Hawkeyes back to work, with more nets on their mind

IOWA CITY - For the first time, Bethany Doolittle has a little nylon in her possession.

'I'd never cut down a net before in my whole life,” she said. 'It was so special.”

After the postgame interviews were completed Sunday, Lisa Bluder ushered her team back to the Carver-Hawkeye Arena floor. Up went a ladder, and down went the nets.

'I just felt we had the opportunity, we wanted to celebrate,” Bluder said Tuesday. 'It wasn't just about the Sweet 16. It was about 18-0 on our home court.”

It was a new experience for Doolittle. Melissa Dixon and Whitney Jennings had snipped away before, in high school.

'We did it after regionals and sectionals,” said Dixon, who played at Johnsburg (Ill.) High School. 'This was definitely the most special. It was incredible.”

Dixon placed her slice of the net on a shelf in her apartment, next to the commemorative ball she received after her 1,000th point at Iowa, along with bobblehead figures of the four Iowa seniors.

Sunday, the 15th-rated Hawkeyes (26-7) basked in the glow of advancing to their first Sweet 16 since 1996 - they defeated Miami (Fla.), 88-70, in the second round.

By Tuesday, they were back to work.

'Believe me, we've reset our goals,” Bluder said. 'Next, we want to make the Elite Eight. We have a group that can do it.”

Iowa faces No. 6 Baylor (32-3) in an NCAA regional semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma City bracket contains three perennial national powers. Baylor, Notre Dame and Stanford have combined for five national championships and 10 trips to the NCAA finals.

'You look at the other three teams, and I'm the only coach that hasn't been to the Final Four,” Bluder said. 'They've just been great traditional programs.”

The Hawkeyes have lauded their chemistry all season. Tuesday, Bluder took it a step further.

'You hear about low-maintenance teams,” she said. 'This has been a NO-maintenance team. When there's less distractions, you can do more coaching and more film study.

'There's less time putting out fires. You don't have to worry about individual meetings. You don't have to come up with gimmicks to motivate kids.”

The team is close-knit, Doolittle said, because of who the coaches bring in.

'They're recruiting good people,” she said.

Said Jennings, a freshman, 'It comes back to recruiting. The coaches know who's going to fit into their system. They do a good job identifying those kind of players, and people.”

The Hawkeyes fly to Oklahoma City on Wednesday. They'll practice and meet the media Thursday.

Iowa will be an underdog to Baylor, but Bluder is conceding nothing.

'They lost to Iowa State and Oklahoma, so there are some weaknesses there,” she said. 'I feel we have an offense that can give them problems. It's hard to stop this offense for 40 minutes. They're going to keep coming at you.

'There's no reason it has to end (for us) this weekend.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com