Destination Dallas? The Hawkeyes see no limits as Round 1 looms in the NCAA women’s tournament

IOWA CITY — The last time Iowa made a deep run, a really deep run, in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, the Hawkeyes felt they reached their full potential.

It was the Elite Eight in 2019, and a teary Megan Gustafson said when it was over that the Hawkeyes “in reality, reached about every goal we could.”

That was then.

Four years later, Iowa possesses another dynamite team. This team believes there’s no ceiling.

“If we go out and do what we can do, if we give it our all, I don’t think we have any limits,” McKenna Warnock said Thursday. “We don’t want to settle for the Sweet 16 or the Elite Eight.”

Added Kate Martin:

“I don’t think there’s a ceiling with this team. I truly believe in this team. Our potential is as far as we want to go.”

As testament, Martin scribbled out a tournament bracket earlier this week. It contained a happy ending.

“I’ve got us winning over UConn (in the championship game),” she said, “with South Carolina and Indiana (also) in the Final Four.”

The journey begins with a first-round test Friday at a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Third-ranked Iowa (26-6) — the 2-seed in the Seattle 4 Region — faces 15-seed Southeastern Louisiana (21-9).

Tipoff is 3 p.m. (ESPN).

This is why Caitlin Clark came to Iowa: “Obviously, the goal is the Final Four,” she said. “But at the same time, we have to put together four good games to get to where we want to be.”

And this is why Monika Czinano came back for a fifth year.

“I knew how good this team could be. That’s the reason I decided to stay,” she said.

In Friday’s first game, 7-seed Florida State (23-9) faces 10-seed Georgia (21-11) at 12:30.

Winners play Sunday at a time to be determined.

In their locker room Thursday, several Hawkeyes were asked to fill in the blank on the following statement:

The postseason will be deemed a success, if and only if ...

“If we are who we are,” Clark said. “Just be us. That’s all we need to be.”

Martin gave a nearly identical response.

“If we stay true to who we are. We don’t have to be anybody else but ourselves.”

The national media agrees. In an ESPN poll of 12 women’s basketball experts, 11 picked Iowa to win two games this weekend, advance to Seattle, win two more games, then move on to Dallas for the Final Four.

“That’s where we believe we’re going to be,” Clark said. “That’s where every person in our locker room believes we’re going to be.”

But the Final Four is unattainable without winning two games here. And that’s not a slam dunk.

The Hawkeyes, remember, lost in the second round to Creighton last year. And that Elite Eight squad of 2019? That team very nearly got tripped up in Round 1 to Mercer.

Czinano played on that team. Martin was a freshman redshirt.

“Yeah, I remember,” Martin said. “Take nobody for granted. You can’t get to the next step if you don’t win the first game.”

Southeastern Louisiana has come of the same vibes as the 2019 Mercer team. The Lions are a defense-oriented outfit, allowing 54.5 points per game (which ranks 13th nationally).

“Defense has really carried us,” said senior Natalie Kelly, who will battle with Czinano in the paint. “We’re a hard-working, blue-collar team.”

The Southland Conference tournament champion, Southeastern is in the NCAA for the first time.

“It’s been a surreal feeling,” Kelly said.

The Lions will be without Alexius Horne, their second-leading scorer at 12.0 points per game, due to a knee injury.

In Southeastern’s 30 games — home, road and neutral — the average attendance has been 781. It will be 14,382 Friday.

Since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1994, the 2-seeds are 112-0 vs. 15-seeds. The Hawkeyes are a 29.5-point favorite.

“It’s going to be fun,” Southeastern Coach Ayla Guzzardo said. “We’re not necessarily star-struck. We want to compete.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com