Iowa women earn a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament, will open at home Friday vs. SE Louisiana

IOWA CITY — The numeral, they insist, didn’t matter.

“I don’t care if we’re a 1-, 2-, 3- or 10-seed,” Gabbie Marshall said. “We’re not going to take any team lightly.”

And that’s the lesson from 2022.

For the second straight year, Iowa is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. The Hawkeyes drew the “deuce” in the Seattle 4 Region.

Now, it’s up to the Hawkeyes to provide a happier, more lengthy postseason script.

The Big Ten tournament champion, Iowa (26-6) will face 15-seed Southeastern Louisiana (21-9) in the first round at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday.

Tip is scheduled for 3 p.m. As of 10:15 a.m. Monday, the first and second rounds were sold out.

Southeastern Louisiana is in the field for the first time, qualifying automatically by virtue of its Southland Conference tournament title.

Seven-seed Florida State (23-9) meets 10-seed Georgia (21-11) — coached by Cedar Rapids native Katie Abrahamson-Henderson — in the other first-round game, at 12:30.

The second-round game is Sunday.

History certainly favors Iowa. Since the NCAA tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1994, 2-seeds are 112-0 in the first round and advance to the Sweet 16 at an 83.7-percent rate.

However, the Hawkeyes were a second-round casualty last year, dropping a 64-62 decision to Creighton.

“We learned last year that there are no guarantees,” said fifth-year center Monika Czinano, who — like McKenna Warnock — will play her final game at Carver this weekend. “We can’t take anything for granted.”

Iowa was a serious contender for a 1-seed, which would have been its first since 1992.

Instead, the 1-seeds went to defending national champion South Carolina (Greenville 1 Region), Indiana (Greenville 2), Virginia Tech (Seattle 3) and Stanford (Seattle 4).

But the numeral, the Hawkeyes insist, wasn’t important.

“It doesn’t matter,” junior All-American Caitlin Clark said. “Do I think we deserved a 1-seed? Absolutely. Do I think Stanford deserved a 1-seed? Absoutely.

“If we want to get to the Final Four, we’re going to have to go through some really, really good teams.”

The Hawkeyes are in the tournament for the 29th time, the 17th under Coach Lisa Bluder. This is their fifth straight berth (not including the 2020 COVID-canceled tournament).

Iowa enters the NCAA ablaze. The Hawkeyes topped Indiana 86-85 in the regular-season finale, then beat Purdue, Maryland and Ohio State in three straight days at the Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis.

A major factor for the Hawkeyes is their recent surge is the renaissance of Gabbie Marshall’s outside shot.

In the first 22 games, Marshall hit just 19 of 80 long-range shots (23.8 percent). In the last 10 contests: 27 of 44 (61.4 percent).

“Obviously, earlier, I was struggling,” she said. “So when we got back from (Christmas) break, I spent four days straight in the gym. My shot felt good. It was just a matter of confidence.

“Right now, the rim looks huge.”

At first glance, Iowa’s first test looks like a matchup between the Hawkeyes’ explosiveness (No. 1 in the nation at 87.5 points per game) and Southeastern Louisiana’s sticky defense (No. 13 nationally at 54.5 ppg allowed).

SLU tied for the Southland regular-season title, then beat Lamar for the tournament title, 66-57, Thursday.

The Final Four is at Dallas, March 31-April 2.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com