It’s opening night for No. 4 Iowa. Now, where does the (playing) time go?

IOWA CITY — Here’s the simple math:

There are 40 minutes in a regulation game, five players on the court at a time.

That equals 200 minutes to be accounted for.

With that in mind, Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder gave her team a recent assignment.

“I asked each of the players how many minutes they thought they deserved,” Bluder said. “When I added them up, I figured the total would be about 300, but it wasn’t far off. It was like 215.

“So the players are very realistic about playing time.”

One of Bluder’s deeper teams, No. 4 Iowa begins the new season with a late-night encounter Monday against Southern University.

Tipoff is 8:30 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena (B1G+).

“The season opener is special. It’s the beginning,” Bluder said. “The beginning is the most important part. If we don’t start off well, it’s hard to get back on track.”

The Hawkeyes should start well. They handled Southern, 87-67, last year, and the Jaguars went on to finish 14-17.

So, where will those minutes go? Surely, they’ll be spread around early in the season as Bluder looks for effective rotations, then it will tighten up later as she determines her circle of trust.

The starting five likely will be the incumbents from last year — All-Americans Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano, along with veterans Kate Martin, McKenna Warnock and Gabbie Marshall.

Two items to watch:

First, who gets the minutes behind Czinano in the post?

“It’s changing all of the time; it depends on practice,” Bluder said. “I might go with one (player) one day and go with another one another day. It depends on the opponent.”

Sharon Goodman was the top post reserve two years ago, then missed last season with a torn ACL. Addison O’Grady assumed that role last year, and was effective. A.J. Ediger is another possibility.

“Sharon is still a little behind on her recovery from surgery,” Bluder said.

Freshman Hannah Stuelke is another interior option.

And that brings us to the second item: Where does Stuelke fit on the depth chart?

The former Cedar Rapids Washington star opened eyes with an 18-point performance in the Hawkeyes’ exhibition rout of Nebraska-Kearney.

“We have to have our best players on the floor. I think (Stuelke) is one of our top six or seven players, she’s that good,” Bluder said. “She has been highly consistent, for the most part. She’ll back up the 4 and have some opportunities at the 5.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com