How Iowa is adjusting to post-Caitlin Clark era
The No. 17 Iowa women’s basketball team that took the Barclays Center court Saturday night for the inaugural Champions Classic is nothing like the one that went to back-to-back national championship games the past two seasons.
The style of play is different, there’s a new head coach calling the shots, and the star player who took the basketball world by storm during her time as a Hawkeye has moved on to the next level.
These are not the Hawkeyes of the past four years, when Caitlin Clark was running the show.
No, this is an Iowa team that lost its cheat code and is in the process of reinventing itself.
But Iowa coach Jan Jensen welcomes the challenge.
“It’s a heck of big shoes to fill, for sure, right?” Jensen said Saturday after the Hawkeyes’ 78-68 loss to Tennessee. “But I’m really happy I got the shot, and this group is a really good group.
“They’ve given everything, they’ve welcomed the challenge, they’re proud that Caitlin Clark and company came, but they understand that pages turn, chapters need to be rewritten, and I think they’ve done a really beautiful job since the season started.”
Clark took Iowa to unprecedented heights.
The Hawkeyes were crowned Big Ten regular-season champs in 2022 and 2023, and they won the past three conference tournaments.
As a junior, she also led Iowa to its first Final Four appearance since before she was born and got her team back there the following year.
Her superior shooting launched Iowa into national prominence, and her fanfare reached extraordinary levels.
Remnants of the Clark effect remain to this day.
There was plenty of black and gold in the crowd Saturday, but it wasn’t nearly the frenzy Clark drew and continues to garner now in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever.
Even before Clark heard her name called as the top pick in last April’s WNBA draft, Iowa knew it was heading into a transitional period.
Not only did the Hawkeyes lose Clark, but guards Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall, two other vital starters over the past four years, are also gone.
Longtime head coach Lisa Bluder also abruptly called it quits in May to spend more time with her family.
Jensen was an obvious choice to take over the Hawkeyes after already dedicating the past 24 seasons to Iowa.
The Hawkeyes have six new players, including guard Lucy Olsen, a transfer from Villanova.
She’s been an immediate hit for Iowa, averaging 17.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds through the first eight games.
Without the gravitational pull Clark had, Iowa has had to change the way it plays.
The pace is slower. The Hawkeyes have relied more on Addison O’Grady’s post play and pressed Olsen to be aggressive with her midrange game.
Iowa doesn’t fire off nearly as many 3-pointers — a style that had somewhat become synonymous with the Hawkeyes. This season, Iowa is averaging 10 fewer shots from behind the arc per game compared to last.
Iowa rattled off eight straight wins to open the season before falling to Tennessee.
There still are plenty of lessons to be learned this season.
Saturday’s loss was one of those games. The Lady Volunteers’ press proved to be too much for Iowa.
“In our situation, it’s been a while, too, that we’ve been able to be pressed because we had a secure line for the last three, four years,” Jensen said. “So just getting used to our other guys handling the press.”
Iowa had too many unforced errors and turned the ball over 30 times. Tennessee made the team pay, scoring 42 points off Iowa’s miscues.
“We’re not where we need to be or we’re going to be,” Jensen said. “The offense we play is a four-out, one-in, like to go inside-out. It gets better with time.”