Lisa Bluder Passes On Iowa With NCAA Tournament Pick
The first round of the 2026 Division I women's basketball tournament begins on March 20, and this year's tournament is sure to deliver like it does every year.
Those who have been following women's college basketball are aware that upsets in the NCAA tournament aren't quite as prevalent as in the men's game. Still, several potential Cinderella teams in the group could give some of the top seeds a run for their money.
But the most likely outcome is that the tournament will be decided by the top seeds, particularly the four No. 1 and the four No. 2 seeds. These include UConn, UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, Vanderbilt, LSU, Iowa, and Michigan.
Jan Jensen deserves a ton of credit for getting the Hawkeyes' program to this point, two years after Caitlin Clark left Iowa for the WNBA. Many believed that it would take Iowa years to become national championship contenders after losing her, but the team is already back in contention. Yet, they will likely have to upset Dawn Staley's South Carolina squad to make it to the Final Four.
Former Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder Picks UCLA To Win NCAA Tournament
Jansen wasn't Clark's head coach when she was still playing for the Hawkeyes. That role belonged to Lisa Bluder, whose last season was also Clark's final one at Iowa. Jansen served as Bluder's lead assistant for over 20 years, then took over the team once Bluder retired.
Bluder was the guest on a March 19 episode of the "Welcome to the Party" podcast. When she was asked who she's picking to win the NCAA Tournament, Bluder said, "You know, everybody is saying UConn, and I'm probably going to get all kinds of hate mail. I'm gonna go with UCLA, because I gotta be different. I gotta represent my Big Ten!"
She then added, "It's too easy to say UConn! Too easy!"
Bluder is right that most people are picking Geno Auriemma's undefeated UConn Huskies to win this year's tournament and become back-to-back champions. Yet those who have been following along this season know that UCLA has a good shot at dethroning them.
One might have assumed that Bluder would at least give the Hawkeyes a shout-out and assess their chances, but she deserves credit for keeping it real and not being biased. Then again, it sounds like her Big Ten bias might have played a role in her ultimate choice.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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