Iowa earns a 1-seed for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament

IOWA CITY — They were going to play it cool.

But then, Kate Martin said, “They showed the ‘1,’ and the adrenaline boosted me up, and I jumped in the air.”

For only the third time — and the first in 31 years — the Iowa Hawkeyes are an NCAA women’s basketball tournament 1-seed.

“It establishes us as one of the very best teams in America,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, after the Hawkeyes (29-4) learned their postseason draw.

“But it’s just a number though, right?”

Iowa is the top seed in the Albany-2 Region, termed “Murderers’ Row” by ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck. And yes, eight of the top 25 teams in the most recent Associated Press poll are in the Albany-2 bracket.

The Hawkeyes headline that list, which also features UCLA and defending national champion LSU.

First things first.

Iowa will face either Holy Cross (20-12) or Tennessee-Martin (16-16) in the first round at 2 p.m. Saturday at Carver (ABC).

Holy Cross and UT-Martin play in a First Four game at 8 p.m. Thursday at Carver (ESPN2).

In Saturday’s other first-round game at Iowa City, 8-seed West Virginia (24-7) meets 9-seed Princeton (25-4) at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2).

First-round winners play at a time to be determined Monday, with the survivor advancing to the Sweet 16 at MVP Arena in Albany.

“This team has (experienced) it all,” Iowa assistant Jan Jensen said. “They’ve been to the national finals, but they’ve also lost in the second round (to Creighton, in 2022).”

As a 1-seed in 1988, Iowa reached the Elite Eight before losing to Long Beach State on the road. And in 1992, the Hawkeyes were bounced in the second round by Southwest Missouri State.

Iowa is in the NCAA for the 30th time, its sixth consecutive. The Hawkeyes were Big Ten regular-season runners-up, then earned the Big Ten tournament title last weekend.

The entire set of games at Carver are sold out.

South Carolina (32-0) is the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed. The other 1-seeds are Iowa, USC and Texas.

After winning the Big Ten tournament last weekend in Minneapolis, the Hawkeyes took Monday and Tuesday off, practiced Wednesday and Thursday, then took Friday and Saturday off.

“Now, it’s go,” Bluder said.

Senior guard Molly Davis was “off crutches but still limping,” Bluder said. “It’s not a good sign. I was hoping she’d be further along.”

Holy Cross earned an automatic bid Sunday by beating Boston University, 61-55, in the Patriot League tournament final.

UT-Martin was the runner-up of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, but earned the automatic bid because OVC champion Southern Indiana is transitioning toward Division-I and ineligible for the tournament.

Three of the state’s four Division-I women’s teams qualified.

Iowa State (20-11) makes its fifth consecutive tournament and draws the 7-seed in the Portland-4 Region, and will face Maryland (19-13) in the first round at 6:30 p.m. Friday (CT) at Palo Alto, Calif. (ESPN2).

The Cyclones advanced to the Big 12 tournament final and have won six of their last seven games.

Drake (29-5) swept the regular-season and tournament championships in the Missouri Valley Conference; Anna Miller’s buzzer-beater topped Missouri State, 76-75, for the tournament title Sunday at Moline, Ill.

Winners of 14 straight games (and 23 of their last 24), the Bulldogs are seeded 12th in the Albany-2 Region, and will face Colorado (22-9) in the first round at 6 p.m. Friday at Manhattan, Kan. (ESPNews).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com