The Iowa WBB Rotation Adjustment That Could Define March Madness

While there are certainly a few experienced players on this Iowa Hawkeyes squad, there's nothing quite like going into the NCAA Tournament with a ton of freshman and sophomore impact players.

Sophomore center Ava Heiden is this team's biggest asset. The Hawkeyes leading scorer can seemingly do no wrong and her jump from year one to year two is something this team hasn't seen in quite some time.

Elsewhere, seniors Hannah Stuelke and Kylie Feuerbach will do their thing. Stuelke is a force to be reckoned with while Feuerbach is going to give second year head coach Jan Jensen some of the best defense she's ever seen.

Fellow sophomores Taylor Stremlow and Chit-Chat Wright will be rock-solid in the starting lineup, as they have been for most of the season. Other than that, Iowa will rely on a pair of freshman off the bench who could dictate just how far this team goes.

Freshman Impact Players: Addie Deal and Journey Houston

Iowa G Addie Dea — Iowa guard Addie Deal (7) drives toward the basket against Ohio State guard Ava Watson (5) Jan. 25, 2026 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Deal dropped 20 points on No. 12 Ohio State when Taylor McCabe went down with an injury and that immediately earned her a spot in the starting lineup. Sadly, Iowa was 0-3 in that stretch and has only lost one game since putting Stremlow in her place.

That said, Deal has shown a ton of potential. She dropped 11 points on No. 2 UCLA in the B1G Championship game and was seemingly the only player who could get anything going offensively.

Her counterpart is an Iowa native who has waited her whole life for this moment. Houston averages 5.7 points per game which is slightly up from Deal's 5.3, but she's third on the team with her 5.1 rebound per game average. The 5'11'' guard has started a pair of games this season but is averaging just 15.9 minutes per game.

Keep an Eye on Layla Hays

Iowa C — Iowa center Layla Hays (12) shoots the ball against Minnesota forward Finau Tonga (31) on Feb. 5, 2026, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. | Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The other trio of bench players that receive minutes from time to time are freshman Layla Hays and sophomores Callie Levin and Teagan Mallegni. Hays sits at 10, 2 minutes per game which is nearly more than Levin (5.9) and Mallegni (5.5) combined, but each still has a role on this team.

All three will likely see playing time against Fairleigh Dickinson if Iowa runs away with that one, but later in the tournament they'll be crucial to the team's success if someone gets in foul trouble or an injury occurs. It's not like Hays is going to single-handedly win them the NCAA Tournament, but Iowa is going to need to go more than seven-deep if they want to compete with UConn or UCLA.

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