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IOWA CITY — Unexpectedly having to dance around disaster when the NCAA Tournament lights flip on isn't usually a recipe for rational reactions.
Nuance tends to fade when the season dangerously dangles over the edge, especially when the expectations and seeding are as high as they are for Iowa women's basketball. At the same time, entirely chalking up a dicey performance to the madness of March can gloss over glaring areas of concerns.
Such is reality for the No. 2 seed Hawkeyes after needing a 40-minute survival effort against No. 15 seed FDU in the opening round on March 21. The 58-48 win inside a jam-packed Carver-Hawkeye Arena was an uncomfortable sweat, both literally and figuratively, as on-court temperatures pushed 90 degrees with no air conditioning in the building on an unseasonably hot afternoon in Iowa City.
With less than 48 hours until the Hawkeyes' season goes back on the line in the second round against No. 10 seed Virginia (Monday at 1 p.m. CT, ESPN), where should Iowa's appropriate level of concern lie?
The reality is this youthful core needed to feel this level of March tension up close and personal — and not just a coach or veteran teammate uttering words of wisdom. But a full-on freakout won't be productive either. How Iowa handles that balancing act will heavily influence whether this season continues outside its own arena.
"Having the intensity of this game was really important for us to experience," sixth-year guard Kylie Feuerbach said, "especially for those new bodies."
While it may seem like sifting through the clearance bin to pull Iowa positives out of this one, several important sophomores had never really plunged into this kind of pressure before. Yes, Ava Heiden, Taylor Stremlow and Chit-Chat Wright all entered with NCAA Tournament experience — yet nothing like what was thrown at them on this afternoon.
Stremlow and Heiden played double-digit minutes off the bench in both NCAA Tournament games last season, but that was as a No. 6 seed at Oklahoma with crowds far smaller than this one. As a freshman, Wright started on a No. 9-seed Georgia Tech team that was throttled in a largely empty Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus.
Although these three certainly aren't new to the elevated roles they were in against FDU, nor were they unfamiliar with a raucous Carver-Hawkeye Arena at their backs, this situation clearly took some adjusting.
With freshman contributions lacking, Stremlow (four points, seven assists) had to be on the floor and finished at +17 (Iowa outscored FDU by 17 points when she was on the court). Wright again nearly went the distance, scoring nine points in 39 minutes while finishing at +19. Neither found a 3-point shooting rhythm, as Iowa ended up 1-for-13 from deep with 12 consecutive misses after Wright splashed her first one home during Iowa's riveting start.
Heiden. however, was the clear guiding light. Her 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting, including an impressive 7-for-7 showing at the line, carried the Hawkeyes home when nothing else really stuck. Had it not been for her 15-point fourth quarter, Iowa is probably forced to stomach one of the most stunning upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
"Last year, our experience with March was a little more mainstream," said Heiden, who helped Iowa beat Murray State as a big favorite in her first NCAA Tournament game, then watched as higher-seeded Oklahoma convincingly ended Iowa's season. "This year, it was a tight game tonight. But we've all watched past games here at Iowa, and the coaching staff was talking about their past Elite Eight run (in 2019) with (a close game against) Mercer (in the first round)
"So anything can happen. And it probably will. But as long as we stick to our values and stay together as a team, I think we'll go pretty far."
The Hawkeyes still have every opportunity to do so even after this unimpressive beginning. And as Heiden alluded to, Iowa's 2019 NCAA Tournament run offers an easy example of how a performance like this one can be quickly hurdled.
Coming off a Big Ten Tournament title with national player of the year Megan Gustafson anchoring a highly touted squad, the Hawkeyes nearly faceplanted in a 66-61 first-round scare against No. 15 seed Mercer. That game was even closer than this one, with the Bears actually leading as the clock ticked under five minutes left.
What happened two days later? Iowa throttled No. 7 seed Missouri, then did the same to No. 3 seed North Carolina State in the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual national champion Baylor in the Elite Eight. All expectations were met despite the precarious beginning.
Iowa coach Jan Jensen brought up that Mercer win on Selection Sunday when asked about tense hosting moments over the years, then did so again in her postgame press conference after surviving FDU. Although the current Hawkeyes were fresh teenagers or not even when those events occurred, the parallels are there if Iowa can respond accordingly.
"Once we got that (Mercer) win, it was like 'Ahh' all of a sudden. I hope that's the same thing (with this team)," Jensen said. "But if we're going to sit here and think, 'Oh my gosh. That (FDU game) was terrible. That never happens.' Well, it happened then. And we went to the Elite Eight.
"We can all get critiqued, but we got the win. They've been pretty resilient all year, and I'm going to look at their resiliency."
Should Iowa topple Virginia with far less drama — the Hawkeyes are early 14.5-point favorites — this hosting experience will be just like the previous ones with only a single tension-filled matchup.
Concern about making that reality is fair after sputtering to the finish line against an FDU team Iowa should've dominated. So is optimism that an emphatic rebound is coming. It's on Iowa to pick this season's final Carver-Hawkeye Arena fate.
Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How concerned should Iowa women be after narrow win in NCAA opener?
Continue reading...
Nuance tends to fade when the season dangerously dangles over the edge, especially when the expectations and seeding are as high as they are for Iowa women's basketball. At the same time, entirely chalking up a dicey performance to the madness of March can gloss over glaring areas of concerns.
Such is reality for the No. 2 seed Hawkeyes after needing a 40-minute survival effort against No. 15 seed FDU in the opening round on March 21. The 58-48 win inside a jam-packed Carver-Hawkeye Arena was an uncomfortable sweat, both literally and figuratively, as on-court temperatures pushed 90 degrees with no air conditioning in the building on an unseasonably hot afternoon in Iowa City.
With less than 48 hours until the Hawkeyes' season goes back on the line in the second round against No. 10 seed Virginia (Monday at 1 p.m. CT, ESPN), where should Iowa's appropriate level of concern lie?
The reality is this youthful core needed to feel this level of March tension up close and personal — and not just a coach or veteran teammate uttering words of wisdom. But a full-on freakout won't be productive either. How Iowa handles that balancing act will heavily influence whether this season continues outside its own arena.
"Having the intensity of this game was really important for us to experience," sixth-year guard Kylie Feuerbach said, "especially for those new bodies."
While it may seem like sifting through the clearance bin to pull Iowa positives out of this one, several important sophomores had never really plunged into this kind of pressure before. Yes, Ava Heiden, Taylor Stremlow and Chit-Chat Wright all entered with NCAA Tournament experience — yet nothing like what was thrown at them on this afternoon.
Stremlow and Heiden played double-digit minutes off the bench in both NCAA Tournament games last season, but that was as a No. 6 seed at Oklahoma with crowds far smaller than this one. As a freshman, Wright started on a No. 9-seed Georgia Tech team that was throttled in a largely empty Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus.
Although these three certainly aren't new to the elevated roles they were in against FDU, nor were they unfamiliar with a raucous Carver-Hawkeye Arena at their backs, this situation clearly took some adjusting.
With freshman contributions lacking, Stremlow (four points, seven assists) had to be on the floor and finished at +17 (Iowa outscored FDU by 17 points when she was on the court). Wright again nearly went the distance, scoring nine points in 39 minutes while finishing at +19. Neither found a 3-point shooting rhythm, as Iowa ended up 1-for-13 from deep with 12 consecutive misses after Wright splashed her first one home during Iowa's riveting start.
Heiden. however, was the clear guiding light. Her 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting, including an impressive 7-for-7 showing at the line, carried the Hawkeyes home when nothing else really stuck. Had it not been for her 15-point fourth quarter, Iowa is probably forced to stomach one of the most stunning upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
"Last year, our experience with March was a little more mainstream," said Heiden, who helped Iowa beat Murray State as a big favorite in her first NCAA Tournament game, then watched as higher-seeded Oklahoma convincingly ended Iowa's season. "This year, it was a tight game tonight. But we've all watched past games here at Iowa, and the coaching staff was talking about their past Elite Eight run (in 2019) with (a close game against) Mercer (in the first round)
"So anything can happen. And it probably will. But as long as we stick to our values and stay together as a team, I think we'll go pretty far."
The Hawkeyes still have every opportunity to do so even after this unimpressive beginning. And as Heiden alluded to, Iowa's 2019 NCAA Tournament run offers an easy example of how a performance like this one can be quickly hurdled.
Coming off a Big Ten Tournament title with national player of the year Megan Gustafson anchoring a highly touted squad, the Hawkeyes nearly faceplanted in a 66-61 first-round scare against No. 15 seed Mercer. That game was even closer than this one, with the Bears actually leading as the clock ticked under five minutes left.
What happened two days later? Iowa throttled No. 7 seed Missouri, then did the same to No. 3 seed North Carolina State in the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual national champion Baylor in the Elite Eight. All expectations were met despite the precarious beginning.
Iowa coach Jan Jensen brought up that Mercer win on Selection Sunday when asked about tense hosting moments over the years, then did so again in her postgame press conference after surviving FDU. Although the current Hawkeyes were fresh teenagers or not even when those events occurred, the parallels are there if Iowa can respond accordingly.
"Once we got that (Mercer) win, it was like 'Ahh' all of a sudden. I hope that's the same thing (with this team)," Jensen said. "But if we're going to sit here and think, 'Oh my gosh. That (FDU game) was terrible. That never happens.' Well, it happened then. And we went to the Elite Eight.
"We can all get critiqued, but we got the win. They've been pretty resilient all year, and I'm going to look at their resiliency."
Should Iowa topple Virginia with far less drama — the Hawkeyes are early 14.5-point favorites — this hosting experience will be just like the previous ones with only a single tension-filled matchup.
Concern about making that reality is fair after sputtering to the finish line against an FDU team Iowa should've dominated. So is optimism that an emphatic rebound is coming. It's on Iowa to pick this season's final Carver-Hawkeye Arena fate.
Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How concerned should Iowa women be after narrow win in NCAA opener?
Continue reading...
