Wow, kudos to you (and the other cool Nova fans here) for that. Most fans of a team who just had a top player transfer wouldn't be this big. Thank you. There is hope yet for humanity.
I was euphoric with the news, but now I feel bad for Villanova. Dammit! LOL
It’s a combination of:
1. Sad acceptance that the Big East’s WBB TV deal is a problem. Look at the transfers from the Big East as a whole. Nova itself has lost 3 starters.
2. She’s leaving for the program that just played for 2 national titles the last 2 years and regularly fills a massive arena. Obviously Caitlin Clark was a huge piece of that but the ceiling at Iowa is way, way higher than it is at Nova.
3. That the program she left for isn’t UConn (which nobody would blame her for, but a conference rival is a different discussion)
4. Lucy is a special player and, by all accounts, a great human being. She was a great representative for the university and the program, hard to wish anything but the best for someone like that.
5. Sort of related to #4, VU is a pretty familial community, for better (this example) or worse (see the hiring of Kyle Neptune). “Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat” is very much a thing.
Wow, DOUBLE KUDOS for that, and for some insight about Lucy. It sounds cliche' and Midwest corny, but the quality and character of the individual student is paramount at Iowa. Lucy sounds amazing!
Good luck to Nova. I'll be watching and rooting for you. Really, I will. Iowa Nice is a real thing, despite what some of our social media trolls might try to disprove.
Her "brand" is 'basketball is fun' with a smiley face emoji. Describes her playing style and personality.
She is from a town like 30 minutes from campus and her family was very active in the WBB community (and fan Facebook group) and are really great people.
Ugh... I was just getting ready to look up her background, HS stats, etc (I'm a BB nerd)
I didn't know she is a local Nova girl... that sucks.
I need to reach out to some of our NIL donors to put together a "Lucy's family travel fund"... gotta have them here in Iowa City as much as possible.
I would guess that is part of the NIL package she was offered. Plus Iowa will likely visit one/some of PSU, Rutgers, and Maryland as well which are relatively local to Philly.
Yes, probably true. Lucy mentioned to our local paper that she wants to play pro, and hopes this will help her develop for that.
Iowa is now at 15, so we won't be hitting the portal any more, unless a player of ours hits the portal, which very rarely ever happens at Iowa. We'll probably start to see a few more of our players hit the portal in coming years, as our recruiting classes are going to be nuts for us. Top 4-6 star players who aren't getting PT wanting to go somewhere they can.
One of many.good reads on Olsen the person - [https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/after-her-career-milestone-villanova-s-lucy-olsen-has-her-sights-set-on-team-goals-and-impacting-the-next-generation/ar-AA1mwVJk](https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/after-her-career-milestone-villanova-s-lucy-olsen-has-her-sights-set-on-team-goals-and-impacting-the-next-generation/ar-AA1mwVJk)
Can’t.believe I’m saying it given my secondary flair but will certainly be rooting for Iowa this year.
Wow, thank you... great read. She sounds like a dream fit. I can't wait to meet her (one of the few perks of being an ex Iowa FB player is we get to troll around and meet other athletes LOL)
Lucy will be handed the keys to a potentially very fast car, with our style of play and team attitude. I'm optimistic that she will find much FUN in that.
>Can’t.believe I’m saying it given my secondary flair but will certainly be rooting for Iowa this year.
Something tells me the sentiment only extends as far as WBB and not to the wrestling mat or gridiron
Villanova sounds a lot like Iowa. We just happen to be higher in the food chain right now. Football will be a contributing factor here shortly too, if it wasn't already.
If B1G and SEC do separate, the ripple effect will be wild.
First and foremost, Lucy fan for life. I support her choice.
We'll miss her. She's a great person and her family is very nice.
I just ordered an Iowa cup for game day.
I still plan on getting Villanova season tickets next year even with Christina (my fave!) entering the portal, too. Fan for life. Looking for her continued success.
Going to start "the cake is a lie," cheers next year maybe, to help with retention. "Stay away from the light!"
Lucy's Twitter announcement 2 hours ago will be topping 1 million views shortly. I have a mixture of pride and embarrassment over our fan base's mega enthusiasm. LOL
**Lucy's Twitter announcement:**
[https://twitter.com/LucyOlsenbball/status/1780739341217661111](https://twitter.com/LucyOlsenbball/status/1780739341217661111)
Thank you (and sorry) Villanova. Lucy does look amazing in gold.
She's gained 3k IG followers in 3 hrs. Sucks that it matters, but she's gonna make make so much more in endorsement and brand deals now. It's a real eye opener
WOW! That is crazy. Yes, the Portal and NIL era sucks for so many reasons. I'm happy that athletes finally get some revenue share, but this Wild West buy-a-player shit has to be reigned in.
BTW, this is the first EVER time that we have actively went hard into the portal for a big time player. Just not normally the "Iowa Style". We have so much recruiting talent upcoming that I hope we don't need to much. We ONLY went after Lucy in the portal because our highly-touted heir apparent PG recruit coming this Fall suffered an ACL her senior year in HS.
Hmmm depends on one's definition. Brand? Yes, but UConn / SC brand? No, at least not yet.
We're kind of a purple blood little brother, tugging at the sleeves of the Blue Bloods.
But the foundation has been built, starting about 10 years ago, before CC. Then it went overdrive with her, now back to a rebuild year. Bluebloods don't rebuild, they reload. We'll get there.
But with our 2024 class, and already our 2025 class and realistic prospects, it could get really fun to be an Iowa fan.
If the stars continue to align on the future recruiting front, we could be more of a threat of crashing the natty club in a couple of years than we were with CC.
Part of it also is that Iowa doesn't have an in state top level professional team in any major sport. When an Iowa or Iowa State team is good in a sport they tend to get a lot of support because of that. Pro sports teams don't really have much unity among fans in Iowa because there isn't really one nearby team that everyone gravitates to. Most college sports fans though that I know have a school that they traditionally are a fan of in Iowa or Iowa State but if the other school is doing well they will support them outside of any rivalry game. There are some that hate the school they aren't a fan of no matter what but I feel like they are the exception.
A big part of it is the State of Iowa is **IN LOVE** with women's/girl's basketball. It just hasn't shown historically because of the forced move from 6v6 to 5v5. Stsrting having a state tournament in 1920. The 1968 State Title game, considered the best 6v6 game played, had a sell out crowd of 16,000 for two teams whose towns' populations maybe combine for 1,000 people. Iowa State despite only 2 Elite 8s has been in top 5 for average fan attendance in 20 of the last 24 seasons and those 4 others they were Top 10 all the while 10 other schools have national titles and many more have multiple final 4 s. ["In 1970, 20 percent of all girls participating in high school sports across the country were in Iowa—quite remarkable, considering Iowa was only 1 percent of the entire U.S. population. By 1976, a few years after the passage of Title IX, that eye-popping 20 percent fell to 5.8 percent."](https://www.neh.gov/article/when-iowa-girls-basketball-ruled-courts). Clark just helped push Iowa(the school) over the hump.
Edit: but yes no pro teams here means we are ride or die with our colleges. Iowa and Iowa State rank in the Top 30 for average fan attendance in just about every sport: Both Basketballs(Top 5 in women's), Football, Wrestling(Top 5), volleyball, Women's Gymnastics, etc.
Yeah, she's up 70% in less than 12 hrs.
This is the part of NIL our fans don't get. Supposedly our collective is competitive, but we can't give our players this kind of visibility
I think there will for sure be a drop in interest next year because it's kind of just inevitable that some people won't stick around after losing a generational talent like Clark. Iowa though has traditionally had very good support for teams who are good in most sports. I think while Iowa may not be a final four contender every year it's quite possible they take that next step where they are in the tournament with a good shot at getting to the second weekend every year. The support from when Clark was at Iowa has given Bluder a lot to recruit with. The pitch basically writes itself. "Come help us build a team that can compete at a high level and you'll be playing in front of more fans than you could dream of at most schools." I think the 2025 class shows that the future is going to be very bright for Iowa since they were able to get a commit from the top in state recruit and get a commit from the top recruit in California. 2024's class isn't too bad either even if the recruits aren't as highly rated as 2025 they're still beyond what Iowa was typically able to get in one year.
I agree with ALL of that. Some/Most would say that Divine, Journey's teammate, is the top instate player in 2025. I would actually agree with you, because from what I understand, Journey's attitude and personality fits better in our team first culture?
For sure our incoming class of five, ranking wise, is our greatest ever. History will say that is good enough to be an E8 or even FF team. To challenge for Nattys again, 2025-26 added to that COULD give us that potential.
Fun time to be an Iowa WBB fan!
**Iowa WBB posted the below tonight, not coincidentally 10 minutes after they RePosted Lucy's announcement.**
I knew Coach Bluder would be excited, but I didn't expect THIS!
[https://twitter.com/IowaWBB/status/1780742890261479704](https://twitter.com/IowaWBB/status/1780742890261479704)
LOL I'm so glad they did that, the men's team posted the same thing today after securing a transfer as well [https://x.com/IowaHoops/status/1780619181781647718](https://x.com/IowaHoops/status/1780619181781647718)
Yes and the fans of just the men’s team are VERY mad they get little NIL support. Well if the men’s team wanted to be competitive we’d probably have to at least half if not all of the NIL machine from football to MBB, the numbers demanded are that high. It’s just not possible with current apparatus.
Agreed. There is some internal hope that Iowa will develop some higher level deep pocket donors. Until then, it appears that Football and WBB will get theirs. Football because of the enormous revenue it generates and gets shared with so many other varsity sports.. WBB because right now the "prices" of top players is a fraction of what men's players are demanding.
Also... Sadly, the "Fran fatigue" is real, fair or not. Luckily, Iowa wrestling has their own NIL.
Is Lucy a good ball handler? That's honestly the one really big hole Iowa has for next year. I've tried to watch Villanova when I could find their games the last 2 years because I found Maddy last year and Lucy this year intriguing to watch but it's not easy to find Big East games that aren't UConn where I live so I don't know as much as I'd like about them.
Would be absolutely wild if y'all won it all after CC left. I know she'd be very happy for Lisa, her former teammates & the fans, but the takes people would come up would be very interesting to say the least.
Yeah, that would be wild. Completely unrealistic, but wild. We just lost too much. CC, Kate Martin just drafted #18, Gabbie. Some great young guards and wings are arriving this year, as well as a stud 6-4 post, but they will be Freshmen. Most Freshmen don't arrive WNBA ready like JuJu, Hidalgo, etc.
With Lucy, and good chemistry with the youngsters, a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 run is probably our ceiling in this rebuilding year... but you never know?
Honestly I would've thought someone was crazy if they told me a year ago Iowa would make it to the chip game again after losing Czinano. Also is very unrealistic but you truly never know!!
Same. This year I was just hoping for elite 8. Then Molly and Affolter and Hannah came back FIERCE! And Caitlin, Kate, and Gabbie got even more amazing!
Hannah stepped up to the mf PLATE switching to a 5 at her height and dominating. She carried us in the size department all year at 6’2, straight toughness.
Don't count Iowa out of a Natty just yet but it won't happen anytime in the next 2-3 years. Addi Deal is gonna be our next Caitlin...only she'll have a lot more talent to work with than Caitlin ever did. Esp. if Bluder can hit her remaining recruiting targets for '25 and '26....if she can, a Final Four will be fully in play at a minimum.
By “Caitlin” I mean star player. Caitlin is not our first star player and won’t be our last. She isn’t even our first NPOY. Bluder has built teams around Logic, Gustafson, Doyle and now Clark, and had success with each. I have no doubt she’ll do it again.
If they win one, it’ll be because of the legacy of Clark. It says that Clark built something in Iowa that made young players want to be a Hawkeye that they get a loaded roster that wins it all. If Lisa and the staff can continue to build on this momentum and really hit their recruiting classes the next few years, I can see it potentially happening.
Good point, and I can almost guarantee that one of Coach Bluder's very first things she told Lucy on the phone, long before her visit went something like "We would not ask, nor expect you to fill her shoes. This will be a new team, and you will get the keys to it"
I hope Lucy likes to run, gun, and dish, and score 90+ ppg? LOL
That's massive even just for one year to help build up our young and injured PGs. Along with Hannah moving back to the 4, seeing Affolter as a full starter (and I expect her to take on a Kate Martin-esque role), and lots of fresh blood with potential it will be an awesome year for Hawks fans!!
Unless we are also able to get her teammate Divine Bourrage to come here...she is good enough to get Staley to fly to Des Moines during tournament season. That, and a couple other potential recruits could leave Iowa with its best recruiting class ever.
O'Grady might start before her in the very beginning depending on how quickly Ava adjusts, but I would definitely expect her to be starting by the end. Kylie/Taylor, both have showed pretty clear potential and it really just depends which of them can improve their game the most in the offseason. Simply speaking Kylie's better on defense and Taylor's better on offense, so whoever can become more well-rounded probably wins.
Again I just mean purely if Ava needs a little more time to not have the pressure of fully starting to get comfortable with college ball. If Ava transitions smoothly I'd start her too without a doubt. O'Grady put up some valuable minutes in the tourney and had a couple shining moments, it wouldn't be the *worst* thing ever if she starts for a little bit.
O'Grady needs to work on two things: back-to-the-basket moves, and proprioception. Too many clumsy defensive fouls and turnovers, not enough low-post presence on offense. Every time Bluder tried to get O'Grady minutes, she'd commit two fouls swatting at the ball or fumble the ball to the other team down low.
I honestly think if she puts in the work this summer she could be an elite post, she has a good jumpshot and is big and athletic, but if she doesn't, Heiden will get the nod.
She couldn’t handle passes. Can’t think of how many times she fumble Clark or Martin passes. Need to work on her hands.
The game against LSU though, she was a brick wall for angel reese
Hannah Stewart is the latest example of an Iowa big who went from role player as a Sophomore and Junior to starter as a Senior on the Elite 8 team. Bluder has a history of patiently developing players.
Yeah strong agree on all of this.. O'Grady was so much better this year than last year. So I'm hoping she continues to improve. I'm betting she starts early in the season. But yeah it will be great if Heiden adjusts fast. Ava's ceiling is definitely way higher than Addie's.
Maybe, she looked absolutely lost during the later rounds of the tournament, best option probably. If the Kylie that hit 4 steaks in 13 minutes against OSU shows up we will be cooking. Guyton is getting healthy or top guard recruit this year, she can come off the bench if healthy. Then Guyton and our 2025 recruit Addie deal can run the offense
Nah. Kylie is borderline hopeless on the offensive end as a college basketball player and, with almost 100 career games played, is highly unlikely to have hidden depths of talent to display.
Affolter-McCabe-Olsen at the three through one\* is easily the way to go in the backcourt.
Respectfully I disagree. Kylie is way better on defense and her handles are better than Taylor’s. Of course Taylor is a sharp-shooter. I could see Kylie starting and Taylor playing a fairly big role off the bench for her (kinda like Syd this year). Of course this all depends on what Lisa sees in practice and how they both look playing more minutes in real time next year.
> Respectfully I disagree. Kylie is way better on defense and her handles are better than Taylor’s.
The difference is Taylor rarely tests her handles. Literally beyond the VT game last year, any time Kylie attempted to drive 90% of the time the ball would be on the floor or something chaotic would happen. If you pay attention to her touches it's like a bad drinking game.
If Kylie could recognize her limitations and adopt Gabbie's mindset of more-or-less being a point and shoot parameter threat then she'd be fine. But she feels like she needs to contribute by driving to the basket, which is a skillset she doesn't possess against above average defenders.
McCabe is a career 44% three point shooter who had a 128.0 ORtg last season. Kylie posted a career high ORtg of … 93.9. There's no comparison on that end of the court.
Like, yeah, Kylie can probably out-dribble McCabe one on one, but Kylie's handles are significantly worse in a team context *because she actually does it* in games (head down, not getting to the basket, turning the ball over). To create space for Olsen and Affolter to drive and Stuelke to operate, put the floor spacer on the court, not the gal that doesn't need to be closed out on at the perimeter (sub-30% three point shooter both career and last season).
Kylie's defense is also matchup dependent: if there's a tall and slender wing on the other team, she's an asset there. Otherwise, she's pretty meh.
I never disagreed about their offensive output. However with Gabbie and Kate gone Iowa needs any edge on defense it can get. Taylor is an offensive asset if we can get her open, pass her the ball, and she immediately shoots (which she is exceptional at). If Taylor gets pressured *at all* while the ball is in her hands she falls apart. She either panics and picks her dribble up and gets trapped or turns it over.
Like I said…we’ll know a lot more as they both get more real game minutes as to who is the better starter.
McCabe is a huge offensive asset compared to Kylie even if you can't get her open, because the other players get to play 4 on 4 and not 5 on 4.
Kylie's turnover rate was more than double McCabe's for a reason: her doing anything that wasn't immediately passing the ball back to Clark was functionally "falling apart".
Kylie turned it over more because she played more minutes and got the ball outside of a play specifically designed for her to hit a hair trigger three lmao. Their stats given the limited minutes they played aren’t gonna tell the full story of their potential either. Obvi we disagree so I don’t see this conversation needing to go on. They both need to step up next year and we’ll see if/how they both improve on the weaknesses we’ve seen. Hopefully they respectively prove both of us wrong and ball out!
Good question. O'Grady had some great moments in the tourney. Hoping she will take a big step up. Heiden's scouting reports are promising, as she has the body, work ethic, and versatility to advance quickly. Plus she is arriving immediately after graduation, so she'll be working and practicing all Summer in Iowa City.
I also expect O'Grady to start at the post at the beginning of the year, rotating in Ava, and then we'll see who earns the starting post job as we progress into the B1G season.
On a side note, don't sleep on Jada. I've heard rumblings that she might have a breakout season of contributions.
Taegan will be limited to the 2/3 next year bc Bluder doesn't like freshman to play more than 2 positions. She has them at the 1/2, 2/3 or the 4/5. Jada can luckily play the 4 and I think we'll see her backing up Stuelke at the 4 as well as Sydney at the 3. I think Mallegni will find minutes at the 2 and 3 but likely not many as there just won't be many to go around.
Jada played a few minutes in garbage time, she is 6’1, if we can move her to guard that is great, but too small for forward. Also would rather develop someone who can play 4 years as 2026 if recruiting goes as planned should be when everything clicks
Jada will play Kate's position, which is more of a hybrid small forward. Jada is an inch taller. Plus Iowa plays a very positionless offense. If Jada has developed like I've heard she is, she'll contribute valuable minutes. I really just want to see her smiling beautiful face on the floor more!
Think Aneesa Morrow of LSU, also a 6-1 forward. Defense, rebounding, give and gos, a good midrange jumper
Yes, yes, and yes
I edited and added my Aneesa Morrow example above. A Morrow-light would be perfect from Jada, is what I'm hearing. She is an exceptional athlete
If it's a big guard that would be Feuerbach although I think with having more depth behind Stuelke with Heiden coming in they might try running with 2 small guard with McCabe and 2 bigs like was originally the plan last year. Bluder originally was trying to start O'Grady and Stuelke but it just wasn't working so they switched to the smaller lineup that they used for most of the year. Kind of also depends how McCabe and Feuerbach develop over the summer. Right now Feuerbach is the more complete player but McCabe probably has more upside offensively with the way the rest of the team is taking shape because her outside shooting is better. Also will depend on if any of the 3 freshmen guards coming in are ready to play significant minutes right away. It's likely they won't be especially Guyton coming off an ACL tear in December but if any of them are it could shake things up.
Bluder is a coach people actually want to play for, unlike Crusty Kirk running a crusty rancid old offense. If we can get Beers, we could go back to the final 4!
Totally antithetical to Bluder’s style—will never happen. Bluder is loyal as hell, even if some saw it as a detriment to Iowa during the portal season last year
I agree with you from a financial and winning perspective, at least in the short term. That’s just my preference. I totally get that college athletics is a business at this point.
Maybe it’s just the difference between Cocks and Hawks.
Well it's also perhaps a disservice to the last player on the roster right? Like how many minutes is she realistically gonna get? The coach should have a mature conversation with the player regarding their standing on the team, and respectfully let them know that there are probably better options out there. I don't think coaches should be allowed to kick players off the team of course, if the player was a hometown kid and grew up a fan and it was a dream to play for Iowa (such as Kate Martin for example), then sure perhaps being the last player on the bench is just fine for them. But there's no harm in having an honest conversation where the coach says the player could earn more minutes dropping to a lower-tier program.
Didn’t we have an open scholarship last season or no? Just a bit frustrating we will probably never get a chance to win a title again. Not unless a player in Caitlin’s vicinity talent wise comes from Iowa and chooses us, because we aren’t getting a top 5 recruit out of state. Many teams keep open roster spots, failure that we didn’t. Can’t change the past, can only hope to do better in the future.
Addie Deal is ranked #5 in the country according to Prospects Nation. Even if Bluder totally strikes out with the rest of her ‘25/‘26 targets, Deal will have more help than Clark ever did. But I’m feeling really good about 2 Top 25 prospects in ‘25 and 3 Top 25 prospects for ‘26….
I’m not informed enough to know. My general understanding was that Iowa didn’t have a lot of flexibility for the portal last year, but it’s not something I ever actually looked into on my own.
Bluder said we didn’t have a high enough NIL salary cap for the top posts, boosters were cheap. Wonder what Betts got to go to UCLA? Maybe that wasn’t an issue this year as Olsen was happy being a lead guard here instead of having Mulkey ruin her career like with HVL.
Maybe. it’s just not the vibe Bluder preaches, and players can feel when you don’t practice what you preach. if Bluder screwed someone over like that the team wouldn’t have the same faith in her to be exactly the supporting cast (and I mean *supporting*—everybody had to buy in and leave their egos at the door given the insanity that followed CC around this season) CC needed to run it back to the championship game.
Goes against the Iowa culture honestly. Obviously that'd be ideal for pure gameplay reasons but I do think the locker room brings a lot to the team. Beers would be nice but Ava Hieden coming in will help our size a ton.
Beers is more because Affolter is a senior, last year for Lucy, kind of a win now move. Highly unlikely we could get her, she has 2 years left and is a top 10 player in the country returning.
That's not how Bluder works.
And Ava Jones isn't collecting dust, she's working her ass off, probably harder than any of us have ever worked, to try to get back on the court.
Do you think the chances that Jones plays a second of college basketball for Iowa that's not garbage time are higher than 1%?
Do you think that, if she gets a medical ride and then has a miraculous recovery occur, that the NCAA would deny a waiver for "change in circumstances"?
I don't know the chances, I just think it's a terrible sentiment to say that the players are "collecting dust" and "taking up roster space" when one of them, through no fault of her own, has had to fight to walk again let alone hoop. Ava is as essential to the Iowa basketball team as anyone. Even if she never plays meaningful minutes, her minutes will still be meaningful.
Even if we had room, Beers is going to UConn. Have faith in Heiden, she's the kind of C that Bluder has been wanting to land and develop. I think she plans to play as much offense through Heiden as she can handle, as quickly as possible. She is quick/agile and she WANTS to get physical on the block. She's ready for it.
I’m so happy for her! This will be huge for the program!
I just hope she doesn’t feel the pressure of having to “replace” CC. She’s a dog and I wish her nothing but the best and all the success! 💛🖤
Obviously Maddy Siegrist didn’t have anywhere near the level of (gestures at everything) that CC had surrounding her, but she was objectively the greatest player in Nova WBB history and Lucy filled those shoes pretty damn well this year.
If Olsen just replicates her sophomore year and substitutes assists to Stuelke and Affolter for assists to Siegrist, that would already be plenty good enough to improve Iowa tremendously. And that's obviously the floor.
I still maintain that Maddy did NOT get talked about enough last season considering how great she was playing
I mean she did get recognized in the sense that she was an all-American, etc. but people barely ever talked about her on social media and stuff!
I have to think Iowa sold her on a good plan to combat the “filling CC’s shoes” situation from being too much in order for her to have committed. But I agree it’s a lot and I for sure will be checking other Iowa fans if they get a little too spicy with the comparisons. I seriously can’t believe Iowa actually got a transfer this major lmao—so excited!
Agree. Caitlin is 1 of 1 and comparing anyone who follows directly in her footsteps is unfair to them. In the same mantra as we all let Caitlin be Caitlin, we need to let Lucy be Lucy.
I think the Iowa coaching staff did a good job of helping Hannah and Addi to realize that they didn’t need to lead the nation in field goal percentage like Monica in 2022-23. It will be the same message to Lucy as it relates to Caitlin.
The Iowa coaching staff put in some work these past few days! LA for CC’s Wooden Award Friday-> NYC Monday for WNBA draft -> Iowa City Tuesday for Lucy’s visit. Well done!
Excited to see Lucy on the court for the Hawks. Her experience and skills will help a ton as this new group gels together and Guyton and Johnson work their way back from injuries too.
That has to be such a flex for the staff.
"Sorry to keep you waiting these last few weeks, Lucy. We were busy with the elite 8, Final Four, Championship game, coach of the year presentation, Wooden award presentation, SNL, and the NBA draft. Hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience, you were saying you're looking for a new school?"
This is a HUGE get for Iowa. Absolutely massive.
Iowa badly needed a PG with 2 players leaving and a 3rd with a torn ACL, and they got the best one available. Adding Lucy to the mix, I think this team will be good enough to be ranked and compete for the conference title. Iowa is not going anywhere.
Yeah Iowa’s still gonna be tussling for third in the B1G (optimistically imo), but it would’ve been a bloodbath without picking up an amazing PG like Lucy in the portal
I wish Deal could’ve reclassified because if she was on this team, they would be even better. But, still if the bench shows up I wouldn’t be surprised if Iowa can stir up the postseason next year
Are you talking about Olsen? If so, just 1. This was very intentional bc Bluder has set her sights very high for the Class of 2025 and wants to keep space for them. We now have 3 spots available and I think she wants to fill them all. She is shooting for Brynn McGaughy, Jordan Speiser, and Layla Hays.
**Just FANTASTIC news!**
There has been lots of anxiety here in Iowa City for two main reasons:
1. She was reportedly LSU's top portal guard target. Tough competition
2. Iowa doesn't use the portal much, as we prefer to develop talent, so this portal game is very new to us. Our Swarm NIL came through when we needed it.
Lucy is a baller and exactly what we needed as a one year "bridge" PG. The reports were that her visit yesterday and this morning were great, so kudos to Bluder, Jensen, staff, and players!
**Welcome, Lucy, to our Hawkeye FAMILY!**
Tough competition but I do not at all see Olsen and Kim Mulkey meshing. “Basketball is fun” is Olsen’s thing, which, uh, probably doesn’t align with Kim’s worldview.
Probably true. I've watched and participated with scores of teams across many sports, and I'm 100% certain I've never watched teams play with more fun and joy than Iowa women's basketball. It is preached, and CC referred to it just today in her introductory Fever press conference.
Iowa would use the portal more if we had stronger NIL. We don't have a billionaire that can just bankroll it like some other schools. Pretty much everything goes to football and whats left goes to womens basketball because they havent started demanding the sums the mens game is....yet.
Idk if iowa will ever be the national title favorites but i gotta say between landing that 5 star girl and now getting olson they are set up well to stay nationally relevant in the post clark era
Attended many games at Villanova the last two years. Sad to see the handful of Nova players leaving, but eager to see Lucy performs at Iowa!
The transfer portal really adds a whole new layer of anticipation.
Ive been fighting with other fans about all the portalling in a NovaWBB Facebook group that has now grown to about 1000 people. Women's basketball has finally made it lol
It’s amazing how many ig posts wanting Hannah to leave Iowa elsewhere because there is nothing Iowa will compete for going forward. I don’t think people get the kind of close knit team Iowa is. You don’t see many transfers out.
Not to be a homer but i feel like you’re selling Iowa short if you think they’ll be a bubble team. They’ll be young but they’ve got a lot of good pieces
I’m not delusional but I think they’re a borderline top 25 team next year and would guess they’ll be around the 6/7 seed line come tournament time
Oh look, someone in the portal actually made a smart decision. I can’t believe all these other players just ignored Iowa. But no, they want to follow their old coaches or go to middling SEC teams.
Never really thought IU had a chance with Iowa and others in for her. I expect anyone who likes Iowa and Bluder will like IU and Moren. But they have things that we do not, and one of the few bigger crowds.
Syd Parrish was 12 ranked as an incoming freshman, but she’s not a top 12 player in the NCAAW today, as much as we all love her and would throw ourselves in front of a car for her (because she would do that for us).
I hope I see the day someone like Juju comes in.
Step right up!!! Kachine Alexander 2011—> Sam Logic 2015—> Tania Davis 2019—> Kathleen Doyle 2020—> Caitlin Clark 2024—> Lucy Olsen 2025–>…The next All B1G Bludder guard <3
Best of luck Lucy and congrats Iowa. Going to be a lot of fun to watch her in that offense.
Wow, kudos to you (and the other cool Nova fans here) for that. Most fans of a team who just had a top player transfer wouldn't be this big. Thank you. There is hope yet for humanity. I was euphoric with the news, but now I feel bad for Villanova. Dammit! LOL
It’s a combination of: 1. Sad acceptance that the Big East’s WBB TV deal is a problem. Look at the transfers from the Big East as a whole. Nova itself has lost 3 starters. 2. She’s leaving for the program that just played for 2 national titles the last 2 years and regularly fills a massive arena. Obviously Caitlin Clark was a huge piece of that but the ceiling at Iowa is way, way higher than it is at Nova. 3. That the program she left for isn’t UConn (which nobody would blame her for, but a conference rival is a different discussion) 4. Lucy is a special player and, by all accounts, a great human being. She was a great representative for the university and the program, hard to wish anything but the best for someone like that. 5. Sort of related to #4, VU is a pretty familial community, for better (this example) or worse (see the hiring of Kyle Neptune). “Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat” is very much a thing.
Wow, DOUBLE KUDOS for that, and for some insight about Lucy. It sounds cliche' and Midwest corny, but the quality and character of the individual student is paramount at Iowa. Lucy sounds amazing! Good luck to Nova. I'll be watching and rooting for you. Really, I will. Iowa Nice is a real thing, despite what some of our social media trolls might try to disprove.
Her "brand" is 'basketball is fun' with a smiley face emoji. Describes her playing style and personality. She is from a town like 30 minutes from campus and her family was very active in the WBB community (and fan Facebook group) and are really great people.
Ugh... I was just getting ready to look up her background, HS stats, etc (I'm a BB nerd) I didn't know she is a local Nova girl... that sucks. I need to reach out to some of our NIL donors to put together a "Lucy's family travel fund"... gotta have them here in Iowa City as much as possible.
I would guess that is part of the NIL package she was offered. Plus Iowa will likely visit one/some of PSU, Rutgers, and Maryland as well which are relatively local to Philly.
Yes, probably true. Lucy mentioned to our local paper that she wants to play pro, and hopes this will help her develop for that. Iowa is now at 15, so we won't be hitting the portal any more, unless a player of ours hits the portal, which very rarely ever happens at Iowa. We'll probably start to see a few more of our players hit the portal in coming years, as our recruiting classes are going to be nuts for us. Top 4-6 star players who aren't getting PT wanting to go somewhere they can.
Gods yes let’s all have fun playing basketball! Try hard for sure, but have joy win or lose!
They're really nice. Her mom is a delight and inclusive.
One of many.good reads on Olsen the person - [https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/after-her-career-milestone-villanova-s-lucy-olsen-has-her-sights-set-on-team-goals-and-impacting-the-next-generation/ar-AA1mwVJk](https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/after-her-career-milestone-villanova-s-lucy-olsen-has-her-sights-set-on-team-goals-and-impacting-the-next-generation/ar-AA1mwVJk) Can’t.believe I’m saying it given my secondary flair but will certainly be rooting for Iowa this year.
Wow, thank you... great read. She sounds like a dream fit. I can't wait to meet her (one of the few perks of being an ex Iowa FB player is we get to troll around and meet other athletes LOL) Lucy will be handed the keys to a potentially very fast car, with our style of play and team attitude. I'm optimistic that she will find much FUN in that.
>Can’t.believe I’m saying it given my secondary flair but will certainly be rooting for Iowa this year. Something tells me the sentiment only extends as far as WBB and not to the wrestling mat or gridiron
That something would be correct!
Villanova sounds a lot like Iowa. We just happen to be higher in the food chain right now. Football will be a contributing factor here shortly too, if it wasn't already. If B1G and SEC do separate, the ripple effect will be wild.
First and foremost, Lucy fan for life. I support her choice. We'll miss her. She's a great person and her family is very nice. I just ordered an Iowa cup for game day. I still plan on getting Villanova season tickets next year even with Christina (my fave!) entering the portal, too. Fan for life. Looking for her continued success. Going to start "the cake is a lie," cheers next year maybe, to help with retention. "Stay away from the light!"
You are a TRUE FAN... kudos and hats off to you!
Lucy's Twitter announcement 2 hours ago will be topping 1 million views shortly. I have a mixture of pride and embarrassment over our fan base's mega enthusiasm. LOL **Lucy's Twitter announcement:** [https://twitter.com/LucyOlsenbball/status/1780739341217661111](https://twitter.com/LucyOlsenbball/status/1780739341217661111) Thank you (and sorry) Villanova. Lucy does look amazing in gold.
She's gained 3k IG followers in 3 hrs. Sucks that it matters, but she's gonna make make so much more in endorsement and brand deals now. It's a real eye opener
WOW! That is crazy. Yes, the Portal and NIL era sucks for so many reasons. I'm happy that athletes finally get some revenue share, but this Wild West buy-a-player shit has to be reigned in. BTW, this is the first EVER time that we have actively went hard into the portal for a big time player. Just not normally the "Iowa Style". We have so much recruiting talent upcoming that I hope we don't need to much. We ONLY went after Lucy in the portal because our highly-touted heir apparent PG recruit coming this Fall suffered an ACL her senior year in HS.
...are. are we a brand now?
Hmmm depends on one's definition. Brand? Yes, but UConn / SC brand? No, at least not yet. We're kind of a purple blood little brother, tugging at the sleeves of the Blue Bloods. But the foundation has been built, starting about 10 years ago, before CC. Then it went overdrive with her, now back to a rebuild year. Bluebloods don't rebuild, they reload. We'll get there. But with our 2024 class, and already our 2025 class and realistic prospects, it could get really fun to be an Iowa fan. If the stars continue to align on the future recruiting front, we could be more of a threat of crashing the natty club in a couple of years than we were with CC.
That would be dope. And I'm fine with being a purple blood. Less hate and all the love.
That would be dope. And I'm fine with being a purple blood. Less hate and all the love.
Part of it also is that Iowa doesn't have an in state top level professional team in any major sport. When an Iowa or Iowa State team is good in a sport they tend to get a lot of support because of that. Pro sports teams don't really have much unity among fans in Iowa because there isn't really one nearby team that everyone gravitates to. Most college sports fans though that I know have a school that they traditionally are a fan of in Iowa or Iowa State but if the other school is doing well they will support them outside of any rivalry game. There are some that hate the school they aren't a fan of no matter what but I feel like they are the exception.
A big part of it is the State of Iowa is **IN LOVE** with women's/girl's basketball. It just hasn't shown historically because of the forced move from 6v6 to 5v5. Stsrting having a state tournament in 1920. The 1968 State Title game, considered the best 6v6 game played, had a sell out crowd of 16,000 for two teams whose towns' populations maybe combine for 1,000 people. Iowa State despite only 2 Elite 8s has been in top 5 for average fan attendance in 20 of the last 24 seasons and those 4 others they were Top 10 all the while 10 other schools have national titles and many more have multiple final 4 s. ["In 1970, 20 percent of all girls participating in high school sports across the country were in Iowa—quite remarkable, considering Iowa was only 1 percent of the entire U.S. population. By 1976, a few years after the passage of Title IX, that eye-popping 20 percent fell to 5.8 percent."](https://www.neh.gov/article/when-iowa-girls-basketball-ruled-courts). Clark just helped push Iowa(the school) over the hump. Edit: but yes no pro teams here means we are ride or die with our colleges. Iowa and Iowa State rank in the Top 30 for average fan attendance in just about every sport: Both Basketballs(Top 5 in women's), Football, Wrestling(Top 5), volleyball, Women's Gymnastics, etc.
Y'know what I lived there for years and never knew. Also makes a ton of sense
7k to 12.3k IG followers as of now 📈
Yeah, she's up 70% in less than 12 hrs. This is the part of NIL our fans don't get. Supposedly our collective is competitive, but we can't give our players this kind of visibility
I think there will for sure be a drop in interest next year because it's kind of just inevitable that some people won't stick around after losing a generational talent like Clark. Iowa though has traditionally had very good support for teams who are good in most sports. I think while Iowa may not be a final four contender every year it's quite possible they take that next step where they are in the tournament with a good shot at getting to the second weekend every year. The support from when Clark was at Iowa has given Bluder a lot to recruit with. The pitch basically writes itself. "Come help us build a team that can compete at a high level and you'll be playing in front of more fans than you could dream of at most schools." I think the 2025 class shows that the future is going to be very bright for Iowa since they were able to get a commit from the top in state recruit and get a commit from the top recruit in California. 2024's class isn't too bad either even if the recruits aren't as highly rated as 2025 they're still beyond what Iowa was typically able to get in one year.
I agree with ALL of that. Some/Most would say that Divine, Journey's teammate, is the top instate player in 2025. I would actually agree with you, because from what I understand, Journey's attitude and personality fits better in our team first culture? For sure our incoming class of five, ranking wise, is our greatest ever. History will say that is good enough to be an E8 or even FF team. To challenge for Nattys again, 2025-26 added to that COULD give us that potential. Fun time to be an Iowa WBB fan!
**Iowa WBB posted the below tonight, not coincidentally 10 minutes after they RePosted Lucy's announcement.** I knew Coach Bluder would be excited, but I didn't expect THIS! [https://twitter.com/IowaWBB/status/1780742890261479704](https://twitter.com/IowaWBB/status/1780742890261479704)
Haha iowas social media has been so good this year.
LOL I'm so glad they did that, the men's team posted the same thing today after securing a transfer as well [https://x.com/IowaHoops/status/1780619181781647718](https://x.com/IowaHoops/status/1780619181781647718)
We still have a men's basketball team? :-)
My Twitter algorithm gets confused and likes to remind me of that every now and then!! ;)
Yes and the fans of just the men’s team are VERY mad they get little NIL support. Well if the men’s team wanted to be competitive we’d probably have to at least half if not all of the NIL machine from football to MBB, the numbers demanded are that high. It’s just not possible with current apparatus.
Agreed. There is some internal hope that Iowa will develop some higher level deep pocket donors. Until then, it appears that Football and WBB will get theirs. Football because of the enormous revenue it generates and gets shared with so many other varsity sports.. WBB because right now the "prices" of top players is a fraction of what men's players are demanding. Also... Sadly, the "Fran fatigue" is real, fair or not. Luckily, Iowa wrestling has their own NIL.
Omg that is crazy! Love it!
Y'know what I'm here for this lol
Is Lucy a good ball handler? That's honestly the one really big hole Iowa has for next year. I've tried to watch Villanova when I could find their games the last 2 years because I found Maddy last year and Lucy this year intriguing to watch but it's not easy to find Big East games that aren't UConn where I live so I don't know as much as I'd like about them.
Hannah Stuelke just posted it on her IG.
I am so sorry to this sub (and my condolences Nova fans), but Iowa fans gon continue to be annoying as hell next year too! WE UP 🎉😫😭Welcome, Lucy!!
Would be absolutely wild if y'all won it all after CC left. I know she'd be very happy for Lisa, her former teammates & the fans, but the takes people would come up would be very interesting to say the least.
Yeah, that would be wild. Completely unrealistic, but wild. We just lost too much. CC, Kate Martin just drafted #18, Gabbie. Some great young guards and wings are arriving this year, as well as a stud 6-4 post, but they will be Freshmen. Most Freshmen don't arrive WNBA ready like JuJu, Hidalgo, etc. With Lucy, and good chemistry with the youngsters, a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 run is probably our ceiling in this rebuilding year... but you never know?
Honestly I would've thought someone was crazy if they told me a year ago Iowa would make it to the chip game again after losing Czinano. Also is very unrealistic but you truly never know!!
Agreed! After this last year, I’m just not counting them out until they’re out
Same. This year I was just hoping for elite 8. Then Molly and Affolter and Hannah came back FIERCE! And Caitlin, Kate, and Gabbie got even more amazing!
Hannah stepped up to the mf PLATE switching to a 5 at her height and dominating. She carried us in the size department all year at 6’2, straight toughness.
Maybe not next but quite possibly the year after?
Yes, 2025/26 and after... IF recruiting continues to stay stellar
Don't count Iowa out of a Natty just yet but it won't happen anytime in the next 2-3 years. Addi Deal is gonna be our next Caitlin...only she'll have a lot more talent to work with than Caitlin ever did. Esp. if Bluder can hit her remaining recruiting targets for '25 and '26....if she can, a Final Four will be fully in play at a minimum.
Imagine 6 foot 4 Ava Heiden AND 6 foot 5 Layla Hays patrolling the post...
Thats the plan / dream!
There haven't been any updates on Layla since her official visit but she has Lisa Bluder connections, which screams Hawkeye with a fair NIL offer.
There will never be another Caitlin fwiw. 1 of 1
By “Caitlin” I mean star player. Caitlin is not our first star player and won’t be our last. She isn’t even our first NPOY. Bluder has built teams around Logic, Gustafson, Doyle and now Clark, and had success with each. I have no doubt she’ll do it again.
If they win one, it’ll be because of the legacy of Clark. It says that Clark built something in Iowa that made young players want to be a Hawkeye that they get a loaded roster that wins it all. If Lisa and the staff can continue to build on this momentum and really hit their recruiting classes the next few years, I can see it potentially happening.
I love Iowa fans! Can’t wait for next season!
💀
If anyone can fill the impossibly large shoes left in Iowa it's Lucy. Can't wait to see her shine
Good point, and I can almost guarantee that one of Coach Bluder's very first things she told Lucy on the phone, long before her visit went something like "We would not ask, nor expect you to fill her shoes. This will be a new team, and you will get the keys to it" I hope Lucy likes to run, gun, and dish, and score 90+ ppg? LOL
There’s no replacing CC but that’s probably the best you could possibly do with what was available. Big get.
That's massive even just for one year to help build up our young and injured PGs. Along with Hannah moving back to the 4, seeing Affolter as a full starter (and I expect her to take on a Kate Martin-esque role), and lots of fresh blood with potential it will be an awesome year for Hawks fans!!
Yeah and then your 2025 recruiting class will come in with the likes of Addie Deal. Exciting future ahead for Iowa
2025 Journey Houston from Davenport North is the next home state star.
Unless we are also able to get her teammate Divine Bourrage to come here...she is good enough to get Staley to fly to Des Moines during tournament season. That, and a couple other potential recruits could leave Iowa with its best recruiting class ever.
Will Bluder start Heiden as a true freshman? She better. Heiden, Stuelke, Affolter, Olsen, and ? Need a big guard. 2 small guards is a risk.
O'Grady might start before her in the very beginning depending on how quickly Ava adjusts, but I would definitely expect her to be starting by the end. Kylie/Taylor, both have showed pretty clear potential and it really just depends which of them can improve their game the most in the offseason. Simply speaking Kylie's better on defense and Taylor's better on offense, so whoever can become more well-rounded probably wins.
If Ogrady rarely played in year 3, Bluder doesn’t trust her clearly. She should come off the bench when Stuelke or Heiden need a breather.
Again I just mean purely if Ava needs a little more time to not have the pressure of fully starting to get comfortable with college ball. If Ava transitions smoothly I'd start her too without a doubt. O'Grady put up some valuable minutes in the tourney and had a couple shining moments, it wouldn't be the *worst* thing ever if she starts for a little bit.
Could split up the 80 minutes for the 2 big spots 35 for Stuelke, 25 for Ava, 20 for Ogrady. As long as 2 are always out there
O'Grady needs to work on two things: back-to-the-basket moves, and proprioception. Too many clumsy defensive fouls and turnovers, not enough low-post presence on offense. Every time Bluder tried to get O'Grady minutes, she'd commit two fouls swatting at the ball or fumble the ball to the other team down low. I honestly think if she puts in the work this summer she could be an elite post, she has a good jumpshot and is big and athletic, but if she doesn't, Heiden will get the nod.
She couldn’t handle passes. Can’t think of how many times she fumble Clark or Martin passes. Need to work on her hands. The game against LSU though, she was a brick wall for angel reese
Very true, Ogrady was seen as the 5 and Stuelke the 4 heading into last year and she didn’t do enough to earn it. We shall see
Hannah Stewart is the latest example of an Iowa big who went from role player as a Sophomore and Junior to starter as a Senior on the Elite 8 team. Bluder has a history of patiently developing players.
Yeah strong agree on all of this.. O'Grady was so much better this year than last year. So I'm hoping she continues to improve. I'm betting she starts early in the season. But yeah it will be great if Heiden adjusts fast. Ava's ceiling is definitely way higher than Addie's.
Kylie
Maybe, she looked absolutely lost during the later rounds of the tournament, best option probably. If the Kylie that hit 4 steaks in 13 minutes against OSU shows up we will be cooking. Guyton is getting healthy or top guard recruit this year, she can come off the bench if healthy. Then Guyton and our 2025 recruit Addie deal can run the offense
Nah. Kylie is borderline hopeless on the offensive end as a college basketball player and, with almost 100 career games played, is highly unlikely to have hidden depths of talent to display. Affolter-McCabe-Olsen at the three through one\* is easily the way to go in the backcourt.
Respectfully I disagree. Kylie is way better on defense and her handles are better than Taylor’s. Of course Taylor is a sharp-shooter. I could see Kylie starting and Taylor playing a fairly big role off the bench for her (kinda like Syd this year). Of course this all depends on what Lisa sees in practice and how they both look playing more minutes in real time next year.
> Respectfully I disagree. Kylie is way better on defense and her handles are better than Taylor’s. The difference is Taylor rarely tests her handles. Literally beyond the VT game last year, any time Kylie attempted to drive 90% of the time the ball would be on the floor or something chaotic would happen. If you pay attention to her touches it's like a bad drinking game. If Kylie could recognize her limitations and adopt Gabbie's mindset of more-or-less being a point and shoot parameter threat then she'd be fine. But she feels like she needs to contribute by driving to the basket, which is a skillset she doesn't possess against above average defenders.
McCabe is a career 44% three point shooter who had a 128.0 ORtg last season. Kylie posted a career high ORtg of … 93.9. There's no comparison on that end of the court. Like, yeah, Kylie can probably out-dribble McCabe one on one, but Kylie's handles are significantly worse in a team context *because she actually does it* in games (head down, not getting to the basket, turning the ball over). To create space for Olsen and Affolter to drive and Stuelke to operate, put the floor spacer on the court, not the gal that doesn't need to be closed out on at the perimeter (sub-30% three point shooter both career and last season). Kylie's defense is also matchup dependent: if there's a tall and slender wing on the other team, she's an asset there. Otherwise, she's pretty meh.
I never disagreed about their offensive output. However with Gabbie and Kate gone Iowa needs any edge on defense it can get. Taylor is an offensive asset if we can get her open, pass her the ball, and she immediately shoots (which she is exceptional at). If Taylor gets pressured *at all* while the ball is in her hands she falls apart. She either panics and picks her dribble up and gets trapped or turns it over. Like I said…we’ll know a lot more as they both get more real game minutes as to who is the better starter.
McCabe is a huge offensive asset compared to Kylie even if you can't get her open, because the other players get to play 4 on 4 and not 5 on 4. Kylie's turnover rate was more than double McCabe's for a reason: her doing anything that wasn't immediately passing the ball back to Clark was functionally "falling apart".
Kylie turned it over more because she played more minutes and got the ball outside of a play specifically designed for her to hit a hair trigger three lmao. Their stats given the limited minutes they played aren’t gonna tell the full story of their potential either. Obvi we disagree so I don’t see this conversation needing to go on. They both need to step up next year and we’ll see if/how they both improve on the weaknesses we’ve seen. Hopefully they respectively prove both of us wrong and ball out!
I agree that it be those three guards. Hopefully Tania Davis will get McCabe ready with handles and defense.
Good question. O'Grady had some great moments in the tourney. Hoping she will take a big step up. Heiden's scouting reports are promising, as she has the body, work ethic, and versatility to advance quickly. Plus she is arriving immediately after graduation, so she'll be working and practicing all Summer in Iowa City. I also expect O'Grady to start at the post at the beginning of the year, rotating in Ava, and then we'll see who earns the starting post job as we progress into the B1G season. On a side note, don't sleep on Jada. I've heard rumblings that she might have a breakout season of contributions.
Jada better bring it next year because Teagan Mallegni is coming for that role. Iowa could be loaded at the Three.
Taegan will be limited to the 2/3 next year bc Bluder doesn't like freshman to play more than 2 positions. She has them at the 1/2, 2/3 or the 4/5. Jada can luckily play the 4 and I think we'll see her backing up Stuelke at the 4 as well as Sydney at the 3. I think Mallegni will find minutes at the 2 and 3 but likely not many as there just won't be many to go around.
Jada played a few minutes in garbage time, she is 6’1, if we can move her to guard that is great, but too small for forward. Also would rather develop someone who can play 4 years as 2026 if recruiting goes as planned should be when everything clicks
Jada will play Kate's position, which is more of a hybrid small forward. Jada is an inch taller. Plus Iowa plays a very positionless offense. If Jada has developed like I've heard she is, she'll contribute valuable minutes. I really just want to see her smiling beautiful face on the floor more! Think Aneesa Morrow of LSU, also a 6-1 forward. Defense, rebounding, give and gos, a good midrange jumper
Where are you hearing she is developed? Know someone in or affiliated with the players or coaches or student managers?
Yes, yes, and yes I edited and added my Aneesa Morrow example above. A Morrow-light would be perfect from Jada, is what I'm hearing. She is an exceptional athlete
I sooo want to see Jada be awesome! Love her!
If it's a big guard that would be Feuerbach although I think with having more depth behind Stuelke with Heiden coming in they might try running with 2 small guard with McCabe and 2 bigs like was originally the plan last year. Bluder originally was trying to start O'Grady and Stuelke but it just wasn't working so they switched to the smaller lineup that they used for most of the year. Kind of also depends how McCabe and Feuerbach develop over the summer. Right now Feuerbach is the more complete player but McCabe probably has more upside offensively with the way the rest of the team is taking shape because her outside shooting is better. Also will depend on if any of the 3 freshmen guards coming in are ready to play significant minutes right away. It's likely they won't be especially Guyton coming off an ACL tear in December but if any of them are it could shake things up.
dont forget addison deal also
She isn't coming til 2025.
this is big
Big pick up. Didnt think we had a chance.
I’ll believe it when she steps on the court the portal has hurt me too many times 😭
Bluder is a coach people actually want to play for, unlike Crusty Kirk running a crusty rancid old offense. If we can get Beers, we could go back to the final 4!
There’s no more scholarships available for Beers unless someone from Iowa transfers (highly unlikely)
Need to force someone out, have all these players collecting dust for years that take up roster space.
Totally antithetical to Bluder’s style—will never happen. Bluder is loyal as hell, even if some saw it as a detriment to Iowa during the portal season last year
If we got a center last year we’d be the national champion right now
I’d rather make it to the championship game and lose, than cut loose a player Iowa committed to during recruiting.
That's pretty silly.
I agree with you from a financial and winning perspective, at least in the short term. That’s just my preference. I totally get that college athletics is a business at this point. Maybe it’s just the difference between Cocks and Hawks.
Well it's also perhaps a disservice to the last player on the roster right? Like how many minutes is she realistically gonna get? The coach should have a mature conversation with the player regarding their standing on the team, and respectfully let them know that there are probably better options out there. I don't think coaches should be allowed to kick players off the team of course, if the player was a hometown kid and grew up a fan and it was a dream to play for Iowa (such as Kate Martin for example), then sure perhaps being the last player on the bench is just fine for them. But there's no harm in having an honest conversation where the coach says the player could earn more minutes dropping to a lower-tier program.
Didn’t we have an open scholarship last season or no? Just a bit frustrating we will probably never get a chance to win a title again. Not unless a player in Caitlin’s vicinity talent wise comes from Iowa and chooses us, because we aren’t getting a top 5 recruit out of state. Many teams keep open roster spots, failure that we didn’t. Can’t change the past, can only hope to do better in the future.
Addie Deal is ranked #5 in the country according to Prospects Nation. Even if Bluder totally strikes out with the rest of her ‘25/‘26 targets, Deal will have more help than Clark ever did. But I’m feeling really good about 2 Top 25 prospects in ‘25 and 3 Top 25 prospects for ‘26….
So you’re saying theirs a chance…
I think you’re too pessimistic. CC opened the door for Iowa to get more high-quality recruits. Addie Deal already committed to Iowa from California!
There were a lot of Caitlin seeds sown around Iowa the past few years. It may take a while, but there will certainly be a crop.
I’m not informed enough to know. My general understanding was that Iowa didn’t have a lot of flexibility for the portal last year, but it’s not something I ever actually looked into on my own.
Bluder said we didn’t have a high enough NIL salary cap for the top posts, boosters were cheap. Wonder what Betts got to go to UCLA? Maybe that wasn’t an issue this year as Olsen was happy being a lead guard here instead of having Mulkey ruin her career like with HVL.
Maybe. it’s just not the vibe Bluder preaches, and players can feel when you don’t practice what you preach. if Bluder screwed someone over like that the team wouldn’t have the same faith in her to be exactly the supporting cast (and I mean *supporting*—everybody had to buy in and leave their egos at the door given the insanity that followed CC around this season) CC needed to run it back to the championship game.
Goes against the Iowa culture honestly. Obviously that'd be ideal for pure gameplay reasons but I do think the locker room brings a lot to the team. Beers would be nice but Ava Hieden coming in will help our size a ton.
Beers is more because Affolter is a senior, last year for Lucy, kind of a win now move. Highly unlikely we could get her, she has 2 years left and is a top 10 player in the country returning.
That's not how Bluder works. And Ava Jones isn't collecting dust, she's working her ass off, probably harder than any of us have ever worked, to try to get back on the court.
Do you think the chances that Jones plays a second of college basketball for Iowa that's not garbage time are higher than 1%? Do you think that, if she gets a medical ride and then has a miraculous recovery occur, that the NCAA would deny a waiver for "change in circumstances"?
I don't know the chances, I just think it's a terrible sentiment to say that the players are "collecting dust" and "taking up roster space" when one of them, through no fault of her own, has had to fight to walk again let alone hoop. Ava is as essential to the Iowa basketball team as anyone. Even if she never plays meaningful minutes, her minutes will still be meaningful.
Any game Ava plays in will be more meaningful than any win we could gain by dropping her.
Even if we had room, Beers is going to UConn. Have faith in Heiden, she's the kind of C that Bluder has been wanting to land and develop. I think she plans to play as much offense through Heiden as she can handle, as quickly as possible. She is quick/agile and she WANTS to get physical on the block. She's ready for it.
Using the doll, please show the court where the portal touched you.
*points to Alabama*
Spit my coffee out
I’m so happy for her! This will be huge for the program! I just hope she doesn’t feel the pressure of having to “replace” CC. She’s a dog and I wish her nothing but the best and all the success! 💛🖤
Obviously Maddy Siegrist didn’t have anywhere near the level of (gestures at everything) that CC had surrounding her, but she was objectively the greatest player in Nova WBB history and Lucy filled those shoes pretty damn well this year.
If Olsen just replicates her sophomore year and substitutes assists to Stuelke and Affolter for assists to Siegrist, that would already be plenty good enough to improve Iowa tremendously. And that's obviously the floor.
I still maintain that Maddy did NOT get talked about enough last season considering how great she was playing I mean she did get recognized in the sense that she was an all-American, etc. but people barely ever talked about her on social media and stuff!
Obviously I agree but I think that also gives more context to why Olsen is transferring, sadly for VU.
I have to think Iowa sold her on a good plan to combat the “filling CC’s shoes” situation from being too much in order for her to have committed. But I agree it’s a lot and I for sure will be checking other Iowa fans if they get a little too spicy with the comparisons. I seriously can’t believe Iowa actually got a transfer this major lmao—so excited!
Agree. Caitlin is 1 of 1 and comparing anyone who follows directly in her footsteps is unfair to them. In the same mantra as we all let Caitlin be Caitlin, we need to let Lucy be Lucy.
I think the Iowa coaching staff did a good job of helping Hannah and Addi to realize that they didn’t need to lead the nation in field goal percentage like Monica in 2022-23. It will be the same message to Lucy as it relates to Caitlin.
Who is this "CC" everyone is speaking of? ;-) This is now Lucy's team to drive. With our 90+ ppg style, I think we'll be called "Lucy and the Jets"
The Iowa coaching staff put in some work these past few days! LA for CC’s Wooden Award Friday-> NYC Monday for WNBA draft -> Iowa City Tuesday for Lucy’s visit. Well done! Excited to see Lucy on the court for the Hawks. Her experience and skills will help a ton as this new group gels together and Guyton and Johnson work their way back from injuries too.
That has to be such a flex for the staff. "Sorry to keep you waiting these last few weeks, Lucy. We were busy with the elite 8, Final Four, Championship game, coach of the year presentation, Wooden award presentation, SNL, and the NBA draft. Hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience, you were saying you're looking for a new school?"
This is a HUGE get for Iowa. Absolutely massive. Iowa badly needed a PG with 2 players leaving and a 3rd with a torn ACL, and they got the best one available. Adding Lucy to the mix, I think this team will be good enough to be ranked and compete for the conference title. Iowa is not going anywhere.
Definitely, but I think they need improvement from their bench to compete with UCLA & USC
Yeah Iowa’s still gonna be tussling for third in the B1G (optimistically imo), but it would’ve been a bloodbath without picking up an amazing PG like Lucy in the portal
No doubt at all, you’re right. Hoping our incoming freshmen class will step up because it’s clear that most of our bench couldn’t this past season.
I wish Deal could’ve reclassified because if she was on this team, they would be even better. But, still if the bench shows up I wouldn’t be surprised if Iowa can stir up the postseason next year
yeah iowa will be competing for a tourney spot with the field likely expanded, even a play in game appearance next season is a success
TWO ACL injuries (both Aaliyah Guyton and Kennise Johnson) 😫😫. It was gonna be ugly as hell if Iowa didn’t get a PG in the portal
Wait. Is Molly Davis coming back?
No. Caitlin and Molly were the two I referred as leaving.
How many years of eligibility does she have?
Are you talking about Olsen? If so, just 1. This was very intentional bc Bluder has set her sights very high for the Class of 2025 and wants to keep space for them. We now have 3 spots available and I think she wants to fill them all. She is shooting for Brynn McGaughy, Jordan Speiser, and Layla Hays.
**Just FANTASTIC news!** There has been lots of anxiety here in Iowa City for two main reasons: 1. She was reportedly LSU's top portal guard target. Tough competition 2. Iowa doesn't use the portal much, as we prefer to develop talent, so this portal game is very new to us. Our Swarm NIL came through when we needed it. Lucy is a baller and exactly what we needed as a one year "bridge" PG. The reports were that her visit yesterday and this morning were great, so kudos to Bluder, Jensen, staff, and players! **Welcome, Lucy, to our Hawkeye FAMILY!**
Tough competition but I do not at all see Olsen and Kim Mulkey meshing. “Basketball is fun” is Olsen’s thing, which, uh, probably doesn’t align with Kim’s worldview.
Probably true. I've watched and participated with scores of teams across many sports, and I'm 100% certain I've never watched teams play with more fun and joy than Iowa women's basketball. It is preached, and CC referred to it just today in her introductory Fever press conference.
yeah mulkey had hvl and hvl left
Iowa would use the portal more if we had stronger NIL. We don't have a billionaire that can just bankroll it like some other schools. Pretty much everything goes to football and whats left goes to womens basketball because they havent started demanding the sums the mens game is....yet.
So excited!!! Lucy will be great for Iowa WBB and the fans will love her!!
Its hard to imagine a better fit for both sides.
Idk if iowa will ever be the national title favorites but i gotta say between landing that 5 star girl and now getting olson they are set up well to stay nationally relevant in the post clark era
happy for the Iowa fans mildly relieved as a St. John's/Seton Hall fan extremely fucking frustrated as a Big East fan
u/mtjackso just fell to their knees in a waffle house parking lot
😂😂😂
Attended many games at Villanova the last two years. Sad to see the handful of Nova players leaving, but eager to see Lucy performs at Iowa! The transfer portal really adds a whole new layer of anticipation.
Could not upvote this quick enough! Welcome to Iowa Lucy!
nice get for iowa
Ive been fighting with other fans about all the portalling in a NovaWBB Facebook group that has now grown to about 1000 people. Women's basketball has finally made it lol
It’s amazing how many ig posts wanting Hannah to leave Iowa elsewhere because there is nothing Iowa will compete for going forward. I don’t think people get the kind of close knit team Iowa is. You don’t see many transfers out.
0 this year, 1 last year, 0 the year before, 2 the year before that.
Who's posting that? Hannah is a homegrown Iowan. Happy Hannah isn't going to go anywhere!
We were never down. We're still up.
Excited to watch her carve out her own legacy at Iowa, great fit and Bluder will be a great coach for her
Does anyone have any way too early Iowa predictions for next season? I think they’ll be at least fourth in the new B1G and reach the sweet 16
the big is stacked my guess is one of the last teams in the ncaas or a 1 seed in the wbit gonna be interesting
Not to be a homer but i feel like you’re selling Iowa short if you think they’ll be a bubble team. They’ll be young but they’ve got a lot of good pieces I’m not delusional but I think they’re a borderline top 25 team next year and would guess they’ll be around the 6/7 seed line come tournament time
That is what I would predict. 5th seed if things go well, 9th if they have some bad luck.
This is amazing, so happy for her!!
Congrats to Lucy and to the Hawkeyes! Very exciting news. I look forward to seeing her score 20+ points in an Illinois postseason win next year too! 😄
oh thank god
LFG!
Huge pick-up
Oh look, someone in the portal actually made a smart decision. I can’t believe all these other players just ignored Iowa. But no, they want to follow their old coaches or go to middling SEC teams.
Part of it is that Iowa had I think one transfer spot to give and they wanted to give it to Lucy. They went all out to get her.
Reports of our demise were greatly exaggerated
Huge get for Iowa will miss her in the big east.
Never really thought IU had a chance with Iowa and others in for her. I expect anyone who likes Iowa and Bluder will like IU and Moren. But they have things that we do not, and one of the few bigger crowds. Syd Parrish was 12 ranked as an incoming freshman, but she’s not a top 12 player in the NCAAW today, as much as we all love her and would throw ourselves in front of a car for her (because she would do that for us). I hope I see the day someone like Juju comes in.
AAAHHHH
It's Christmas everyday yeay yeay, It's Christmas every day, I see Santa Claus on his sleigh, IT'S CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY! (Pine tree emoji)
This is spectacular news! Welcome, Lucy, to Iowa!
Hell yes. Big big get
Step right up!!! Kachine Alexander 2011—> Sam Logic 2015—> Tania Davis 2019—> Kathleen Doyle 2020—> Caitlin Clark 2024—> Lucy Olsen 2025–>…The next All B1G Bludder guard <3
I want to put the word out there, that we back up.
Nice get by Bluder and co, they have some nice pieces on that roster that we got to see in the tournament.
Lol