If a No. 1 seed was meant to be a prize awarded to the most deserving teams, what should the Iowa Hawkeyes make of their assignment in the Albany region along with No. 4 Kansas State, No. 3 LSU and No. 2 UCLA?
“I think coach (Lisa) Bluder deserves this more than anybody. Like, she’s been doing this for a while,” Caitlin Clark said of Iowa being named the No. 1 seed the Albany 2 Regional, the first top seed for the Hawkeyes since 1992. “She’s had some really great teams and, you know, no matter what, you’re just lucky to get in the tournament. And once you’re in, you’re in, and it doesn’t really matter what your seeding is. You can’t be worried too much about what number a team has next to their name.”
Iowa (29-4) played Kansas State twice this season, splitting a pair of seven-point decisions back in November. The Wildcats won the first, 65-58, and the Hawkeyes won the second, 77-70.
“I was a bit surprised by Kansas State, just because I’ve always heard that (the selection committee) doesn’t like you to play against somebody so early that you’ve already played, and we played them twice already this year,” Bluder said of the draw. “But definitely a lot of familiar faces, with Colorado in there and LSU. But I think that’s OK.”
Iowa awaits the result of the First Four and would play at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, hosting the winner of No. 16 Holy Cross and No. 16 UT Martin. A first-round win sets up a possible Clark reunion with her U16 coach, Princeton head coach Carla Berube, and the first of many fights with familiar faces. No. 8 West Virginia and No. 9 Princeton play in the other first-round game Saturday in Iowa City and the winners face off Monday with a regional semifinal in Albany on the line.
The opponent in New York could be Kansas State. But the Wildcats might have to first beat No. 5 seed Colorado, which started this season with an upset of LSU in Las Vegas. Iowa knocked Colorado out of the NCAA Women’s Tournament in the Sweet Sixteen last March, 87-77.
Up first for Colorado is another Iowa program — Missouri Valley Conference champion Drake — which has 23 wins in the past 24 games and is the No. 12 seed in the Albany 2 region. Iowa beat Drake 113-90 on Nov. 19.
While it has been 32 years since Iowa was recognized as a No. 1 seed, it’s been only two years since a revenge game subplot. Creighton beat Iowa in the second round of the 2022 tournament. The Blue Jays are the No. 7 seed in Albany.
In 1992, the Hawkeyes bowed out early with a second-round loss to Southwest Missouri State.
To avoid a letdown, fifth-year senior forward Kate Martin said Iowa knows to take the tournament one game at a time.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy path,” said Martin. “It’s going to make it that much sweeter for us. Just take it one game at a time. We have a really tough side of the bracket.”
If the Hawkeyes can win the first three games and reach the Elite Eight, possible matchups with 27-win UCLA or defending national champion LSU would be a hot ticket in Albany.
“You try, as a coach, when you’ve done it many times, to stay as excited as you were the first time you ever coached in an NCAA game or in a postseason game,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “And you do it for those young ladies because not all of them in that locker room have ever done it before, and so you’re excited for them.”
–Field Level Media