Iowa women’s basketball is back in familiar territory: high expectations, a reloaded roster and one painful March memory still hanging in the air.
That’s been the Hawkeyes’ strange recent rhythm. In 2022, they took a stunning second-round NCAA tournament loss at home to Creighton, then answered with back-to-back Final Four runs.
Last season brought another shocker, a double-overtime second-round exit against Virginia. So as the new group gathers around Jan Jensen’s third Iowa team, there’s no escaping the obvious lesson from the recent past.
“Hey, March happens,” Jensen said Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “You're sometimes on the most magical parts of March, and every now and then you can be on the most devastating parts of March.”
The next season is already close enough to feel real. Iowa’s exhibition against Maryville is just over two weeks away, and the Hawkeyes are trying to make sense of a roster that has changed almost completely since last year’s 27-win run.
Nine players are gone - four exhausted their eligibility and five entered the transfer portal. For a stretch, Iowa was down to five players. That’s the modern game in full view.
The portal eventually gave something back. Jensen added freshman McKenna Woliczko and four transfers, including all-SEC first-teamer Dani Carnegie. The result is an 11-player roster that has Iowa positioned as a likely top-10 team nationally and a serious Big Ten title contender.
“When I started coaching, that's what you're shooting for,” Jensen said, reflecting on the expectation that comes with that ranking. “That's what you want to be, a perennial top-10 team. I'm very proud of that.
But I'm also realizing what I'll be more excited about is how we end it. I think it's really early, and I don't say that to diss any of that type of respect.”
Even with all the turnover, a few familiar faces remain. Only two players on the roster - junior post Ava Heiden and guard Taylor Stremlow - have spent multiple years in the program. Along with Chit-Chat Wright, they’re the team’s three captains.
Heiden gives Iowa a proven interior anchor. The 6-foot-4 post is back after a first-team all-Big Ten season in which she averaged 18.0 points and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 64 percent from the floor. This year, she’ll live in the middle of a four-out, one-in offense, a setup Jensen says should create cleaner space around her.
“It will open the lane up more for guards. It also is a little bit harder to double your center,” Jensen said.
“Last year I thought it was the right call to go to the double-post offense. That high-low was a pretty good look.”
The change should mean less congestion around Heiden and more room for Iowa’s guards to work.
Wright is another major piece. The former Georgia Tech transfer averaged 12.5 points per game last season and posted better than a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover rate.
Her nickname dates back to childhood, when she was unusually quiet. Now, she’s trying to let her voice carry as much as her play.
“Last year, I was a leader on the court, but I didn’t really talk much,” she said. “I want to lead vocally, not just by actions, and I see a lot of growth there.”
Stremlow, who averaged 7.9 points per game, is another steady hand. Jensen values her as a versatile guard with natural leadership traits, and Stremlow sees leadership in simple terms.
“To me, leadership means a lot of humility and empathy,” Stremlow said. “Anything I ask or tell from anybody else has to be something I’m willing to do myself.”
She also offered a small glimpse of her competitive streak.
“I hate to lose and because of that I was banned from family games. My brother would cheat at Trouble. He would double-click the (popper) if he got a bad roll, and I wouldn’t stand for it.”
In the frontcourt, sophomore Journey Houston and freshman McKenna Woliczko are the main candidates at forward. Houston averaged 5.4 points and 5.1 rebounds last season, while Woliczko arrives as a five-star recruit from northern California. Sophomore Layla Hays will back up Heiden in the post.
The rest of the perimeter group gives Iowa plenty of options. Carnegie, Amari Whiting and Jocelyn Faison round out a backcourt mix that also includes Wright and Stremlow. Carnegie and Faison came from Georgia, while Whiting arrived from Oklahoma State.
For Carnegie, the move to Iowa has already made an impression.
“Everybody wants that call from Iowa,” Carnegie said. “The culture is different for sure. Iowa women’s basketball is a big thing.
“The support here is unbelievable … it’s going to be a good year.”
Iowa opens with an exhibition against Maryville on Oct. 29, then starts the season Nov. 2 against Towson. The schedule brings plenty of spotlight games, including a Nov. 8 trip to Connecticut, a Nov. 15 matchup with Vanderbilt in Sioux City, the Big Ten opener against Nebraska on Dec. 5 and meetings with USC on Feb. 11 and UCLA on Feb. 14.
The Hawkeyes will also see UNI, Drake and Iowa State before the Big Ten tournament in Las Vegas from March 3-7.
The names have changed. The expectations haven’t. And after the way last March ended, Iowa sounds eager to find out where this version goes.
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