First steps of ‘melding’ are underway for 6th-year Kylie Feuerbach and the Hawkeyes’ ‘newbies’

IOWA CITY — With five new players, introductions aren’t yet complete for the Iowa women’s basketball program.

“I just learned Chit-Chat’s first name (Wednesday),” Taylor McCabe said, in reference to Chazadi Wright, a transfer from Georgia Tech.

“We’ve got a lot of different players. A lot of different looks for (opponents) to handle.”

The Hawkeyes went through their fourth summer practice Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Other than senior Hannah Stuelke — away with the USA Women's AmeriCup Team — the remainder of the 14-player roster was healthy and involved in drills.

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That includes five “newbies” (Kylie Feuerbach’s word) — transfers Wright and Emely Rodriguez (UCF), plus freshman Addie Deal, Layla Hays and Journey Houston.

As for Feuerbach ... she’s certainly no newbie. She celebrated her 24th birthday on May 1, and has begun her sixth season as a college basketball player — one at Iowa State, five at Iowa.

A medical waiver after an ACL tear gave her one extra season; the NCAA’s extra-year COVID grant added her another.

Her first collegiate game was Nov. 25, 2020 — Omaha at Iowa State.

“It was an easy decision to come back,” Feuerbach said. “When I came in as a sophomore transfer, one thing that was really important was the leadership here.”

Now she wants to give back.

“I want to keep playing,” she said. “I love Iowa, and I love playing for the Hawks.”

Iowa was 23-11 last year in Jan Jensen’s head-coaching debut season, reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Year 2, she said, “is going to be a puzzle. We’re young, but we have a lot of potential if we can meld it.”

One of the ongoing mysteries of Stuelke’s time in Iowa City has been her position: 4 or 5? Power forward or center?

“I envision Hannah as the ‘4,’” Jensen said.

That would open up more time for sophomore Ava Heiden — who flourished at the end of last season — in the paint, with Hays as the likely backup.

“The way Ava plays, that would be a good 1-2 punch,” Jensen said.

Players received their summer workout packets Thursday. McCabe’s itinerary included a lot of shots. Long-range shots.

“It says that 98 percent of my shots need to be (3-pointers),” she said.

An engineering major, McCabe considers herself “very analytical and numbers-minded.”

As for her own numbers?

“My 3-point percentage was down between my sophomore year (.461) to my junior year (.405),” she said. “But that’s good because I was taking harder shots.”

Her minutes, on the other hand, increased from 8.4 per game to 23.5. And she felt the effects late in the season.

“I played 30 minutes against Indiana, and I didn’t recover well,” she said. “After the Ohio State game (in the Big Ten tournament), my legs were dead.”

Last season, Jensen pointed to then-freshmen Taylor Stremlow and Aaliyah Guyton as the team’s vocal leaders.

Guyton is gone now, transferred to the University of Illinois. That leaves Stremlow.

“Something I’ve learned is to be loud and be vocal,” she said. “If that makes me a leader, I’ll take it. If that just makes me a good teammate, that’s fine, too.”

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