By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
IOWA CITY — This is truly Jan Jensen’s team now.
The last remnants from the Lisa Bluder/Caitlin Clark/back-to-back Final Four era for the Iowa women’s basketball team — Hannah Stuelke, Taylor McCabe and Kylie Feuerbach — ended their eligibility after last season.
The 11 players on the roster for Jensen this season all know her only as a head coach, coming into the program after the long-time Hawkeye assistant was hired in May, 2024 to replace the retiring Bluder.
Asked what a “Jan Jensen team” looks like during her question-and-answer session at Tuesday’s media day, Jensen said she hopes it will be like all of the others from the past.
“Well, I hope it’s the same team as the last few years,” Jensen said. “I think teams are not just a reflection of the head honcho. I think teams are a reflection of … I mean, they’re a team. In certainly the great Lisa Bluder era, I don’t think Lisa would have even given a thought of that was her team. Certainly it was.
“So I just hope this team reflects the best of what you’ve seen the last couple of years, and I hope the last couple years have given us good memories of what you’ve seen the four or five years prior.”
The headiness of the runs to the national championship game in 2023 and 2024 hung over this program during Jensen’s first two seasons, but those teams couldn’t duplicate the March-into-April runs.
The Hawkeyes went 27-7 last season, tying for second in the Big Ten at 15-3 and earning a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But Iowa needed a late run to escape 15th seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round, then lost to First Four qualifier Virginia in the second round, the second consecutive first-weekend exit for the Hawkeyes.
“Any time you have a disappointment, there’s utilizing it for growth,” Jensen said. “Certainly no one was more disappointed than myself or the young women in the locker room.
“Hey, March happens. 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. If you’re not willing to take the risk to be part of March, then this is probably not the profession for you.”
And along with that motivation there will be a new pressure on this team, expected to be in the top 10 of the preseason polls when they’re released in the coming weeks.
Bluder, in that 2024 season, used the “pressure is a privilege” theme throughout the season, and it was something junior center Ava Heiden, on a lot of preseason All-American watch lists, and guard Taylor Stremlow brought out when the players met with the media.
“Unless you’re in it, you know, like it’s all it’s all speculation, right?” Heiden said. “You don’t know how the season’s going to go. Some teams may be unranked and do really great, and some teams may be ranked and do poorly. So it’s just going to be a ride. I don’t really put too much stock in the preseason rankings.”
“I think that greatness is just the expectation of this program,” Stremlow said. “So it’s not necessarily new and it’s not foreign. So knowing that pressure is a privilege and continuing to show up and play the same way, whether you’re in the rankings, whether you’re not, it’s all just data and it’s all media. I think we’re trying to stay who we are, keep our circle tight, and appreciate it when we get those recognitions and those accomplishments. But to stay even regardless if we’re up or we’re down.”
Iowa has five returning players — Heiden, Stremlow, and Chazadi “Chit-Chat” Wright are the captains, and guard Journey Houston and backup center Layla Hays are also back — and six newcomers, including five-star freshman McKenna Woliczko and first-team All-SEC transfer Dani Carnegie.
“That’s a different feel because the majority of your players don’t have any idea how I like to run a box set drill,” Jensen said. “They don’t know how we do free throws, the simplest of things. In one way, that’s really exciting. In another way, I’m constantly reminded that we definitely have a brand-new team.”
A brand-new team for a coach that isn’t new to the top job anymore.
“I hope we’re going to be hardworking,” Jensen said. “I hope we’re going to be fun to watch. I hope we’re going to be others centered. I hope we’re just going to be a team that brings a lot of joy. This sport has given me so many blessings. God has blessed me beyond measure, getting to do my dream job at the same place in two different roles. So I try to coach like that. I hope our players respond like that.”
Photo: Iowa coach Jan Jensen speaks during her press conference at Tuesday’s Media Day. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)
