting! And I can honestly say I never really got mad about our losses. We were always going to lose a game or 2. We know why we lost and in every instance we came back and won the next game except IU and we did smoke them early….

Elephant in the room….interior size and deficiencies.

Yes, I have no doubt we wanted more of an interior presence. Yes I think we chased some players, but it appears at the end of the day who we wanted didn’t materialize and we decided to move forward…we can speculate all day &/or lay blame but how we responded is infinitely more important…

We responded by turning these girls into a NASCAR team. A big girl like Laren Betts, Cameron Brink (watched her the other day) and the like would bring along some skills & versatility, but they would impact the speed and flexibility in a big way…

We currently at almost any given time on the court, have 4 girls who can grab the ball and go…

We almost always have 4 girls on the court who shoot the three.

We are way more athletic and by the way, I think there’s an element out there that because several of these teams, especially down south are primarily black that “we” have a tendency, meaning people or “humanity” have a tendency to suggest they are more athletic….

Running into a more athletic team really isn’t much of a concern of mine.

Foul trouble and physicality is….

But those ultra physical big teams will have difficulty keeping up with us. And no USC & LSU aren’t wildly more athletic than we are & in fact with their size they may be less so…

Kate Martin, Feurbach, CC & Affolter and great athletes!!

The way LB brought this team along while keeping everyone engaged has been masterful.

I watched Brink play this weekend as well against USC and frankly I wasn't all that impressed with her OR Juju. Truly a small sample size. But Brink certainly isn't physical. We've got 4 years to see if Juju really can chase down Clark, but they sure shut her down Saturday. I think she ended up with 7 points all but two in the last couple of minutes. I realize she's a really good player, but she's going to see ALOT of junk defenses the next three seasons designed to hold her down just like Saturday. She also is not a facilitator like Clark is.

 

[BioHawk]

I watched Brink play this weekend as well against USC and frankly I wasn't all that impressed with her OR Juju. Truly a small sample size. But Brink certainly isn't physical. We've got 4 years to see if Juju really can chase down Clark, but they sure shut her down Saturday. I think she ended up with 7 points all but two in the last couple of minutes. I realize she's a really good player, but she's going to see ALOT of junk defenses the next three seasons designed to hold her down just like Saturday. She also is not a facilitator like Clark is.

Juju is going to have to adjust to teams focusing on her. It's what happened with Clark and Caitlin learned to play through it and use the other players on the team for making them pay for keying the defense on her. I actually hope Juju succeeds with this as she seems like a nice person who works hard, from what very limited exposure to her I've seen.

At least I wish her well in the future except when she plays Iowa. Those would be great games to get a bad case of the bricks and turnovers.

 

[cmhawks99]

I watched Brink play this weekend as well against USC and frankly I wasn't all that impressed with her OR Juju. Truly a small sample size. But Brink certainly isn't physical. We've got 4 years to see if Juju really can chase down Clark, but they sure shut her down Saturday. I think she ended up with 7 points all but two in the last couple of minutes. I realize she's a really good player, but she's going to see ALOT of junk defenses the next three seasons designed to hold her down just like Saturday. She also is not a facilitator like Clark is.

Yes, and I will emphasize the small sample size… Especially as it pertains to JuJu, but I had no clue this Cameron Brink was paper thin… And I would not in any capacity consider her a “plus athlete”…

I honestly think we would blow Stanford out of the water… And juju, really it’s not that big a deal that she had seven points in her teams win but she is not the same kind of player that Caitlyn is, she may end up being a more prolific scorer, but she is not the same player for sure, not nearly as fluid…

 

[kceasthawk]

Yes, and I will emphasize the small sample size… Especially as it pertains to JuJu, but I had no clue this Cameron Brink was paper thin… And I would not in any capacity consider her a “plus athlete”…

I honestly think we would blow Stanford out of the water… And juju, really it’s not that big a deal that she had seven points in her teams win but she is not the same kind of player that Caitlyn is, she may end up being a more prolific scorer, but she is not the same player for sure, not nearly as fluid…

Agree totally. Not meaning to act like JuJu isn't a star, but she doesn't have CC's overall game, and i do think because of that she's going to have some rough nights next season and beyond. I'd also agree, I'd be fine playing Stanford over almost ANY of the other top 10 teams.....

 

[cmhawks99]

Agree totally. Not meaning to act like JuJu isn't a star, but she doesn't have CC's overall game, and i do think because of that she's going to have some rough nights next season and beyond. I'd also agree, I'd be fine playing Stanford over almost ANY of the other top 10 teams.....

Yes on the playing Stanford. I do think the PAC12 is legit, but they aren’t better than the LSU, Iowas & Gamecocks…

I have always held that. Kansas State will be a very tough out, but they have struggled a bit on the backside of their schedule.

Va Tech too, because Georgia Amore is Caitlin lite, but I don’t think Kitley is ok 🤷‍♂️

 

[kceasthawk]

Yes on the playing Stanford. I do think the PAC12 is legit, but they aren’t better than the LSU, Iowas & Gamecocks…

I have always held that. Kansas State will be a very tough out, but they have struggled a bit on the backside of their schedule.

Va Tech too, because Georgia Amore is Caitlin lite, but I don’t think Kitley is ok 🤷‍♂️

As to KSU alot will depend on Lee's status. Is she back playing after her injury?

 

[BurgHawk87]

As to KSU alot will depend on Lee's status. Is she back playing after her injury?

She played 37 minutes against Texas. Granted I watched zero of that game so idk how she looked.

 

[BioHawk]

Agree totally. Not meaning to act like JuJu isn't a star, but she doesn't have CC's overall game, and i do think because of that she's going to have some rough nights next season and beyond. I'd also agree, I'd be fine playing Stanford over almost ANY of the other top 10 teams.....

I agree, but I don't know how she will adapt. I want to give her a chance to work on her weaknesses in her game over an offseason before I form any opinions of what kind of player she is. As a freshmen, she's going to have things that need to develop. Now lets see how she works to develop those skills.

 

[StarHawk]

Big10 scheduling set Iowa up this year to play the toughest schedule by far of any conference team. Out of the top 4 teams, only Iowa played each of the other teams twice. The other 3, Ohio st, Indiana and Nebraska only faced each other a single time. Iowa never played any of the bottom teams at all. So each game down the stretch had a feeling of being a championship...at least by the teams that beat Iowa at their home bases. It was a grind, but has made the team mentally prepared for NCAAs. The LSUs and S. Carolina's of the world have huge players...players that are not great players all around...but are great because of size and strength....they will have a few outside shooters, but it's the size that's the difference with most teams. You have to run and outquick them...and hit the 3s to stand a chance of winning if Iowa plays that far.

But the true elephant in the room is now resolved with SA in starting rotation. She is of the same value that Warnock had last year....a rebounder, a defensive scrapper and a reliable, productive shooter from 3. Her play has been outstanding in the tourney. She kept Iowa from being completely blown out the first half vs Nebraska.

 

[cmhawks99]

Big10 scheduling set Iowa up this year to play the toughest schedule by far of any conference team. Out of the top 4 teams, only Iowa played each of the other teams twice. The other 3, Ohio st, Indiana and Nebraska only faced each other a single time. Iowa never played any of the bottom teams at all. So each game down the stretch had a feeling of being a championship...at least by the teams that beat Iowa at their home bases. It was a grind, but has made the team mentally prepared for NCAAs. The LSUs and S. Carolina's of the world have huge players...players that are not great players all around...but are great because of size and strength....they will have a few outside shooters, but it's the size that's the difference with most teams. You have to run and outquick them...and hit the 3s to stand a chance of winning if Iowa plays that far.

But the true elephant in the room is now resolved with SA in starting rotation. She is of the same value that Warnock had last year....a rebounder, a defensive scrapper and a reliable, productive shooter from 3. Her play has been outstanding in the tourney. She kept Iowa from being completely blown out the first half vs Nebraska.

She is better than Warnock

 

[cmhawks99]

I just saw another poster indicate we were the only team of the top four between Ohio State and Nebraska and Indiana. That played the other three at least twice.

The others played each other once.?

 

[Gonzo Bloor]

All of them deserve credit but a special hat's off to Kate and Gabbie. They stepped up at the biggest moments and made huge plays for us in the B1G tourney. Tough as nails. Let's go get a natty.

 

[cmhawks99]

As to KSU alot will depend on Lee's status. Is she back playing after her injury?

I want to say she had 25 and 10 but I’m not positive

 

[cmhawks99]

Do yourself a favor and go watch the Iowa versus Ohio State women’s Big Ten championship game from last year…on BTN

If you don’t think we have a completely different team now versus watching five minutes of that game I don’t know what to tell you…

Monica was a stud, but our game was tailored to her post moves, Hi-lo offense and we freelanced off of that. We didn’t have near the cutting, nor the spacing to do it last year. None of the run-throughs and free driving space that we currently have if Monica plays with us this year..

Also, no one on that team last year gets down the court like Hannah Stuelke this year!!

In fact, because of the current iteration of our offense, the whole team gets down the floor faster.

Because CC is still doing CC stuff, only better. They don’t realize what a vastly different offense we are running this year, and she is way better as a result. This offense is tailored made to her, not last years… I don’t know why I’m just now realizing this, but it’s probably because I took the time to watch five minutes of that game on BTN.

Our memories are so fleeting, and we have such a natural propensity as people. To regress to what we already believe…🤷‍♂️

Go check it out. That team honestly would struugggllle to keep up with this team. We have 5 girls way more athletic than any of them even were last year.

Probably also a by product of this ramped up offense

 

[cmhawks99]

Some other interesting tidbits, as I actually went back and started watching it again, since I accidentally paused it…

Affolter had flashes in that game….

McKenna Warnock was very good, but not any better, or even as versatile or athletic as this years Martin, Affolter, Feurbach and Stuelke is a whole diff level of athlete !

There was no Stuelke on last year’s team as anybody, including last year’s Stuelke, 🤓 compares to this one 😂 She is impressive. We still actually haven’t seen her best yet this year, you wait-and-see… That might be true of Affolter too.

As for Monica, here is the one thing I do want to say to anyone who has wanted to argue about what she was… I see no way this year’s team could facilitate her and be what it’s become… With that said…

When she got the ball in deep, she rarely fumbled it away. She pretty much always caught it. She had an array of moves on out to 7-8 feet and if she was deep in the hole, she made the layup every time!!!

I watch college basketball this year, men’s and women’s. I’m shocked to find out what a rare quality that is!!

 

[ICWestfan]

Super exciting! And I can honestly say I never really got mad about our losses. We were always going to lose a game or 2. We know why we lost and in every instance we came back and won the next game except IU and we did smoke them early….

Elephant in the room….interior size and deficiencies.

Yes, I have no doubt we wanted more of an interior presence. Yes I think we chased some players, but it appears at the end of the day who we wanted didn’t materialize and we decided to move forward…we can speculate all day &/or lay blame but how we responded is infinitely more important…

We responded by turning these girls into a NASCAR team. A big girl like Laren Betts, Cameron Brink (watched her the other day) and the like would bring along some skills & versatility, but they would impact the speed and flexibility in a big way…

We currently at almost any given time on the court, have 4 girls who can grab the ball and go…

We almost always have 4 girls on the court who shoot the three.

We are way more athletic and by the way, I think there’s an element out there that because several of these teams, especially down south are primarily black that “we” have a tendency, meaning people or “humanity” have a tendency to suggest they are more athletic….

Running into a more athletic team really isn’t much of a concern of mine.

Foul trouble and physicality is….

But those ultra physical big teams will have difficulty keeping up with us. And no USC & LSU aren’t wildly more athletic than we are & in fact with their size they may be less so…

Kate Martin, Feurbach, CC & Affolter and great athletes!!

The way LB brought this team along while keeping everyone engaged has been masterful.

JFC

 

[cmhawks99]

JFC

Sigh…quality effort there friend. More than I’d have given 🤔

 

[ICWestfan]

Sigh…quality effort there friend. More than I’d have given 🤔

My point is, if you don't understand, it isn't you/we/I/us/our. It's Iowa, or Iowa women's basketball.

It's a pet peeve.

 

[cmhawks99]

My point is, if you don't understand, it isn't you/we/I/us/our. It's Iowa, or Iowa women's basketball.

It's a pet peeve.

That’s fine, but it’s yours, I even get it per se. But call it the reverse of a Royal “we”….i really mean “they” but I’m voice texting and honestly dude that’s a lot of fixing…🤪

 

[Pepperman]

My point is, if you don't understand, it isn't you/we/I/us/our. It's Iowa, or Iowa women's basketball.

It's a pet peeve.

I know what you mean, but that’s like the grammar police on steroids. Since I went to Iowa, and maybe all of us on this board did, can I say “we”?

 

[ICWestfan]

I know what you mean, but that’s like the grammar police on steroids. Since I went to Iowa, and maybe all of us on this board did, can I say “we”?

Or qualify it be starting with "As an Iowa grad and fan..."?

 

[Pepperman]

Or qualify it be starting with "As an Iowa grad and fan..."?

Ok. Fair enough, I respect opinions.

The only thing is I do not consider my degree from Iowa to mean I’m a better or more natural fan than anybody else. I get why people say “we”. I do it all the time. That stated, I also get why others say it’s not the correct pronoun. At least I think it’s a pronoun, but I’m not a pronoun person😀

 

[cmhawks99]

Ok. Fair enough, I respect opinions.

The only thing is I do not consider my degree from Iowa to mean I’m a better or more natural fan than anybody else. I get why people say “we”. I do it all the time. That stated, I also get why others say it’s not the correct pronoun. At least I think it’s a pronoun, but I’m not a pronoun person😀

Agreed both accounts and I really do get it, but….🤷‍♂️