Unusually low seed and a huge challenge for Hawkeyes at Big Ten women’s tourney

Well, this is different.

For one thing, the No. 11 seed Iowa takes into the Big Ten tournament Wednesday night in Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse is the lowest it has had in the 30-year history of the event.

What’s more important is that to win the tourney, the Hawkeyes have to win five games in five days instead of the three in three days required of the top four seeds. They aren’t used to even being in the tournament city on a Wednesday, let alone starting play on that day.

The three-day path was the one Iowa had the past three seasons with Caitlin Clark and her teammates coming to the tourneys with the eye of the tiger. Iowa won each of those events, and their average margin of victory in the nine wins was 16.8 points.

This is a different Big Ten. USC and UCLA, brand-new to the league, are 1-2. At 10-8, Iowa was in a four-way tie for eighth-place and was seeded 11th via tiebreaker.

Five wins in five days? Ummm, that’s a fantasy wrapped in a pipe dream. No team seeded lower than fifth has won this tourney. None ever won four games to do it, let alone five.

Impossible? North Carolina State’s men’s team would tell you otherwise, since it picked off five ACC rivals in five days last year in winning that conference’s tourney. Next to impossible? Perhaps.

For the 20-9 Hawkeyes, the mission is simple. Beat Wisconsin (13-16) for the second time in four days when they clash Wednesday night at 7:30 or so, then try to do the same to 24th-ranked Michigan State Thursday evening and see if they can make it a Friday quarterfinal against Ohio State.

“I’m excited. Momentum is on our side right now,,” said Iowa senior guard Lucy Olsen. She had a game-high 22 points in her team’s 81-66 home win over the Badgers Sunday in Iowa City and has averaged 24.2 over her last six games.

The 11th-seed doesn’t sound like much, but winning 20 games including eight of the last 10 has people looking differently lately at the Hawkeyes of first-year head coach Jan Jensen.

“Us by being able to do that for her first season is just really special, I think,” said junior forward Hannah Stuelke after she had 21 points and 15 rebounds against Wisconsin Sunday.

The Badgers and Hawkeyes were tied at 36 at halftime of that game.

“(Wisconsin) should have some confidence with the first half, right?” Jensen said. “Hopefully, we have some confidence from how we came out in the second half.

“I just know it’s not my first rodeo. Anything happens in March. You’ve got to be ready. If you’re not ready, you don’t get to have as much fun. I do think we’ll be ready. I don’t think I’ll have to get their attention with how that first half went.”

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