By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Iowa’s women’s basketball team already was going to be dealing with the high expectations after making it to the national championship game last season.

The Hawkeyes’ No. 3 ranking in the Associated Press poll and USA Today coaches poll adds more fuel to those expectations.

It’s the third consecutive season, and the sixth time in program history, that Iowa has opened the season in the top 10 in the national polls. The AP ranking matches the No. 3 ranking in 1994 as the highest preseason spot in the program’s history.

Iowa was No. 4 in the AP poll and No. 6 in the coaches poll at the beginning of last season on the way to a 31-win year that included a Big Ten Tournament championship and a spot in the Final Four that ended with a loss to LSU in the national championship game.

Reigning national player of the year Caitlin Clark returns for her senior season. Clark averaged 27.8 points, 8.6 assists and 7.1 rebounds per game last season. Starters Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin return, as does sophomore Hannah Stuelke, who was the Big Ten’s Sixth Player of the Year last season.

Iowa was picked as the Big Ten preseason favorite, with Clark the preseason player of the year.

The Hawkeyes have sold out their entire home schedule for the season.

Photo: Iowa forward Hannah Stuelke shoots during Sunday’s “Crossover at Kinnick” game against DePaul at Kinnick Stadium. (Stephen Mally/hawkeyesports.com)