Iowa women’s basketball: Much was accomplished in 2021-22, but early NCAA exit leaves a bad blemish

IOWA CITY — The shock and the finality of it all intersected for Lisa Bluder during a somber postgame press conference Sunday afternoon.

“I can't believe I don't get to go to practice tomorrow,” said Bluder, women’s basketball coach at the University of Iowa. “That's the hardest thing for me right now is that I don't get to go to practice tomorrow.”

There was no indication that the Hawkeyes’ season would end Sunday. Not as a 2-seed playing against 10-seed Creighton. Not in front of a sellout crowd, its third in three games.

And not at a time in which all things for this team seemed possible.

Iowa (24-8) had won eight games in a row, all in impressive fashion. The Hawkeyes had zoomed from outside the top 20 to inside the top 10 in the matter of two weeks.

They claimed a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship then won the conference tournament title.

But one game, in which they shot poorly and rebounded worse, ended it all.

That’s March.

“Obviously a wonderful opportunity for a women's basketball game today on ABC in front of a sold-out crowd,” sophomore guard Caitlin Clark said.

“I just feel bad for the fans because they've given us so much over these past two weeks.”

And in a disjointed season that included injuries and a COVID-19 pause, the Hawkeyes gave quite a bit back.

Iowa opened the season with four convincing wins, but the virus hit the team in late November, costing the Hawkeyes three games — one against Drake and two in the Cancun Challenge.

They returned two weeks later and lost four of seven games, against Duke, Iowa State, IUPUI and Northwestern.

A turning point came Jan. 9 at Nebraska. With the Hawkeyes standing at 7-4 overall (1-1 Big Ten), they won at Lincoln, 95-86, igniting a six-game win streak and moving into league title contention.

The Hawkeyes temporarily lost the services of starters McKenna Warnock (broken hand) and Gabbie Marshall (shoulder), forcing them into a seven-player rotation and moving Tomi Taiwo and Kylie Feuerbach into the starting lineup.

Those injuries, plus a rough stretch in the schedule, caused a mini-slump, but the Hawkeyes recovered to win their last four regular-season games — they swept Indiana in back-to-back games, won at Rutgers, then blasted No. 6 Michigan at home in front of 15,056 — to earn a share of the regular-season championship.

The 2-seed in the Big Ten tournament, the Hawkeyes rolled in Indianapolis. They were stout defensively, picking up wins over Northwestern (72-59), Nebraska (83-66) and Indiana (84-67).

Iowa shot 60 percent and routed Illinois State, 98-58, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Then came Creighton, and something far less than Iowa’s “A” game was less than enough.

The Hawkeyes shot 35.7 percent, lost the rebounding battle by 15 and the season met a premature end, 64-62.

As Bluder’s teams always are, this was an entertaining product. The Hawkeyes ranked at or near the top of the nation in scoring, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage and assists.

“I think we're a fun team to watch,” Monika Czinano said. “I think people are picking up on that and I think it's drawing more eyes to the sport.

“Obviously, Caitlin is a phenomenal player and that brings it, too. But people come a lot of times for Caitlin's name and they stay because we're so fun to watch as a collective unit. I'm just so proud of what we're doing here, and the story is not over for us.”

No, it’s not.

Barring any transfer-portal news (always a possibility), Taiwo and Logan Cook are the only players departing. If that’s the case, the Hawkeyes will return 94.1 percent of their scoring for 2022-23.

An Associated Press first-team All-American (with more honors likely to come), Clark (27.0 ppg) led the nation in scoring for the second consecutive year. With two seasons in the books, the dynamic point guard has scored 1,662 points. For reference, 13 players in NCAA history have scored 3,000 in their career. Kelsey Plum’s all-time record of 3,527 isn’t out of the question.

The key roster boost for 2022-23 came in February, when Czinano (21.2 ppg) announced that she would return for a super-senior year. That means that all five starters (Clark, Czinano, Warnock, Marshall and Kate Martin) are likely to be back.

One point of intrigue surrounding next season is this: Who will emerge as the No. 2 post? Sharon Goodman showed promise last year as a freshman (she missed this season due to an ACL), and Addison O’Grady did the same this season. Are there enough minutes for both?

Feuerbach came aboard last April via transfer from Iowa State and gave the Hawkeyes a quality perimeter defender.

More depth is on the way. Hannah Stuelke earned Miss Iowa Basketball honors at Cedar Rapids Washington, Taylor McCabe set the all-time 3-point shooting record in Nebraska and Jada Gyamfi led Johnston to the Class 5A state championship.

“The exciting thing is we return everybody from our starting lineup, and we have three great recruits coming in,” Bluder said.

As it was this season, the preseason hype level will be high in 2022-23. Expect to see the Hawkeyes in the top 10 in November.

But it’s not a team without flaws.

The defense went from bad (80-plus points per game in 2021) to better (70.2 this season). There still is room for improvement.

The other issue surrounds physical play. The Hawkeyes simply don’t deal well with it, on the boards or on the floor. That was an issue, in Sunday’s loss, no matter your views on the officiating.

“When people get more opportunities, basically double you up on opportunities to shoot the ball, it's going to be really hard to win a basketball game,” Clark said.

The postgame mood was downcast Sunday. On paper, at least, just about everything is on the table for 2022-23.

For what it’s worth, Iowa lost to Creighton in the first round of the 2018 NCAA tournament, then reached the Elite Eight in 2019. Another run of that magnitude is certainly a possibility in 2023.

“I think there's a lot of exciting basketball ahead, but obviously the feeling of letting (the fans) down, letting the coaches down, our teammates down, it stinks right now,” Clark said. “I think, overall, just more fuel for us going into next year.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com