If we don't at least make it to the B1G title game next year with this team, that'll be a disappointment.
You do realize that USC will be fielding a team with 3 of the last 4 number one recruits in the country this year in Juju, Jazzy, and Saniyah Hall. Saniyah is higher grade than Jazzy was.
McKenna's ranking just dropped today to #7 in the country because 6'4" Okeke from Spain doing her senior year at IMG got ranked finally by ESPN and put at 5th. So 5th and 6th got bumped down. USC has three five stars coming in. We don't have the money or the academic appeal to ever compete with USC for recruiting. Our alumni base and Midwestern player recruiting base make that very difficult.
Also, UCLA has two McDonald's All Americans returning from this year's squad that barely saw the floor (one was injured). They're reloading top recruits with an enormous bag of money and amazing location and academics that we cannot come close to competing with.
What Jan did with this roster this year to win as much as they did was amazing. In the current climate of women's basketball, Iowa's NIL is good but it is nothing compared to UConn, UCLA, USC, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and TCU.
I sure hope we are in the B1G title game next year, and I believe in Ava and Jan.
But the things some fans seem to EXPECT should be easy for a program in a tiny city not near an airport in a red state with poisonous water and declining academics...is ridiculous to me.
I'd like to hope for good things in the portal while also enjoying the amazing things we do have.