2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament: Look who’s coming to Iowa City

IOWA CITY — At first glance, Iowa’s road to a second straight NCAA women’s basketball Final Four is littered with familiarity.

Some good memories, some bad.

At a place called MVP Arena, the Hawkeyes (29-4 and the 1-seed of the Albany-2 Region) could bump into Kansas State, which has beaten them twice in three meetings in the last two seasons.

Or perhaps it will be Colorado, which Iowa handled in the Sweet 16 last year.

Survive that step, and it could be a rematch with old pals Kim Mulkey, Angel Reese and LSU. Or perhaps Creighton, which broke Hawkeye hearts in 2018 and 2022.

And that’s not even including UCLA, the region’s 2-seed. Or Louisville, which Iowa beat in the 2023 Elite Eight.

But here’s the thing, as Caitlin Clark pointed out correctly:

In a region called “Murderers’ Row,” by ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck, Iowa isn’t going to have to beat all of these teams.

Two of them, tops.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter,” Clark said Sunday, shortly after the NCAA brackets were released. “We’ve got to show up, every single round.

“A lot of these girls lost to Creighton here (two years ago). A lot of them advanced to the national title game (last year).”

All of this recent history and familiarity, all of these storylines ... that’s all still two rounds away. Two wins away.

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The journey begins at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 2 p.m. Saturday (ABC) against a team in which the Hawkeyes have a blank slate.

In its program history, Iowa has faced neither Holy Cross (20-12) nor Tennessee-Martin (16-16), who meet in a First Four game between 16-seeds at Carver at 8 p.m. Thursday (ESPN2).

The Hawkeyes will be prohibitive favorites against either of them. After all, 1-seeds are 115-1 all-time against 16-seeds in the first round since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994.

Eight-seed West Virginia (24-7) faces 9-seed Princeton (25-4) in the other first-rounder, at 4:30 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2).

Winners play Monday at a time to be determined, and that victor heads to Albany, N.Y., for the Sweet 16.

It’s a 1,025-mile drive from Iowa City to Albany. If the Hawkeyes win twice at home and twice at Albany, well, a stop in Cleveland is smack-dab in the middle of the drive home.

Last year, Iowa fans showed up en masse in Seattle and Dallas. They’ll do the same in Albany, if their team advances.

“We expect them to travel really well,” Clark said. “There were a lot of them at Rutgers and Maryland (this season). But it would be nice if (our region) was in Des Moines.”

The first two rounds at Carver are sold out, and a crowd of nearly 15,000 will be a shock of sorts to either Holy Cross (which averaged a home attendance of 880) or UT-Martin (1,419).

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said Sunday that senior guard Molly Davis was “off crutches but still limping.

“It’s not a good sign,” Bluder added. “I was hoping she’d be further along.”

The sting of a possible prolonged Davis absence is lessened by Sydney Affolter’s performance at the Big Ten tournament, which ended with a spot on the all-tournament team.

“Syd had just been staying the course,” assistant coach Jan Jensen said. “We knew she was ready.

“We thought she should have been Big Ten sixth player of the year, but she answered with one heck of a tournament.”

NCAA women’s basketball: Iowa City subregion capsules

Holy Cross

Coach: Maureen Magarity (14th year overall, 217-192; 4th year at Holy Cross, 71-37)

Final AP ranking: NR

Albany-2 Region seed: No. 16

Record: 20-12

Conference: Patriot League (11-7, 1st; tournament champion)

Leading scorers: Bronagh Power-Cassidy (5-10, sr.), 16.8 ppg; Cara McCormack (5-3, sr.), 10.5 ppg; Janelle Allen (5-11, sr.), 10.2 ppg

Scoring averages: Offense 62.6. Defense 56.2.

Tournament history: 14th appearance. Crusaders own a 1-13 record, with the lone win coming in 1991 against Maryland.

Tennessee-Martin

Coach: Kevin McMillan (15th year, 281-193)

Final AP ranking: NR

Albany-2 Region seed: No. 16

Record: 16-16

Conference: Ohio Valley (11-7, T-2nd; tournament runner-up)

Leading scorers: Kenley McCarn (5-11, fr.), 16.7 ppg; Anaya Brown (6-1, soph.), 15.1 ppg; Norah Clark (6-1, fr.), 10.0 ppg

Scoring averages: Offense 63.8. Defense 62.9.

Tournament history: 5th appearance, first since 2014. Still seeking first NCAA win.

West Virginia

Coach: Mark Kellogg (19th year overall, 469-127; 1st year at West Virginia, 24-7)

Final AP ranking: NR

Albany-2 Region seed: No. 8

Record: 24-7

Conference: Big 12 (12-6, T-4th; tournament quarterfinalist)

Leading scorers: Ja’Naiya Quinerly (5-8, jr.), 19.6 ppg; Jordan Harrison (5-6, soph.), 13.8 ppg; Lauren Fields, (5-9, sr.), 9.6 ppg

Scoring averages: Offense 74.6. Defense 57.8.

Tournament history: 14th appearance, first since 2021. Reached Sweet 16 in 1992.

Princeton

Coach: Carla Berube (22nd year overall, 484-112; 5th year at Princeton, 100-16)

Final AP ranking: NR

Albany-2 Region seed: No. 9

Record: 25-4

Conference: Ivy League (13-1, T-1st; tournament champion)

Leading scorers: Kaitlyn Chen (5-9, sr.), 15.8 ppg; Madison St. Rose (5-10, soph.), 14.5 ppg; Skye Belker (5-9, fr.), 8.7 ppg

Scoring averages: Offense 69.7. Defense 56.0.

Tournament history: 11th appearance, third consecutive.

Iowa

Coach: Lisa Bluder (40th year overall, 879-395; 24th year at Iowa, 523-253)

Final AP ranking: No. 2

Albany-2 Region seed: No. 1

Record: 29-4

Conference: Big Ten (15-3, T-2nd; tournament champion)

Leading scorers: Caitlin Clark (6-0, sr.), 31.9 ppg; Hannah Stuelke, 6-2, soph.), 14.6 ppg; Kate Martin (6-0, sr.), 12.9 ppg

Scoring averages: Offense 92.8. Defense 71.8.

Tournament history: 30th appearance, 18th under Bluder. National runner-up in 2023. Two Final Fours (1993 and 2023); five Elite Eights, nine Sweet 16s.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com