What’s wrong with Iowa women?
The Hawkeyes returned four starters from the 22-win team from a year ago, had the 11th-best recruiting class in the country and were picked as a Big Ten title contender in October.
Heading into the 2 p.m. game today against No. 13 Purdue (18-3, 8-0), Iowa is just 11-10 overall, and 3-5, tied for seventh in the Big Ten.
What has gone wrong?
1. INTO THE FIRE. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder landed perhaps the biggest recruit of her career last year by pulling in Samantha Logic, ranked 10th nationally.
And the freshman guard from Racine, Wis., is averaging 7.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
Among those Top 10 HoopGurlz prospects for 2011, Logic ranks fifth in scoring average so far this season. She also is one of four in that group who has started every game.
“I have so much faith in that kid, I really do,” Bluder said. “I think she’s going to be a good one for us.”
But the Big Ten has awarded Freshman of the Week honors 11 times this season to six different players, with none for Logic.
“I think it’s been harder than maybe she imagined it was going to be,” Bluder said. “We’ve had to kind of throw her in the fire a little bit, and that may not have been the best way to bring her along, but we didn’t have a whole lot of choices.”
Iowa needed Logic to be Kachine Alexander, the player she replaced in the starting lineup. The problem is, that’s a tall order for a freshman, even one as talented as Logic.
2. INJURIES AGAIN. This was going to be the season Iowa had a deep bench, with 14 healthy bodies.
But before the season even started, Iowa lost Jade Rogers and Megan Considine to season-ending injuries.
Junior guard Trisha Nesbitt has battled a foot injury, senior Kalli Hansen a groin injury, freshman Virginia Johnson a concussion and freshman Melissa Dixon a knee injury.
This is in addition to sophomore Theairra Taylor working back from her third ACL surgery.
Iowa has been lucky and all five starters have been relatively healthy, but its depth has taken a hit.
“I think we’ve really missed Melissa,” Bluder said. “In my opinion, she’s that defensive person on the perimeter for us … another 3-point shot opportunity for us.”
3. CAN’T CLOSE. The Hawkeyes haven’t been able to finish on top in tight games.
In six of its 10 losses, Iowa has led at some point in the second half.
Against UNLV, Iowa was up by nine. The Hawkeyes led Nebraska at home by eight, led at Purdue by five and led at Penn State by six.
“They need to start sliding our way,” Bluder said. “We’ve got to start making some of our own breaks.”
4. SHOT OFF. Junior Jaime Printy will finish her Iowa career as one of the greatest scorers in program history.
But even though Printy is leading Iowa with 17.8 points per game this season, she is shooting just 36.3 percent from the floor.
Of the 121 players averaging at least two 3-pointers per game, Printy ranks 114th in percentage (29.4).
Printy shot 34.6 percent from 3-point range as a freshman, and 38.3 percent as a sophomore.
AND STILL, Iowa has eight games left, including today. After No. 13 Purdue today, none of its remaining Big Ten game are against ranked foes.
There is time to get on a run and make the NCAA Tournament for a fifth straight season. Bluder doesn’t think anyone is sleeping on the Hawkeyes, yet.
“I think they look at us and think we’re pretty dangerous,” Bluder said.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball
The Iowa womens’ basketball team has many weakness that are obvious as I have said over and over again:
1. Too reliant on the three point shooting. Live and die by the three point shot. “If you miss, just keep shooting the threes.” This will never allow any team to consistently win and contend for the Big Ten championship and national championship. Kia Stokes saw that and that is why she chose Connecticut. A good team needs an inside game, drive to the basket, draw fouls, etc.
2. Out coached. This is readily apparent against
good/talented teams like Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State. Other coaches make adjustments before and during the game, and Iowa does not adjust to those changes. For example, Ohio State put their
big center (Lavender) on Iowa’s Kachine Alexander last year in the Big Ten tournament and Iowa was not prepared and had no answer for it.
3.Iowa is too much of a finesse team. They need to be more physical on defense, rebounding, etc.
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They seem to have injuries EVERY yr just before the season starts. I really think this is the best we are going to get with this coach.
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