this does concern me a bit. My bigger concern is hannah playing the 5 next year. Playing hannah at the 5 says i'm not worried about the future I'm worried about making current players happy.
Absolutely agree. I though Ava should have been given a chance to show what she could do, especially with Hannah being so erratic. Love Hannah, but Ava should have had some minutes against Betts, absolutely.
Ava's better than Betts, although she's what, three inches shorter.
If anyone other then Levin leaves, I'd consider that problematic. You can think what you want, but for the most part, at IOWA player retention is important. As Barnes said in football one of his biggest jobs in the portal is KEEPING the players we want to stay. Are you saying we don't want Heiden? We won the last two years under Bluder for two reasons. CC22 obviously, but the other was Monica staying an extra year, and then the next year Kate and Gabby staying. These were all conference players. Them staying meant we got the best out of them the last couple of years. Losing a talent like Heiden, Guyton, or Mallegni would be a really bad look for the program, and set us back a year in player development.
There are only a handful of WBB teams who have the money Iowa WBB has. Iowa can compete financially, particularly with revenue sharing on the way.
That's certainly the team and culture that they have had, and what Jensen "wants," but I think any time it's discussed she seems pretty clear-eyed about how it could shake out. I think players want to play, and that might always be the greater lure than money. With an open portal, unfortunately, that means every player only really commits to schools for a one year "contract." They have that mindset now from a young age. There is no longer the ingrained idea that scholarships are 4-year+ commitments.
