BIG Game 2: Gophers Visit Iowa (12-30-23)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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FINDING THE GAPS​

As we prepare for the first Iowa/Minnesota throwdown, let’s check out some of the gaps between the two programs.

1. The Hawkeyes own an eight-game winning streak with the Gopher’s last win coming at the 2018 Big Ten Tournament. In that game, Iowa’s Megan Gustafson’s 48 points and 15 rebounds weren’t enough to down the feisty Gophers who plugged the gaps for victory. Advantage Iowa. But I’m all for reliving the maroon and gold celebration.



2. Hawkeye fans are swarming the arenas. Not only did they sell-out Carver-Hawkeye for the season, but they’ve also hit the road selling out venues such as: Spectrum Center in Charlotte, McCleod Center in Cedar Rapids, Hilton Colosseum in Ames, Kohl Center in Madison, Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines and of course Williams Arena for the February Iowa/Minnesota season ender. Advantage Iowa.

3. Common opponent: Drake. Iowa ran over the Bulldogs 113-90 while the Gophers treated fans to a 94-88 double OT victory. Iowa’s high assists (27) and low turnover (13) offense was on display. Minnesota, with similar goals, finished with 15 assists and 14 turnovers. Advantage Iowa.

4. Lisa Bluder, entering her 24th Big Ten season, has led the Hawkeyes to 17 NCAA appearances, 4 Big Ten Tournament titles and 3 Big Ten regular season titles. Dawn Plitzuweit is in her first Big Ten head coaching season and attempting to lead the Gophers out of the coaching wilderness. Advantage Iowa.

5. Season to season starting lineup changes. Last season’s only contest between Iowa and Minnesota was the Big Ten opener. Iowa won 87-64 with a starting lineup of: Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano, McKenna Warnock, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall facing Minnesota’s starting five of Mara Braun, Amaya Battle, Mallory Heyer, Katie Borowicz and Alanna Micheaux. Each team replaced two members of the starting five for this season. Iowa lost Czinano and Warnock replacing them with a combo of 5th year guard Molly Davis, sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke and junior forward Sharon Goodman. The Gophers lost Borowicz and Micheaux replacing them with freshman guard Grace Grocholski, junior center Sophia Hart and freshman forward Niamya Holloway. Slim advantage Iowa.

6. After years of “The Land of 10,000 Hawkeyes”, Iowa doesn’t have a Minnesotan on the roster. There are four Iowans on this year’s roster with, of course, Caitlin Clark being the most notable. There are eight Minnesotans on the Gopher roster. Advantage Gophers.

7. If it comes to assistants off the bench, we have Rachel Banham and Tania Davis. The advantage goes to:


Now that’s finding a defensive gap.
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I guess I would disagree that Lisa Bluder has a clear advantage over Coach P on the bench. If you look at the career-winning percentage Bluder - (.687) and Coach P. - (.727). It's easy to look at Lisa Bluder's lengthy career and the sheer volume of games, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's a better coach as she's no Pat Summit or Geno Auriemma. Sure in 23 seasons at Iowa she made 17 NCAA appearances, but with all those appearances she made the Sweet 16 twice, the Elite 8 once and the National Championship last year. However, I would argue she was gifted Caitlin Clark as she was the local Des Moines high school prodigy who wanted to make her instate team great and Lisa didn't need to do much recruiting. You take Caitlin off the team and you can likely remove one of Bluder's Sweet 16 appearances and definitely the National Champ game. When you have a once in a program player like Clark you can quickly take a very good coach and turn her into a great coach. We will see next year when Caitlin is likely gone whether Iowa returns to that very good but not great team and I think we're going to find out Coach P will measure up quite nicely when they have comparable talent and experience. It's just right now Caitlin is that X factor and clear difference maker.
 

99Gopher said:
I guess I would disagree that Lisa Bluder has a clear advantage over Coach P on the bench. If you look at the career-winning percentage Bluder - (.687) and Coach P. - (.727). It's easy to look at Lisa Bluder's lengthy career and the sheer volume of games, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's a better coach as she's no Pat Summit or Geno Auriemma. Sure in 23 seasons at Iowa she made 17 NCAA appearances, but with all those appearances she made the Sweet 16 twice, the Elite 8 once and the National Championship last year. However, I would argue she was gifted Caitlin Clark as she was the local Des Moines high school prodigy who wanted to make her instate team great and Lisa didn't need to do much recruiting. You take Caitlin off the team and you can likely remove one of Bluder's Sweet 16 appearances and definitely the National Champ game. When you have a once in a program player like Clark you can quickly take a very good coach and turn her into a great coach. We will see next year when Caitlin is likely gone whether Iowa returns to that very good but not great team and I think we're going to find out Coach P will measure up quite nicely when they have comparable talent and experience. It's just right now Caitlin is that X factor and clear difference maker.
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I agree Coach P is very accomplished and an excellent coach. But, no matter how she did it...Bluder's 17 NCAA appearances in 23 seasons is pretty solid. Not part of the head to head discussion because Coach P is in year 1 at Minnesota but, by contrast how many NCAA appearances do the Gophers have in the last 23 years?

Well, in the last 30 years the Gophers have been to 10 NCAA Tournaments. Pam Borton is responsible for 7 of the 10. With maybe her best team emerging she was fired and Stollings took her players to a one and done appearance. Pam coached 6 of the 10.

So, I agree Coach P is a very solid challenger to Bluder and maybe the better coach. But it's too early to give her the edge.

Coach P needs to add a player to this group better or equal to Braun on the offensive end. Then she'll have the firepower to go with her defense to be in the Top 4 of the conference.

Very possibly, we may have another year of Clark at Iowa.
 

Can we scare Iowa on the scoreboard? I think we can but will we? Kind of a strange game scenario in that both teams will not have had a game for 9 days. That is an eternity in the middle of a basketball season. Impossible to predict how efficient either team will look. But it's at Iowa...individually if either team's precision is subpar....that will be a factor but seems likely Clark's individual performance will still be amazing. She will certainly have the opportunity to be rested and fresh and she is obviously the biggest factor. Only our second road game. So, there's that too? Will the Gophers scare or triumph over Iowa? Or, will we be steamrolled? Coach P does have practice time to implement the scouting report...we could get a major counter point to who is the better coach if we can ambush the Hawkeyes with our strategies.
 


Gophers women's basketball throttles struggling Lindenwood team 100-45​

Mara Braun led the Gophers with 21 points as they tuned up for their Dec. 30 game at Iowa with a blowout victory at Williams Arena.

Czinano is a junior for the Gophers women's basketball team, and she wasn't talking about her first career double-double in Thursday's 100-45 victory over Lindenwood at Williams Arena. She was talking about how her sister Monika was there, watching, while wearing maroon and gold..

n a one-sided win over a team the Gophers were expected to beat easily, Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit was able to give 12 players eight or more minutes of playing time. None of the starters played 18 minutes in a game the Gophers led by 19 after a quarter and by 40 at the half.

Gophers reserves scored 43 points, with Czinano leading the way. But there were others. Backup point guard Janay Sanders had seven points and five assists. Nia Holloway had nine points, five rebounds and a steal in 16-plus minutes.

The Gophers, playing their first game in eight days — they won't play again until they resume Big Ten Conference play at fourth-ranked Iowa Dec. 30 — finished the nonconference portion of their schedule at 11-1 overall (1-0 in conference play) with three victories of 50 or more points, for three of the top five most lopsided victories in program history.

"It was a great way to end our nonconference, a good way to go home for Christmas break," Plitzuweit said. "We had a lot of young ladies who had a chance to compete, to play a lot of minutes for us, to grow and develop. We certainly feel that will pay off in the future."

Mara Braun scored 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting and had five rebounds in 17:23 of playing time. Amaya Battle had nine points and eight assists in 17:23, Grace Grocholski 11 points in 17:16 and Sophie Hart had 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting in 13:45.

All five played a season low in minutes, spending most of the second half and all of the fourth quarter cheering from the bench..

www.startribune.com

Gophers women's basketball throttles struggling Lindenwood team 100-45

Mara Braun led the Gophers with 21 points as they tuned up for their Dec. 30 game at Iowa with a blowout victory at Williams Arena.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
 

99Gopher said:
However, I would argue she was gifted Caitlin Clark as she was the local Des Moines high school prodigy who wanted to make her instate team great and Lisa didn't need to do much recruiting.
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Agree with your judgment that Lisa Bluder is no Geno or Pat Summit, and I'm also very optimistic about Coach P. But the sentence above screams a lack of knowledge of the story of Clark's recruitment to Iowa. Iowa spent more money and time recruiting Caitlin Clark than any other player Iowa WBB has ever recruited. It was a several year effort that included following her to Thailand as she played for USA basketball, and Iowa assistant Jan Jensen repeatedly drove 2 hours early in the morning to attend Clark's before school open gyms. The sell was that Iowa had improved enough to be a program that Clark could take to the Final Four. (This is a tough sell for a school in a conference with 0 final fours since 2005, except ACC transplant Maryland in its first BIG season).

As Clark's recruiting closed in the fall of 2019, Iowa was selling Gustafson's development as national player of the year, and 2019 trip to the Elite Eight. Clark could help them take the next step. But Clark was skeptical, and then Clark committed to Notre Dame, but she didn't announce it publicly. Monika Czinano has described how the worst practice in her five years at Iowa was the day Clark committed to Notre Dame. Bluder was crushed, and mad, but something lingered from Clark's not-quite-perfect official visit to Notre Dame.

As a local option Iowa also had to out compete Iowa State, where Clark's brother was then a student. And there were still many national options, though Clark had publicly narrowed her list to Notre Dame, Iowa and Iowa State. Even before her commitment to Notre Dame, some thought that the local schools were a courtesy, and she was Notre Dame bound. But Iowa kept after it, and ultimately prevailed. Sure, Clark would have never gone to Iowa if she was not from Iowa, just as Braun would have never turned down schools like Maryland and gone to Minnesota if she was not from here. But Iowa "didn't need to do much recruiting" of Caitlin Clark couldn't be more wrong.
 
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Lisa Bluder has 850 wins as a college coach and has an incredible coaching staff. They have solid post players and CC. We should be happy McKenna Warnock decided not to return for another season. Warnock would have made the Hawkeyes even better. Good news is that Dawn Plitzuweit is a very good coach and she will get the best out of this team. The issue may be lack of depth on the bench. We are a solid 5 and that is it.
 

www.espn.com

Iowa's Clark records rare 35-17-10 triple-double

Caitlin Clark recorded just the second triple-double in D-1 women's history with at least 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

The team she faced was so-so.

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"35 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. It is her third triple-double with at least 35 points; there are only four other such games in Division I women's basketball history.

It was the second triple-double in Division I women's history with at least 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists. The other was by LSU's Cornelia Gayden in 1995. The all-time Division I leader in triple-doubles is Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu, who had 26 from 2016-2020.

Clark also moved into seventh place on the NCAA all-time scoring list as she now has 3,114 points. With her performance Thursday, she passed Minnesota's Rachel Banham (3,093 points from 2011-2016) and Florida International's Jerica Coley (3,107 from 2010-2014)."
 
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"The Indiana Fever's quest for Caitlin Clark started today.

According to Kyle Huesmann of Hawkeye Report, one of On3's affiliate sites, members of the Indiana Fever coaching staff are in attendance for the Iowa women's basketball game against Loyola-Chicago at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

Clark is the presumed No. 1 overall pick if she decides to declare for the 2024 WNBA Draft — she has one more year collegiate of eligibility because of the COVID-19 waiver.

On Dec. 10, Indiana won the top pick in the 2024 draft for the second straight season."

www.indystar.com

Indiana Fever coaches in attendance to watch Caitlin Clark, Iowa women's basketball

Caitlin Clark is the presumed No. 1 overall pick if she decided to declare for the 2024 WNBA Draft.
www.indystar.com


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ftw.usatoday.com

Way-too-early 2024 WNBA Draft big board, from Cameron Brink to Angel Reese

If Caitlin Clark declares, she’s probably a slam-dunk lock to go first overall.
ftw.usatoday.com ftw.usatoday.com


My view: She should go back to Iowa for a season. College ball is the best. I'm sure NIL is good enough.
 

As mentioned here the first game post-holiday is a bit of a wildcard after a long break between games. It's going to be a heck of a matchup though, #1 Big Ten defense versus #2 offense in a sold out arena on the Big Ten main channel. Not a big change in offense style for Iowa, they are less Czinano but still want to score 90 a game. The BIG change is Gophers are now #1 defense and not the team ranked #13 in defense like last year. Even with stats skewed by everyone's soft non-conference schedules that is a HUGE and dramatic difference.

Really like this matchup for the Gophers. Even though the stats are NC the Gophers are allowing 35 points less than Iowa is scoring. Would seem a half court game in the 60's is where the Gophers want to be from my casual fan perspective. Kansas State won in IC 65-58, helped that Iowa was 2-21 from three in that game. Iowa State had the lead in Ames at 4:30 in the 4th before Iowa went on a 13-3 run to win 67-58 in that half court style battle.

Hawks don't appear to have gelled 100% yet trying to work in different posts but a few players like Sydney Affolter are emerging as big contributors and Molly Davis and Kate Martin are playing well. Gabby Marshall is in a shooting slump funk again but assume she may be the gal assigned to Braun. The Iowa posts can all run and are better in the fast paced full-court game, not so much in the half-court sets in my opinion.
 
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Gophers are a bit unknown. Can't use any Gophers stats or rankings at this point to figure it out. The wins against Drake and Purdue were close to ties. They played well, winning comfortably, against respectable but soft teams.

I would guess the line would be Iowa by 12.

So many variables are unpredictable.
 

Anybody have extra tickets for this game? I really want to drive down for it, but don’t want to pay $133 for a ticket on SeatGeek.
 



blkroll said:
Anybody have extra tickets for this game? I really want to drive down for it, but don’t want to pay $133 for a ticket on SeatGeek.
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What you are actually saying is you did intentionally mis-spell bankroll... :)
 


Caitlin Clark making news again with her visit to the KC Chiefs game, the team she follows.



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www.dailymail.co.uk

Chiefs' Rashee Rice swaps jerseys with Iowa basketball's Caitlin Clark

Prior to a consequential AFC West showdown, an up-and-coming star in the NFL met one of women's basketball's most promising young players.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk



hawkeyeswire.usatoday.com

ESPN ranks Caitlin Clark as No. 1 women's college basketball player ... again

I mean, who else could it be? Caitlin Clark is still No. 1 in ESPN’s updated ranking of the top 25 women’s college basketball players.
hawkeyeswire.usatoday.com hawkeyeswire.usatoday.com


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She's also the most "peacock" player I can remember off the top of my head.
 





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Not a good start. The matador D will result in a blow out. Hope Coach P has a some adjustments…
 

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