Jan Jensen referenced Ava Heiden's growth story when assessing the breakout performance tonight from Addie Deal (18 pts, 7-9 FG, 4-4 3FG in 74-66 win over Oregon).
“It didn't surprise me at all. I really believe in letting them develop. I really believe that if we can continue to progress – and I know Addie, what she's made of. And sometimes you have to go through a little adversity. You get a little hungrier. You’re really paying attention to detail. Those competitive juices get flowing. I knew it was a matter of time. And you can say, ‘Give them minutes right away.’ It’s not arbitrary.
“And that's the beautiful thing about sport. You can debate it, and we can be on our couches, and we can rewind it in film rooms and have these different concepts and ideas of how you would do it. But I believe the Iowa women's basketball culture is so good because everybody is valued. Everybody matters. Everybody is competing.
“With Addie, this is what I was hoping for her. I did not expect it from Day 1. I didn't. I'm glad that she did. I'm glad that everybody did. But this game is bigger, it's faster, it's stronger.
“The progression, sometimes you’ve just got to let it play out, and then they come out and they're so confident when they have worked so hard, and they're understanding it. They've worked out with strength coaches, they've worked out with position coaches. That’s a really cool part of the story.”
(Here's the Heiden story, for those interested.)
“It didn't surprise me at all. I really believe in letting them develop. I really believe that if we can continue to progress – and I know Addie, what she's made of. And sometimes you have to go through a little adversity. You get a little hungrier. You’re really paying attention to detail. Those competitive juices get flowing. I knew it was a matter of time. And you can say, ‘Give them minutes right away.’ It’s not arbitrary.
“And that's the beautiful thing about sport. You can debate it, and we can be on our couches, and we can rewind it in film rooms and have these different concepts and ideas of how you would do it. But I believe the Iowa women's basketball culture is so good because everybody is valued. Everybody matters. Everybody is competing.
“With Addie, this is what I was hoping for her. I did not expect it from Day 1. I didn't. I'm glad that she did. I'm glad that everybody did. But this game is bigger, it's faster, it's stronger.
“The progression, sometimes you’ve just got to let it play out, and then they come out and they're so confident when they have worked so hard, and they're understanding it. They've worked out with strength coaches, they've worked out with position coaches. That’s a really cool part of the story.”
(Here's the Heiden story, for those interested.)
