Iowa's Taylor working on health, stamina

IOWA CITY - Theairra Taylor wants to go as hard as she can, as long as she can.

“I can give 100 percent for a few minutes (at a time),” said Taylor, who has suffered three ACL tears in a 20-month span. “I want to sub in, go hard for a few minutes and sub out when I get tired.”

Taylor broke into the starting lineup immediately as a freshman in 2009-10 before suffering a season-ending knee injury - that was the second; the first came in high school - in the 10th game of the season.

Originally, it was thought she would be able to red-shirt, but the NCAA denied her request because she exceeded the limit of games played.

Taylor suffered her most recent tear during preseason practice last season.

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said Taylor is “doing almost everything in practice.

“I would say she's 75 percent, which is better than we've seen her since her freshman year, the beginning of her freshman year.”

The knee isn't the only issue.

“A lot of it is mental,” said Taylor, who will wear a brace on her left knee this season. “I fatigue really easy.”

Bluder said that Trisha Nesbitt, who missed the first 15 games of last year with a foot injury and was limited through the rest of the season, is nearly 100 percent healthy.

“I never dreamed that we would be at this point right now with Trisha,” Bluder said.

Iowa has 12 active players on the roster. Jade Rogers (knee) and Megan Considine (Achilles) will miss the season.

Curtain call

Giant black curtains hung from the ceiling on the north, south and west sides of Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Monday.

They will hang for most games, in an effort to bring fans closer to the court.

“I think the curtain is good because it brings people down closer, but do I want it down for our games? Probably not,” Bluder said. “I want to have so many people that we have to have the curtains up.”

Carver capacity is 15,500 when full. When the curtains are down, capacity is 8,157. Iowa's average home attendance was 5,823 last season.

Drivable destinations

The Hawkeyes were sent to the West Coast for the last two NCAA tournaments. This year, four of the 16 subregionals are within driving range.

Ames, Chicago, West Lafayette and South Bend all are a six-hour drive or less.

One of the 2012 regionals is at Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines.