Ranking the 2024 Iowa women’s basketball Big Ten home games

MINNEAPOLIS — Tickets for the 2023-24 Iowa women’s basketball season sold out months ago, so the environment at Carver-Hawkeye Arena should be electric no matter the opponent.

“We will be challenging ourselves (with our schedule), but when they come into Carver, it’s going to be one hostile environment,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said Monday at Big Ten media days.

Which Big Ten games are the most likely to resonate when looking at the season as a whole? Here are one reporter’s rankings.

1. Ohio State (Sunday, March 3, noon) — Iowa’s last two regular-season finales haven’t disappointed. There was 2022’s incredible finish against Indiana and the 2021 win over Michigan that earned the Hawkeyes a share of the Big Ten title.

Ohio State, picked second behind Iowa in the preseason conference poll, is the last opponent on this season’s schedule. Cotie McMahon and Jacy Sheldon were named to the preseason all-conference team. Plus, the Buckeyes, like the Hawkeyes, love to push the pace.

“We’re probably one of the fastest teams out there, offensively and defensively,” Sheldon said Monday at Target Center. “We love playing like that. We have a lot of new people this year that are going to complement that style of play so we’re excited.”

2. Indiana (Saturday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m.) — Last year’s game would have been memorable enough with ESPN’s College GameDay in town. Then Caitlin Clark buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat the regular-season Big Ten champs.

This year’s game will have a national, Saturday night primetime broadcast on Fox.

The Hoosiers are picked third in the preseason Big Ten poll.

“It’s great for the game, it’s great for women’s sports when we’re able to get that platform to perform on,” Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes said. “For people to watch and want to support that means a lot.”

3. Illinois (Sunday, Feb. 25, noon) — The Illini beat Iowa in their only meeting last year. After losing in the First Four of the NCAA tournament, Illinois is picked fifth in the Big Ten as Shauna Green returns all five starters for her second season in charge.

This could turn into a fun border rivalry fast.

“Seeing all the teams that we played against in the tournament kind of validated how we felt but also invalidated where we thought we should have been,” Illinois All-Big Ten guard Makira Cook said. “It was cool to see them, we’re happy for them, but we’re competing against them and that’s where we want to be this year.”

4. Nebraska (Saturday, Jan. 27, 1 p.m.) — The Huskers finished below .500 in league play last year but have plenty of talent to give the top teams a challenge, led by a pair of preseason all-conference selections in Alexis Markowski and Jaz Shelley.

5. Michigan (Thursday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m.) — Laila Phelia is a preseason all-conference pick. For the fans who don’t want to subscribe to Peacock, this one might rank higher.

6. Minnesota (Saturday, Dec. 30, 1 p.m.) — The first Big Ten road game for new Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit, who was able to bring back Mara Braun and multiple other key pieces from last year’s young team that went 4-14 in the conference.

7. Penn State (Thursday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m.) — Preseason all-conference selection Makenna Marisa can really score and the Nittany Lions also have a new, familiar face in former Maryland guard Ashley Owusu. Iowa scored 108 points against PSU last year.

8. Wisconsin (Tuesday, Jan. 16, TBA) — It’s near the bottom of this list but beating the Badgers, as Iowa has done 27 consecutive times, wouldn’t get old for Iowa fans.

9. Michigan State (Tuesday, Jan. 2, 8 p.m.) — One of only a few not-so-fan-friendly, late-night, weeknight tips this season. The Spartans took Iowa to overtime in East Lansing last season and are led by a new coach in Robyn Fralick.

Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com