agreed, once the $'s were thrown into the collegiate sports equation there are going to be money disputes/departures. If I was a moderately successful D1 coach in financial terms I would complete my current contract and leave collegiate sports behind. It is an uncontrollable and dog eat dog environment.
Addie Deal enters transfer portal
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Taking my wife, Navy son, wife and three grandkids to Northeren Illinois game. Travel from Northeast Iowa to Iowa City, tickets, parking, couple of meals, gas etc. Yes I want to do this but can't evebegin and don't want to think what this will cost. Used to go to the know hole games back in the day-not quite the same when it comes to $$$. Should have been on FB thread but it pertains to most college sports.
I just hope the Deal family is reading this.
Not nearly like I used to. I barely know players names. I watched maybe 5 MBB games from beginning to end this year. 1-2 the previous 3 years. They lost my high level of care.
So 72 hours later what is this bigger picture.
Trust me they're not.
Their focus is on the money made and the future money their daughter will make them.
Sad what NIL and the portal has done to college athletics.
Oddly enough, I probably watched more non-Iowa basketball, than I did Iowa basketball this year.
Seems like it worked out fine enough, so perhaps I should stick to that, and maybe we'll make the Final Four next year instead of just the Elite 8........
Year 3, btw, is gonna be the make or break year for Jan.
Remember, JuJu Watkins is returning next year and USC will become this year's UCLA in the Big Ten, so everyone will be playing for 2nd place again.
UCLA will have to replace a ton of their roster, and if Deal got paid to go there so she could have the 5 star glam and be a part of an actual winning team, then that's gonna put massive pressure on Jan and Iowa to win that matchup next year regardless of what the roster looks like.
She could have the remaining handful of players we do have and fill it out with 8 other women from the Iowa School for the Blind and she would still need to find a way to beat UCLA if Deal goes there, or she'll be (and by extension the Iowa women's basketball program, as well) in deep f***ing sh**.................
Remember, JuJu Watkins is returning next year and USC will become this year's UCLA in the Big Ten, so everyone will be playing for 2nd place again.
UCLA will have to replace a ton of their roster, and if Deal got paid to go there so she could have the 5 star glam and be a part of an actual winning team, then that's gonna put massive pressure on Jan and Iowa to win that matchup next year regardless of what the roster looks like.
She could have the remaining handful of players we do have and fill it out with 8 other women from the Iowa School for the Blind and she would still need to find a way to beat UCLA if Deal goes there, or she'll be (and by extension the Iowa women's basketball program, as well) in deep f***ing sh**.................
I doubt Beth has a timetable on the program, but fans do.
Regular season success only gets JJ so far.
Sweet 16, right now, might be a hard ceiling.
That won't "cut it" for many.
The core of Ava/CC/Strem will have higher expectations for the next two seasons. That's JJ's time frame or else.
And the unknown...MW
To be fair
Let's take a look at a few things Lisa Bluder for you my man. Her 1st season at Iowa was 2000-2001. Her 1st season EVER making it to the Sweet 16 was 2014-15. So you're giving Jan 2 more years to make it while Bluder took 14? Lisa had 7 1st round exits and 6 2nd round exits in her career. Oh, and she also had a 3rd round WNIT, a 1st round WNIT exit and a semi WNIT exit. Yes, WNIT. There is a ton of revisionist history going on here once we got the GOAT to Iowa City which changed the direction of the program but we were certainly never a blue blood under Bluder or anything even close. She was a really good offensive coach who along with CC took us to fantastic new heights. She also knew when it was time to get out. There's probably a 99% chance a CC ever steps foot again in this building in our lifetime. So why don't you get with Beth and get your pitchforks out and tell her Jan has to get to the sweet 16 or else? You know, the one it took Bluder 14 years to get to.
Somewhat agree, but what you, apparently intentionally, fail to mention is that by most accounts, Iowa WBB is one of top funded programs in all of NCAA wbb.
That, in and of itself, raises expectations.
And rightly so.
IMO, JJ likely gets until the end of the core 3's senior season to produce a contender.
Fair assessment?
Your definition of success is effectively being based on 1 game where the basketball team laid a turd. It doesn't matter to you that they outperformed the entire year and were the 6th ranked team - your arguments are 50 point loss in B1G championship and losing a sweet 16 game. Or the last 2 years under Jan for that matter. Jan is learning and wbb is changing drastically. The one thing as I have mentioned and as you mention above is right now Iowa WBB is one of the most well financed programs, which should allow it to have continued success.
As usual you’re changing the narrative. Did it not take Bluder 14 years to make a sweet 16? That’s a fact. You’re acting like Jensen was 500 in the league this year when again, in fact, she was 2nd and we ended up a 2 seed. Yes, we choked in the 32 game. Certainly did. Not what anyone wanted but if she keeps winning 23-25 games a year she’s just not going anywhere. What’s a contender? Final 4 contender? Is 2nd place and a top 10 finish a contender? CC is not walking through that door. And money or no money we aren’t out recruiting Texas, UConn or S Carolina. Are we in the next tier of schools and should we be a sweet 16 team? Probably.
Sweet 16 or better should be the expectation for this program every year.
Hope everyone isn't expecting to finish as high in the B1G as we did this year. It takes a lot of things to go right to finish 2nd like we did.
The Luka Garza experience turned out fine
tOSU hired Kelsey Mitchell's dad as an AC only for her four years there so he definitely moved with his kid lol. That turned out well (and doesn't seem like sus recruiting at all /s
)Ava's parents moved with her
seems to be working well so far
I too have been a big supporter of Addie but a few things I noticed but hoped she would fix over time. She dribbles too much in an uprivht position. Watch her and CC. She needs to be more aggressive, watch Stremlow (gritty as they come). I question her work ethic, huge red flag to start the season was when she said she wanted to be freshman of the year.
Probably best to move on. As Ben says, I don't like Moody.
You underestimate how much perception impacts the women's game, and how infinitely more it does in 2026, than when Lisa started at Iowa.............
This is one of those "what's different about the women's/girls' game compared to the men/boys???" things. Just sayin.
Aside from Juju being injured, what else broke specifically in our favor to luck into finishing 2nd in the conference over the likes of Maryland, Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan, etc?
That's the thing right there. ^ Iowa could be better next season and still not match what they did in '25-'26,. And losing the seniors, a lot will have to go right in the portal for the team to be better. Prior to the portal roster changes throughout the conference, I'd say they project to about 5th again. 5th is still pretty damn good.
*And let's not forget this: the conference added the west coast teams after Bluder. Take UCLA out of the equation this past season Iowa wins the conference, the BTT.
*And let's not forget: there have been significant changes with recruiting and roster building since Bluder left. Comparing some of these things from one era to the next is almost near apples and oranges.
Some of you get your kicks out of agitating, but please quit acting like spoiled Clark-babies entitled to your Final4 teams. It's just a bad bad look, and childish.
I think people need to look back at McCabe as a great example. If you go watch her freshman playing season she was slow, seemed super stiff, and only when given a wide open opportunity would she have time to get her shot off. She got better every single year. Deal did not play as well as she was hyped, but she flashed and with time and I don't doubt the effort she would put in would become much better.
It is funny the people saying Jans only got another year or two. I'll believe it when I see it. Yes, this recruiting cycle is huge given our losses, but unless this team fall off the cliff, Jans not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. I'm pretty sure that Beth is smart enough to know that the CC22 era was a flash at something special that were not likely to see again. Not saying there won't be expectations given that the women's team appears to be pretty well funded. Still I doubt Jan is on as short of a leash as some think....
So what I find interesting is when we finish in 6th or 7th in football everyone applauds like we have slain Goliath because we are just little old Iowa. But you’re saying 2nd place for us should be an expectation in basketball?
Ava stayed healthy...won some close games when we were not playing well...have some form of a voodoo curse on Michigan. In a tough league it's hard to finish 2nd and as Citizen said...we could be better next year and not have the regular season we had this year .
I am not underestimating - but then you have to still consider we will be getting a halo effect because of Caitlin. Recruits and parents are not looking at 1 year of results - or a singular game. It comes down to money, opportunity, and culture. This entire argument was based on the fact anon thinks we are going down the toilet. I stated with money we should be able to fill any of the needs we need for next year - mentioning the success of the mens team this year.
Is there a possibility Jan falls flat - absolutely. However up to this point she has outperformed expectations, so what is suddenly going to cause us to underperform. Post players take the longest adjustment period. Look at Ava look and at the struggles Hayes had.
Its Anon and a couple others. Even Still Iowa has built its reputation on consistent solid results and execution and doing things the right way. With a post player like Ava its highly doubtful we struggle next year to the level that would require any changes.
IMO, it will be very difficult to base/project from prior year's team results into upcoming years even somewhat accurately any longer. The portal, available funds, player demands, agents, and the cash grab are out of control. Teams and players can change dramatically from one year to the next. About the only thing you can predict year-to-year is "change" and big money programs will have a significant advantage.
As far evaluating coaches, good luck.
But all JMO.
As far evaluating coaches, good luck.
But all JMO.
Not changing the narrative.
I'm explaining expectations have changed.
And that's 100% relative to the conversation.
You really think donors won't have some ROI thoughts on what they contribute?
You think JJ will have 14 years to reach the Sweet 16.
JFC, the lengths you go to to temper expectations.
Well said. Its pretty hard to project next season, when you don't really know what your roster will look like, or how new players will mesh with the few you hold onto...
We obviously have some posters here that personally know, or have dealt with, JJ.
Their view is clouded and not objective.
Bluder never had anything close to the resources Jensen has now.
Some of these apologists are unbelievable.
Recruiting to "culture" will be interesting.
No, and I'm very confident she won't need that long a leash either. We had some holes in this years lineup and still got within an eyelash of the 16. I'd be willing to bet we'll get to the sweet 16 or possibly the elite 8 by 2030. We'll see....
Oh BS. We’ve valued women’s basketball since the beginning of the program. We put 20,000 people in Carver in the 80’s for a women’s game. We’ve always been a top 3 attendance program in the conference and normally top 10 in the entire country year after year even before CC.
To be fair, Bluder didn't need the resources Jan has now to be successful and neither did CVivian Stringer. They weren't coaching in the cesspool of moneyball we have now. Lisa. just the last year or so when it really started and we had CC22. Then Lisa pulled her pin. She wanted no part of this.
The resources being discussed are not about butts in the seats though. Its having 5-10 million rev share dollars to pay players.
He knows that.
He's hanging on to the expected popularity of the program, which coincidentally, coincided with declining attendance in MBB.
If McCollum has continued success, it's not a guarantee WBB will continue at it's current level.
Hope JJ is up to the challenge.
Whose expectations have changed? Beth's, the fans? The expectations are changing because we had success and now if any volatility occurs we will burn it down?
We have based our programs on consistency like Pittsburg Steelers. Having consistent quality coaching and messaging is your best opportunity for consistent success. Iowa fires coaches at one of the lowest rates of any college.
The budget comes from ticket sales - $3.5 million is what Iowa did for wbb in 2023/2024. This is 2 million more than most schools By all accounts those numbers are slightly up. You then add in the revenue share component. The B1G gives out the highest amount of any conference. The hawkeyes are also one of the more popular teams due to Caitlin so they have had more donations and more money into the collective tagged for WBB.
So in the big picture Iowa WBB does have a financial tailwind that should allow it to continue to be competitive in recruiting top talent to Iowa, and filling in any holes in the portal. If my accountant math still works we were willing to give approximately 1 million to Bjorn, we were at about 1 million a year on Deal, 300k on Rodriguez. We have nearly $2.5 million in rough calculations to use in the portal or for recruits next year.
I understand that. My point being is we have valued women’s basketball as long as since I was in college with C Vivian. So while NIL has obviously changed the game for all sports we’ve always had a culture ahead of almost all Big Ten teams in women’s basketball.