Iowa After 1st Final Four in 30 years

Favored Hawkeyes Take Next Step in Seattle for Sweet 16

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Coach Lisa Bluder’s Iowa basketball team was in serious contention for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

They got a No. 2 seed instead, which brought some mild protest with it. But maybe that was a blessing in disguise. No. 1 seeds Stanford and Indiana got bounced in second-round games over the weekend. It marks the first time since 2009 that a No. 1 seed didn’t reach the Sweet 16. It hasn’t happened to two No. 1 seeds in the same season in 25 years.

The two teams that sandwiched Iowa on the seed line in the Seattle 4 Region, No. 1 Stanford and No. 3 Duke, won’t be around to challenge the Hawkeyes on the road to the Final Four.

Iowa is trying to reach college basketball’s sweet spot for the first time since 1993, when Coach C. Vivian Stringer’s team got there as a No. 2 seed. Carver-Hawkeye Arena hosted the Mideast Regional that year, and Iowa took advantage by beating No. 3 seed Auburn, 63-50, and No. 1 seed Tennessee, 72-56, to punch its ticket to the Final Four in Atlanta.

This year’s team also benefited from winning two games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to start tournament play.

Now it’s on to Seattle for a 6:30 p.m. Friday meeting against No. 6 seed Colorado for a trip to the Elite Eight. The Buffaloes beat Duke on Monday. No. 8 seed Mississippi, the team that knocked off Stanford in the second round Friday, meets No. 5 Louisville in the other Seattle 4 semifinal.

The Hawkeyes have advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time since 2019 and the fourth time under Bluder’s watch. The 2019 team, led by national player of the year Megan Gustafson, reached the Elite Eight.

On paper, Iowa looks like the favorite. But this tournament hasn’t been all that kind to favorites so far. And truth be told, all the upsets are good for the women’s college game. It wasn’t that long ago that picking teams to reach the Final Four wasn’t all that challenging. But players are better, fields are deeper and the sport has improved. March Madness is more than a catchy TV line now when it comes to women’s basketball..

Going by seeds, there were seven first-round upsets and four more in the second round. And some survivors had to battle to the wire to compete.

Iowa was in a dogfight with 10 seed Georgia before winning, 74-66, on Sunday. The Hawkeyes needed every decibel provided by a sellout home crowd to avoid a second-round upset for a second straight year. No. 10 Creighton bounced the second-seeded Hawkeyes a season ago at Carver-Hawkeye, 64-62.

That was one of four second-round upsets in 2022. There were also seven first-round upsets, based on the seeds, matching this year’s total. There were three first-round upsets and four second-round upsets in 2021, including No. 5 Iowa’s victory against No. 4 Kentucky.

The Hawkeye team that got upset by Creighton returned virtually intact for another run this season. Four of Iowa’s six losses have been to ranked teams. Three of those four teams were in the Top 10 when the games were played. The Hawkeyes are 8-3 in NCAA play since 2019.

All-America guard Caitlin Clark has played her way to the front of national player of the year talk in many circles. Imagine a game against reigning national player of the year Aliyah Boston and defending national champion South Carolina in a Final Four semifinal March 31.

But for now, that is only a basketball fan’s dream. As this year’s tournament has shown us, nothing is for certain. An upset is always lurking right around the corner. That upset was nipping at Iowa’s heels on Sunday at the friendliest of places, Carver-Hawkeye Arena. And that feel good home-court advantage is gone now.

The 1992-93 Hawkeyes led the nation in defense. The 2022-23 Hawkeyes lead the nation in offense. Starters Laurie Aaron, Toni Foster, Necole Tunsil, Andrea Harmon and Tia Jackson allowed just seven teams to score at least 60 points against them the entire 1992-93 season.. One of those games was a 73-72 overtime loss to Ohio State in the national semifinals.

This year’s team, led by starters Clark, Monica Czinano, Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall and McKenna Warnock, are averaging 87.4 points a game.

Two different ways to play the game. Two winning formulas. And time will tell if two trips to the Final Four three decades apart will be the ultimate comparison