Iowa Named to Top Six For 2026 Four-Star Recruit

Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball HC Jan Jensen may have landed her biggest recruit yet in McKenna Woliczko, but her work has just begun. With fellow five-star recruit, Addison Bjorn on the horizon, Iowa knows they can't look past other recruits. Thankfully for the Hawkeyes, they made it to the Top 6 for this key four-star player.

Amari Byles recently kept Iowa in the mix as she took her Top 15 list and narrowed it down to the Top 6. With only a few visits remaining, Byles named Iowa to the list alongside Oregon, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Baylor, and Stanford.

Looking ahead, Byles will make her official visit to Iowa from October 24-26. It's her last scheduled visit of the year as she has three visits ahead of her in October. Her month begins at Nore Dame from October 9-12, from there she'll head to Stanford from the 16-19 before rounding out her visits at Iowa.

Byles, a 6'2'' forward, possesses a skillset similar to Senior forward Hannah Stuelke. While the two aren't totally comparable, that's not bad company for Byles to be in as Stuelke was just named to the preseason All-Big Ten team. With half of Byles' remaining options being Big 10 schools, that's a list she could see her name on one-day in the not-too distant future.

4⭐️ recruit Amari Byles (@AmariByles2026) tells me this morning that she has narrowed down her list of schools from 15 to a Top 6:

🔹Oregon
🔹Notre Dame
🔹Ohio State
🔹Iowa
🔹Baylor
🔹Stanford pic.twitter.com/wC7qBaKLQR
— E J 🏀 (@EJayArrow) October 3, 2025

It's no surprise to see Baylor in the Top 6 as Byles is a Dallas, TX native. Knowing her Texas roots, it's hard for the Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff High School player to rule out such a dominant school, one that is also extremely close to home.

247Sports lists Byles as the No. 3 player in all of Texas. She's No. 23 nationally, the No. 8 power forward. Jensen knows she's entering the 2025-26 season with a very young group as expectations remain high for the Hawkeyes.

Other than Stuelke, only two players are taller than Byles. Iowa was able to recruit a 6'5'' freshman center, Layla Hays out of Alaska. Ava Heiden, a 6'4'' sophomore center is the only other player that can compete with Byles' height. On their official roster, Iowa has two centers, two forwards, and 10 guards.

With just one month remaining before the start of the 2025-26 season, Hawkeyes fans would love to fast-forward to next year when their highest rated recruit since Caitlin Clark will be playing. Regardless, there's plenty of things to be excited about for Iowa in the near future as Jensen looks to build off her successful first season as head coach.

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