2027 Recruiting

[NORTHSTAR]

If there is someone on here that can list for sure where Iowa stands on NIL money vs. the rest of the teams, please post the facts or stop with posting what you think or someone else has stated, without proof, and there are a couple of you, so give us the facts, or else stop.

 

[pablow]

Good Lord dude, chill. Okay, I AM an old has been, okay? Please explain WHY some 20yr old girl would care about what Iowa women's basketball or the University was doing 100 years ago? Do you really believe that's what they would base their decisions on? I have a granddaughter who just went to college, and two sons who played basketball in college and I'm pretty sure that would not have resonated with any of them when they were making a decision on where to go to college, or what team to play for.

I missed the "me" in has beens.

 

[citizenHawk1]

None of this stuff happens in a vacuum.
The staff needs to consider where they are with potential HS recruits, how that fits with incoming players. They also need to consider the players currently on the team and how roster changes affect that team ecosystem. Jensen is in a process of upgrading the roster's overall talent, but she was smart enough to do it in small increments. This is only her second portal cycle where this balance can be considered for overall recruiting.

tl/dr
Just relax. Things have been trending up.

 

[SCHawkFan]

[If we didn't have Woliczko, we could afford 2 or 3 more "5 star" kids (or near that caliber) as well.]

That's exactly the point. Iowa has the money to get ONE 5-star recruit and ONE top player in the Portal (and that's more money than the vast majority of programs have available), but there are many teams with more money than that, just look at the roster, just look at how much slower things happen in Iowa. Don't tell me Jan is being selective, the money simply is short. Texas recruited FOUR 5-star recruits in the 2026 class, and you still think MAYBE Texas has more money? Sorry, but you're choosing to be delusional. Iowa does have money, but there are MANY teams with more money than Iowa, just look at the rosters. Heiden doesn't get the 1.4M that Audi gets, OBVIOUSLY. Many teams are sweeping the Portal. Iowa has NEVER recruited two 5-stars and has never signed more than one top player in the Portal. Many teams have done it, and Iowa NEVER has because they DON'T HAVE THE MONEY to do it. Simple as that. And we know Dani came to Iowa because of Coach Barrett and Chit Chat, not because of money. Woliczko didn't come because of money either. Iowa needs more money to have a better team, that's as clear as day. Only those who choose not to see it, preferring to be delusional, can't see it.

Don't forget, that had to bump Ava’s pay. She probably makes the most on this team now. Strem, Chat, and Journey all got a bump as well.

 

[hawkbr]

Don't forget, that had to bump Ava’s pay. She probably makes the most on this team now. Strem, Chat, and Journey all got a bump as well.

Is that why Iowa only has enough money to pay 8 players so far? And is that why they're going to fill a few more spots with players who don't cost much money? Probably yes, right? Even with the money available from Hannah, Kylie, McCabe, Deal, Johnson, Levin, Jada, Mallegni, and Rodriguez, it still doesn't seem like there's enough money to sign three or four top players on the transfer portal, like many programs are doing. We sign one top player, great, but then the money runs out.This just confirms that Iowa has little money available. I hope the situation changes, because Iowa is such a marketable brand that a good business team could turn Iowa into a goldmine.

 

[SCHawkFan]

Is that why Iowa only has enough money to pay 8 players so far? And is that why they're going to fill a few more spots with players who don't cost much money? Probably yes, right? Even with the money available from Hannah, Kylie, McCabe, Deal, Johnson, Levin, Jada, Mallegni, and Rodriguez, it still doesn't seem like there's enough money to sign three or four top players on the transfer portal, like many programs are doing. We sign one top player, great, but then the money runs out.This just confirms that Iowa has little money available. I hope the situation changes, because Iowa is such a marketable brand that a good business team could turn Iowa into a goldmine.

Seriously? No team is going to pay their 9-12 players a lot of money. Of course, for most college kids, $75K is not bad, and $50-$75K is what end-of-the-benchers at Iowa will get. Iowa is in good shape roster wise and financially. Soon, maybe by next week, the roster will be complete, and it will be much better than this past season, when they won 27 games.

 

[Omahawk57]

Seriously? No team is going to pay their 9-12 players a lot of money. Of course, for most college kids, $75K is not bad, and $50-$75K is what end-of-the-benchers at Iowa will get. Iowa is in good shape roster wise and financially. Soon, maybe by next week, the roster will be complete, and it will be much better than this past season, when they won 27 games.

The roster will not be complete by next week. Visitor from Georgia potentially to commit Monday. Three more likely needed to have 12. That will run well into May. Process is slow when 1500 players in the portal and 1000 unsigned.

 

[fish1hawk]

We have I think a pretty solid 8 players that can play at this level. By conference time, the rotation will be around 8 in most games unless blowouts. Sure would be nice to have some spares in case of injury or illness I get it. But portal recruiting is a two way street. What would be good for us vs what the player thinks will best for her. Most I would guess want to play

 

[hawkbr]

Seriously? No team is going to pay their 9-12 players a lot of money. Of course, for most college kids, $75K is not bad, and $50-$75K is what end-of-the-benchers at Iowa will get. Iowa is in good shape roster wise and financially. Soon, maybe by next week, the roster will be complete, and it will be much better than this past season, when they won 27 games.

Iowa's financial situation is good, but it could be better. South Carolina, UConn, LSU, USC, UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, OSU, TCU, Ole Miss, Duke, and Kentucky have a lot of money, but even with less money than at least 10 programs, Iowa managed to assemble a good team with 8 players, despite losing 6 player. I hope we can reach the Elite Eight (and Iowa would probably be the team with the least money among them), I just wish things were easier, that the financial situation was even better. Iowa is a huge brand, we should be one of the five programs with the most money, but obviously we aren't, but still, with limited money we can reach the Elite Eight, which would be a great achievement.

 

[Amahawk]

Even a sweet 16 would be nice.

 

[the24fan]

First of all, I'm not sure you grasp how expensive Dani Carnegie is. She is not just a 5 star player -- and not all 5 star players cost the same. As a first-team All-SEC player she is one of the most expensive players in the country -- ESPN ranks her as the 3rd biggest get in the portal. She could very well be the 3rd most expensive player in the portal as well. She likely costs as much as 3 (maybe 4) typical 5 star players. Being a 5 star player does not mean you automatically command as much money as you want.

Most programs could not afford Carnegie -- because she costs as much as 3 or 4 other players. Same with Woliczko -- few players command as much money as she does as a freshman but Jan thinks she is worth it. In contrast, Addie Deal is commanding no more than 1/3 of what Woliczko commands -- her 5 star rating isn't doing much for her. There are plenty of 5 star players out there who didn't live up to their ranking and they're not getting paid as much as they want. That's why they're all transferring--but like Deal, many will learn that your performance on the court commands portal money, not your HS ranking. Kaelynn Carroll, recent name that popped up in Hawkeye recruiting circles, is another example -- she was ranked in the Top 15 by ESPN, was barely a blip for KY this season. She'll be lucky to get $250k at this point. That's why she was recently linked with Iowa -- Iowa had gotten to the point where we're not spending anymore than that on any players, and so they got talking.

You're likely also underestimating how much Jan is paying Heiden. Heiden would probably command almost as much as Audi Crooks if she entered the portal because athletic centers are hard to come by. She should be getting paid at least as much as Woliczko, in my estimation. My guess is Jan is also compensating Chat very well. Woliczko, Heiden, Carnegie and Chat -- 4 of our players -- likely command at least $2 million per season. In contrast, Iowa State only has $1 million and change to work with total.

None of Michigan, Vandy, Maryland, Kentucky, UNC, Duke, or Ole Miss (nor Oklahoma State, usually) have that much money. Michigan lost their entire roster 2 seasons ago because of it -- fans knew it and were complaining about it all over the internet. I don't know what they're paying Olsen and Swords but I'd be shocked if it's overly impressive. There's a reason they haven't been able to recruit a real big to play alongside their stellar guards and I think it's because they don't have the money for it.

The only other schools that definitely have more money for WBB than Iowa are South Carolina, UConn, LSU, TCU, Oklahoma, and maybe Texas (just assuming, never heard real numbers that prove this). All of these schools recruit well because their coach is good at recruiting and their brands have far more cachet than Iowa. If a coach has ever made the Final Four (i.e., Kentucky), it's much easier to get a top kid to look at you. Jan is always going to be playing catch-up until/unless she can do so as well.

Newsflash, Iowa didn't get many 5 star players before revenue sharing. We *are* getting them now, because we have an AD that understands the value of WBB and is willing to invest in it (I know Lucy Olsen and Carnegie weren't 5 stars, but they cost as much as a 5 star and perform like 5 stars, so I'm counting them all the same). That's helping us get over the hump(s). But we're not going to start recruiting like UConn overnight. It's not just money, it never has been and never will be in WBB. WBB recruiting is still deeply intwined with networking and AAU teams and relationships. Look at what Lasondra has done for us with Chat and Dani.

That's also a big part of TCU's draw. Campbell developed Sabrina Ionescu and is known as an elite guard coach. Kids like playing for him, families believe their kids are in good hands. Jan is still proving herself and finding her footing in many ways, including along the lines of building relationships. Barrett is a huge boost for that. Another thing about TCU is that they do kill it in the portal but they also don't really recruit high school kids. They have more turn-over and therefore more money becoming available every year. If we didn't have Woliczko, we could afford 2 or 3 more "5 star" kids (or near that caliber) as well. That doesn't mean that they'd collectively be better than Woliczko though. Clearly Jan doesn't think that's the case.

 

[hawkbr]

Even a sweet 16 would be nice.

For a team that stopped in the R32 for two consecutive years, reaching the Sweet 16 would certainly be an improvement, but I think Iowa deserves much more than that. However, in the current situation, to go further, they need more money, and that's what I'm advocating for: better and higher positions for Iowa. To argue that everything should remain as it is and that we don't need more money to improve is to accept that the R32, or maybe the Sweet 16, is enough for Iowa. For me, it isn't. I want Iowa in the Final Four again, at least in the Elite Eight, and for that we need a better team, and a better team costs more money.

 

[Jonesy5960]

For a team that stopped in the R32 for two consecutive years, reaching the Sweet 16 would certainly be an improvement, but I think Iowa deserves much more than that. However, in the current situation, to go further, they need more money, and that's what I'm advocating for: better and higher positions for Iowa. To argue that everything should remain as it is and that we don't need more money to improve is to accept that the R32, or maybe the Sweet 16, is enough for Iowa. For me, it isn't. I want Iowa in the Final Four again, at least in the Elite Eight, and for that we need a better team, and a better team costs more money.

They have a team that is capable of reaching the Elite 8 or Final 4 today. It will already be a much better top 8 players than the one that started/finished this year and came in second place in the B1G. At the guard spots CCW and Stremlow will have another year of experience and Carnegie and Whiting have shown against good competition that they are much better players than KF and Deal were. At the forward position Ava, Journey, and Layla will all have another year of experience and McKenna is coming in as one of the top 5 or 10 freshmen in the country. Hannah was great on the boards and defensively, but her offensive limitations were well documented, and it impacted not only herself, but others as well in terms of floor spacing and keeping defenders off of Ava in the lane.

Espn had Iowa at no 9 and The Athletic had them at number 10 in the preseason rankings before the portal opened. Given the additions of Carnegie and Whiting I would expect Iowa to start next season with a top 8 preseason ranking.

 

[Scott559]

For a team that stopped in the R32 for two consecutive years, reaching the Sweet 16 would certainly be an improvement, but I think Iowa deserves much more than that. However, in the current situation, to go further, they need more money, and that's what I'm advocating for: better and higher positions for Iowa. To argue that everything should remain as it is and that we don't need more money to improve is to accept that the R32, or maybe the Sweet 16, is enough for Iowa. For me, it isn't. I want Iowa in the Final Four again, at least in the Elite Eight, and for that we need a better team, and a better team costs more money.

The thing is we see so much speculation on NIL and dollar amounts and unless Brad would actually release numbers which won’t happen we truly don’t know what the budget is. I know the common number thrown around with Lucy was 500k, Other people who may or may not actually know said it was more like 375-400k. I see the number 500k used in regard to McKenna, Just guessing but that seems like a reasonable number to figure is in the ballpark. There was a lot of speculation that Addie Deal was in the million dollar range, One of the administrators on this site said that was no where close to accurate and she got less than what McKenna will get next year.

The one thing I do know Brad said was he felt Iowa was near the top budget wise in the Big, That was 2 years ago, Has that changed, I have no idea. I do think Coach Barrett said it best, There are a lot of lies being told in regard to NIL money. Agents and players all benefit if there is considerable exaggeration in regard to numbers.

Could Iowa use more money, Of course, I am just not sure any of us can say with any real accuracy where Iowa stands financially in the conference or nationally.

 

[hawkbr]

They have a team that is capable of reaching the Elite 8 or Final 4 today. It will already be a much better top 8 players than the one that started/finished this year and came in second place in the B1G. At the guard spots CCW and Stremlow will have another year of experience and Carnegie and Whiting have shown against good competition that they are much better players than KF and Deal were. At the forward position Ava, Journey, and Layla will all have another year of experience and McKenna is coming in as one of the top 5 or 10 freshmen in the country. Hannah was great on the boards and defensively, but her offensive limitations were well documented, and it impacted not only herself, but others as well in terms of floor spacing and keeping defenders off of Ava in the lane.

Espn had Iowa at no 9 and The Athletic had them at number 10 in the preseason rankings before the portal opened. Given the additions of Carnegie and Whiting I would expect Iowa to start next season with a top 8 preseason ranking.

Ranking doesn't mean anything. Iowa's ranking didn't help when we needed to win to reach R16, with a better ranking or not, we stopped at R32 once again. But I also think we have a better team, a little better, because we lost seven players and Hannah, Kylie, and McCabe will be missed. Deal and Mallegni could be also improve and to play better with one more year, but of course, Dani is a huge addition. As for Woliczko, we're not sure yet, we hope she has an immediate impact, but we also expected that from Deal at this same time last year, and it didn't happen. I also think Woliczko will be great, I'm just not sure because it's a new world for her. Dani is a proven immediate impact.

 

[Matt1nb7]

So no actual update on 2027 recruits?

 

[hawkbr]

The thing is we see so much speculation on NIL and dollar amounts and unless Brad would actually release numbers which won’t happen we truly don’t know what the budget is. I know the common number thrown around with Lucy was 500k, Other people who may or may not actually know said it was more like 375-400k. I see the number 500k used in regard to McKenna, Just guessing but that seems like a reasonable number to figure is in the ballpark. There was a lot of speculation that Addie Deal was in the million dollar range, One of the administrators on this site said that was no where close to accurate and she got less than what McKenna will get next year.

The one thing I do know Brad said was he felt Iowa was near the top budget wise in the Big, That was 2 years ago, Has that changed, I have no idea. I do think Coach Barrett said it best, There are a lot of lies being told in regard to NIL money. Agents and players all benefit if there is considerable exaggeration in regard to numbers.

Could Iowa use more money, Of course, I am just not sure any of us can say with any real accuracy where Iowa stands financially in the conference or nationally.

We don't need to say it precisely or know the exact numbers to get a sense of how things are. Just look at each team's rosters. Being the third or fourth best budget in the Big Ten is good, and maybe I'm being optimistic, but there's Uconn in the Big East, South Carolina, LSU, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Vandy, Kentucky, and Ole Miss in the SEC. Notre Dame, UNC, Louisville, and Duke in the ACC. And now TCU and OSU in the Big 12. I don't know exactly where Iowa is in this mix, but to me it's quite obvious that there are AT LEAST ten teams with bigger budgets than Iowa, and I think I'm being quite optimistic.

 

[citizenHawk1]

Where is all this "more money" coming from? Every program wants more money. Unfortunately you can't just print it.

All these lofty expectations aren't doing anyone favors because those expectations don't seem to remember that Iowa wildly overperformed this past season. We won't know if they have replaced the defensive hole left by Stuelke and Feuerbach until they have the roster and start playing games. The 4 position is an absolute wild card at this time. Probably a deeper team with far more potential, but it will have to come together.

 

[Anon1750875978]

Even a sweet 16 would be nice.

Dream on!

 

[rams32]

So no actual update on 2027 recruits?

No, just bitching by the usuals.

 

[KurtWarner]

I would think hs recruits might want to commit a little sooner than usual in fear of getting portaled (i know it's not a word) over

 

[hawkbr]

Where is all this "more money" coming from? Every program wants more money. Unfortunately you can't just print it.

All these lofty expectations aren't doing anyone favors because those expectations don't seem to remember that Iowa wildly overperformed this past season. We won't know if they have replaced the defensive hole left by Stuelke and Feuerbach until they have the roster and start playing games. The 4 position is an absolute wild card at this time. Probably a deeper team with far more potential, but it will have to come together.

The first step is to know what our goal is (S16? E8? F4? Ship?) then to know how much money we need to reach our goal. Now, if we prefer to be delusional and say that Iowa already has the necessary money, we won't get anywhere. And for those who think they are valuing the team by saying that Iowa is among the five - seven largest budgets in the country, as some say, it's actually the opposite, because if that were true it would be a huge disaster for the fifth - seventh largest budget in the country not to have a team to get pass R36 for two consecutive years. It's important to acknowledge that Iowa needs more money than it currently has.

 

[Hawk14]

Where is all this "more money" coming from? Every program wants more money. Unfortunately you can't just print it.

All these lofty expectations aren't doing anyone favors because those expectations don't seem to remember that Iowa wildly overperformed this past season. We won't know if they have replaced the defensive hole left by Stuelke and Feuerbach until they have the roster and start playing games. The 4 position is an absolute wild card at this time. Probably a deeper team with far more potential, but it will have to come together.

I’m on board with “citizen”. My question is are we dealing with “fools gold” after the overachieving regular season the Hawkeyes had? In rating our 2025-26 season I think we were somewhere in between our overachieving regular season and our underwhelming post season play. We seem to be setting some pretty high expectations for 2026-27 with a lot of questions to be answered. Do we really have more depth next year? I see us with 8 players right now in our regular rotation and we finished the season last year with 7 or 8 in the rotation depending on how you viewed Layla. On paper we appear to be a stronger offensive team, however I question us having enough quality three point shooting. Most of us undervalued Taylor’s play before her injury, is the defense play of Kylie and Hannah also being undervalued ? How about the physical play and energy those two brought to the court? Lot‘s of questions to be answered before we set expectations of this team being an elite 8 team. I still believe in our team and I’m excited to see us on the court, I’m just saying ……..

 

[citizenHawk1]

The first step is to know what our goal is (S16? E8? F4? Ship?) then to know how much money we need to reach our goal. Now, if we prefer to be delusional and say that Iowa already has the necessary money, we won't get anywhere. And for those who think they are valuing the team by saying that Iowa is among the five - seven largest budgets in the country, as some say, it's actually the opposite, because if that were true it would be a huge disaster for the fifth - seventh largest budget in the country not to have a team to get pass R36 for two consecutive years. It's important to acknowledge that Iowa needs more money than it currently has.

Where are you getting the money? It's a fairly pointless thing to dwell upon when you don't have significant donors. Most of the programs you are looking at have some very wealthy benefactors. If Iowa were to ever reach a E8 or F4 status they would have to join the superteams, and that is a tier above. Not likely.

They are doing an amazing job building higher with what they have.

 

[Tom Paris]

Are you f**king kidding me??

Have you read nothing that I've said or written?

Money is nor the only factor in recruiting.

Toxic ******* fans like you are a huge problem.

Perceived racism. Location. Non urban. Snow. Etc.

I haven't blocked anyone on here. But I'm going to now.

Ignore him. He brings nothing positive to this board.

 

[hawkbr]

Where are you getting the money? It's a fairly pointless thing to dwell upon when you don't have significant donors. Most of the programs you are looking at have some very wealthy benefactors. If Iowa were to ever reach a E8 or F4 status they would have to join the superteams, and that is a tier above. Not likely.

They are doing an amazing job building higher with what they have.

I disagree that it's unlikely Iowa will reach the financial status of the E8 and F4 teams. Experts point to Iowa as one of the most popular teams in the WCBB, turning popularity into money is a natural way for those who aren't very bad at business.

But I completely agree with you that Iowa is doing a amazing job with the limited funds what they have.

 

[Jonesy5960]

Ranking doesn't mean anything. Iowa's ranking didn't help when we needed to win to reach R16, with a better ranking or not, we stopped at R32 once again. But I also think we have a better team, a little better, because we lost seven players and Hannah, Kylie, and McCabe will be missed. Deal and Mallegni could be also improve and to play better with one more year, but of course, Dani is a huge addition. As for Woliczko, we're not sure yet, we hope she has an immediate impact, but we also expected that from Deal at this same time last year, and it didn't happen. I also think Woliczko will be great, I'm just not sure because it's a new world for her. Dani is a proven immediate impact.

Rankings from qualified experts do mean more than a group of fans whose judgement is clouded by an emotional letdown. The team that played UCLA, FDU, and Virginia at the end of the year was simply not the same team that rolled through much of the season. I can't tell you what happened, but something broke, because Iowa at Carver should have completely rolled FDU and handled Virginia with relative ease. There's a reason they were 30 point favorites against FDU and 15 point favorites against Virginia. It's because they showed themselves to be a much better team over the course of the season than they showed in these 3 games. Maybe there was a locker room problem. We'll likely never know what happened, but if it happens again next year, then Jan's detractors will multiply several fold.

 

[SCHawkFan]

Iowa does have top 10 money. They do need to be careful this year because, right now, the is one senior on the team. They need to make sure they have enough to bring in 3-4 freshmen in 2027.

 

[hawkbr]

Rankings from qualified experts do mean more than a group of fans whose judgement is clouded by an emotional letdown. The team that played UCLA, FDU, and Virginia at the end of the year was simply not the same team that rolled through much of the season. I can't tell you what happened, but something broke, because Iowa at Carver should have completely rolled FDU and handled Virginia with relative ease. There's a reason they were 30 point favorites against FDU and 15 point favorites against Virginia. It's because they showed themselves to be a much better team over the course of the season than they showed in these 3 games. Maybe there was a locker room problem. We'll likely never know what happened, but if it happens again next year, then Jan's detractors will multiply several fold.

When we couldn't assemble a team with better options than two senior guards who NEVER averaged more than 6 PPG in four years of their careers, and it was decided that they would be the starters for the season due to a lack of better options, we accepted a limit for the team for the season, unless a miracle happened. I wouldn't call Heiden and Chit Chat's stellar performance a miracle, but it was a positive side of having a limited team that relies excessively on just three players and often went beyond what it could achieve, securing unexpected wins. However, against Uconn, FDU, UCLA, and Virginia, the limit became very clear. It's very difficult to reach the E8 with two guards who play 49 minutes and 48 minutes and score 5 points and 4 points each, but it was totally predictable, decided at the beginning of the season when the team was assembled without anyone at positions 2 and 3 who could average more than 10 PPG. Now, if a team is top 10 money and can't get anything better than two starters guards with 6 PPG in their careers, then the problem is even more serious than a simple financial limitation issue. It's better to accept and admit that the team has financial limitations than to say that it's top 10 money and can't get pass R32, because that would be saying that it has the worst management in the country, and I don't think that's the case. As I said, I think Iowa does an amazing job with the few resources they have.

 

[Jonesy5960]

When we couldn't assemble a team with better options than two senior guards who NEVER averaged more than 6 PPG in four years of their careers, and it was decided that they would be the starters for the season due to a lack of better options, we accepted a limit for the team for the season, unless a miracle happened. I wouldn't call Heiden and Chit Chat's stellar performance a miracle, but it was a positive side of having a limited team that relies excessively on just three players and often went beyond what it could achieve, securing unexpected victories. However, against Uconn, FDU, UCLA, and Virginia, the limit became very clear. It's very difficult to reach the E8 with two wings who play 49 minutes and 48 minutes and score 5 points and 4 points each, but it was totally predictable, decided at the beginning of the season when the team was assembled without anyone at positions 2 and 3 who could average more than 10 PPG. Now, if a team is top 10 money and can't get anything better than two starters guards with 6 PPG in their careers, then the problem is even more serious than a simple financial limitation issue..

Those 2 senior guards are gone and yet you're still whining about them. You now have 4 3 level scorers at the guard positions. Get a grip fella. The future is bright for this program and the talent is there.

 

[hawkbr]

Those 2 senior guards are gone and yet you're still whining about them. You now have 4 3 level scorers at the guard positions. Get a grip fella. The future is bright for this program and the talent is there.

I'm not complaining about them, they're great support players, but obviously they have limited skills to be starters on a supposed top 10 money team with an E8 goals. They were the best we could get and they fulfilled their role within their limitations. Don't take it personally, and don't be offended by it.

 

[Zach Jump]

I'm not complaining about them, they're great support players, but obviously they have limited skills to be starters on a supposed top 10 money team with an E8 goals. They were the best we could get and they fulfilled their role within their limitations. Don't take it personally, and don't be offended by it.

Those 2 senior guards are gone and yet you're still whining about them. You now have 4 3 level scorers at the guard positions. Get a grip fella. The future is bright for this program and the talent is there.

 

[Jonesy5960]

I'm not complaining about them, they're great support players, but obviously they have limited skills to be starters on a supposed top 10 money team with an E8 goals. They were the best we could get and they fulfilled their role within their limitations. Don't take it personally, and don't be offended by it.

I'm not offended. I just don't understand your hyper focus on these 2 players, the last few games of the year, and how much money Iowa has to spend. I doubt KF and Taylor McCabe made a lot of money and highly doubt that they prevented Iowa from acquiring better players. The real talent on this team, with the exception of Hanna, was all underclassmen. They also spent a fair amount of money on CCW, and even more on 2 players in Erod and Addie that ended up not being what they thought and contributed very little, especially down the stretch. There was also a number of legacy players who frankly weren't ever going to play many minutes. All of those players are gone now. Today's players (with the possible exception of Layla and McKenna) have already shown that they can play and compete against high level college competition. They have at least 3 All Big potential players in Ava, CCW, and Carnegie. They need a few depth pieces, but the top 8 players are as good as Iowa has seen in a long, long time and they are spending a lot of money on current and portal players to make that happen. Start looking forward instead of constantly bemoaning what happened at the end of this year.

 

[Jonesy5960]

Those 2 senior guards are gone and yet you're still whining about them. You now have 4 3 level scorers at the guard positions. Get a grip fella. The future is bright for this program and the talent is there.

 

[citizenHawk1]

Jensen was never going to look for players to replace Stuelke, McCabe, and Feuerbach. It just wasn't ever going to happen with those three players developing through the program over the last few years. They came before the portal era and they were the tail end of it. Big picture for the program, that was clearly the correct choice to ride with the players that gave Iowa everything and contributed to the two title game runs with the Clark senior class. Bemoaning that goes against everything the program has been up to now, and the result was better than expected.

New era, new opportunities with the cleared roster, same impatient unreasonable fans that expect that sort of growth as an instantaneous impersonal decision.

Thankfully, despite this era starting to feel a little soulless, Jensen understands why the program has been popular, and what builds emotional connection for fans. Losing your balance and buying a Final 4 aint it.

 

[hawkbr]

I'm not offended. I just don't understand your hyper focus on these 2 players, the last few games of the year, and how much money Iowa has to spend. I doubt KF and Taylor McCabe made a lot of money and highly doubt that they prevented Iowa from acquiring better players. The real talent on this team, with the exception of Hanna, was all underclassmen. They also spent a fair amount of money on CCW, and even more on 2 players in Erod and Addie that ended up not being what they thought and contributed very little, especially down the stretch. There was also a number of legacy players who frankly weren't ever going to play many minutes. All of those players are gone now. Today's players (with the possible exception of Layla and McKenna) have already shown that they can play and compete against high level college competition. They have at least 3 All Big potential players in Ava, CCW, and Carnegie. They need a few depth pieces, but the top 8 players are as good as Iowa has seen in a long, long time and they are spending a lot of money on current and portal players to make that happen. Start looking forward instead of constantly bemoaning what happened at the end of this year.

There's no hyperfocus on them at all, it was just a quick example. I was talking to someone else about the team for next season and you replied citing Iowa's games last season against FDU, UCLA, and Virginia. I was just responding to something you brought up in the conversation, but okay, move on.

 

[Hawx224]

The issue is that no program but Iowa was deeply unpopular with many black (and white, for that matter) players, families, and coaches in response to a controversy about racism that was literally the biggest storyline in the country. Those programs weren't associated with "fans" who would go on Twitter and post memes about Caitlin Clark "owning" Angel Reese (yes "owning" as in slavery). WNBA players haven't posted about how racist their fan bases are (Natasha Cloud literally posted "Iowa has GOT to do something about their racist fans!" on Twitter). It's tough to shake that, even if most of it is BS created by rage baiters, bot farms, and racists who never watched a single WBB game before CC22 came along.

It's also hard to shake it when the overwhelming culture and vibe of the team has been very white (the music they listen to, the slang they use, their cultural reference points -- a video went pretty viral back in 2024 juxtaposing Iowa warming up and LSU warming up...the vibes were starkly different). Bluder and Jan can also both come off as painfully midwestern. The haircuts especially are very glaring examples....lmao.

I believe in Jan and hope she is our coach til she is ready to retire (which I don't think will be more than 7-8 years from now) but our next coach absolutely needs to be a black woman if we are ever to get over the recruiting hump. I do think hiring Lasondra (and her recruitment of Chat and Carnegie) are huge steps in the right direction for Jan.

I have no problem with whoever is hired as the next coach after Jan, but Iowa is a midwestern school, with midwestern fans. Changing the “vibes and culture” would, to some degree, separate the team from who they represent. A big part of Iowa’s sports culture is the blue collar, lunchpail mentality. I wouldn’t want to lose that in pursuit of more flash