Appreciating a Golden Era of Iowa WBB

I started doing recaps, season previews, etc. for Iowa women’s basketball back in 2017. At the time, the team didn’t receive a ton of coverage. The local papers covered most games and the team played a few games per year on TV, but that was largely it. The 2014-2015 team made the Sweet 16, but missed the NCAA Tournament the next two years.

As I prepared for my first season of coverage, I thought the 2017-2018 team had potential. Megan Gustafson looked like a breakout star, and the team’s sophomore class led by Kathleen Doyle and Makenzie Meyer had done well as freshmen after being one of the top-rated recruiting classes in the country.

But I didn’t think Iowa would be in the Elite Eight two years later. That a generational talent from West Des Moines would commit to Iowa in 2019 and change women’s college basketball forever.

In the midst of another great season, I want to take some time to appreciate the key pieces of a Golden Era of Iowa women’s basketball.

At 6’3", Megan Gustafson was somewhat small for a 5. She wasn’t elite athletically for the position. Yet over the course of Gustafson’s college career, she became one of the most dominant low-post scorers in women’s basketball history. Her senior season stat line is absurd: 27.8 ppg, 13.4 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 69.6 FG%.

Then there are the advanced stats. HerHoopStats.com generates a stat called Win Shares that tries to measure the impact a player’s production has in a single number generated from their full stat line and the team’s performance. The site has Win Share totals starting with the 2010-2011 college season.

Gustafson’s 2018-2019 season is the 14th-best season by a college player since 2010-2011 ($). Literally every player in front of her is a star in the WNBA. Elena Della Donne. Breanna Stewart. Maya Moore. Brittney Griner.

What stands out most about Gustafson to me is how much she isn’t like any of those other players. Griner is 6’9" and extremely athletic. Stewart and Della Donne are 6’4" and 6’5" respectively, yet they can shoot at any level and play more like forwards than posts. Moore is one of the most decorated players in basketball history. She won two NCAA Championships in four seasons, then was a leader on a Minnesota Lynx team that won four championships in her eight WNBA seasons.

Instead, Gustafson got the very best out of her physical abilities despite her (relative) physical limitations.

When I watch videos of Gustafson practicing the Mikan Drill, frankly I feel a bit dizzy. I don’t think I would be able to do it for more than a minute or two before I had to stop. Gustafson practiced it for hours and hours. Why? Because that’s what it took for her to become such a good shooter around the basket.

She became one of the best rebounders in college basketball in much the same way. She worked hard in practice to box out and learn the best rebounding angles. Then in games, she worked hard and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

It’s extremely difficult to earn a roster spot in the WNBA. In the NBA, there are 30 teams and 15 roster spots available per team. That means at any given time there are around 450 players in the league. More if you count players that come up from the NBA-owned G-League on two-way contracts or as injury replacements.

In the WNBA, there are 12 teams and 12 roster spots per team. Only 144 players make the WNBA at any given time. That’s 32% of the NBA total. Imagine the talent left out of the NBA if two-thirds of its current players weren't good enough to make a cut.

Gustafson has yet to become a star in the WNBA. With her physical limitations in comparison to players like Griner, that isn’t particularly surprising. But she has played in 78 career WNBA games spread across four seasons and recently announced her return to the Phoenix Mercury for the upcoming season. That in and of itself is remarkable.

Maybe even more remarkable is that in the WNBA Gustafson had to remake herself again. Because of her size, she couldn’t just stay down low and try to score in the post. She had to venture out beyond the three-point line to better space the floor.

That also meant she had to learn to shoot from three to be a threat. Shooting threes is something Gustafson never really did in college. She never needed to, given her overwhelming value as a low-post scorer. It took time for her to develop her shot, but last year in the WNBA she managed to shoot 46.2% from three.

Gustafson’s #10 now hangs above Carver Hawkeye Arena. There is perhaps no greater honor than a fanbase collectively demanding that her number be retired even before she finished playing. That shows how great of a player and person that she was and still is. And she became that player and person by putting in the work. By going above and beyond what the vast majority of people would do.

I worry that as we look back at this period of Iowa history, we’ll forget about how good Kathleen Doyle was.

From the moment Doyle stepped foot on campus she was a pest. She was great at forcing steals, and even better at harassing whoever she had to guard. But she was more than just the team’s best perimeter defender. She was also the second-leading scorer on Iowa’s Elite Eight team. She was arguably the team’s best ball handler. And she was also one of the team’s vocal leaders on the court.

But for three seasons, Doyle looked like she would top out as an All-Big Ten player. A very good player certainly, but not one who could lead a team on a deep post-season run as that team’s best player.

Then during her senior season once Gustafson had left, Doyle became great when Iowa needed her most. She took over as the team’s unquestioned leader and point guard. She started attacking the basket more while also shooting better on 3-point shots. She improved her free throw shooting and rebounding by notable margins. And perhaps most important of all, she lowered her fouls substantially while maintaining her high level of defense.

When Gustafson graduated, most experts wondered if Iowa’s 2019-2020 team would even make the NCAA Tournament. With Doyle’s leadership, Iowa was on its way to a Top 4 seed in that Tournament before it was canceled due to COVID concerns.

Doyle’s big senior season helped her get drafted into the WNBA, where she played 18 games in the 2020 season. Even though her professional career wasn’t long, it’s still remarkable that she made it in the league. If the WNBA had more teams, she’d probably still be there today.

There was one year between the Gustafson Elite Eight team and the Caitlin Clark era. In that year Doyle went from great Big Ten player to Big Ten Player of the Year to the WNBA.

When Megan Gustafson graduated, I didn’t think we’d see anything like her again. She was so dominant in the low post. So efficient in her scoring. Little did I know that Iowa’s next dominant low post scorer was already on the roster.

On paper, Monika Czinano should not be an All-American. At 6’3", she has the same height disadvantages that Gustafson did. She’s not particularly fast or athletic, even among fellow 5s. Back in high school, few Power 5 schools even thought of her as a legitimate prospect.

Like Gustafson, Czinano used hard work to become a master of low post scoring. Head coach Lisa Bluder and longtime top assistant Jan Jensen have praised the work she did in remaking her shot when she came to Iowa. She clearly studied Gustafson’s game well, and soon had a series of post moves that no one has been able to stop in years.

Even better, her finishing looks remarkably like Gustafson’s. As a freshman, Czinano shot 54.9% from the floor. That jumped to 67.9% as a sophomore with much higher volume, and she’s been at or near the top of shooting percentage leaderboards nationally ever since, including this current season of eligibility (her "COVID year") where Czinano is averaging 67.6% on the season.

During Gustafson’s career at Iowa, the Big Ten didn’t have many great teams, and Iowa rarely played the toughest competition in the non-conference. Because of that, Gustafson benefitted to some extent from rarely matching up against the country’s best bigs.

The Big Ten has improved significantly at the top during Czinano’s time at Iowa, and this year Iowa made a point to play elite teams in the non-conference. Through it all, Czinano has been a consistent scoring threat in the post. Last year, her offensive prowess helped her earn All-American status. This year, she is one of 20 finalists for the John R. Wooden award for most outstanding college player.

Czinano isn’t quite as good as Gustafson was (but who is?). Her rebounding isn’t on the same level. She often struggles defensively in ways that Gustafson never did. But offensively, she’s as close to Gustafson as Iowa fans had any right to hope for. That's an incredible accomplishment for someone most power-conference teams didn’t want out of high school.

No one—man or woman—has ever played basketball like Caitlin Clark. That might seem like a bold statement considering that basketball is over 100 years old, but I think that it’s true. You can say that part of Clark’s game looks like Steph Curry. Or Pistol Pete Maravich. Or whoever else comes to mind. But the full package? There’s only one Caitlin Clark.

Clark’s special talent starts with her shooting. We’ve all seen highlights of her logo threes. Of her step-backs while being closely guarded. Of the way she can quickly launch a shot in transition.

I think nationally Clark gets some criticism for those shots. People think she’s "making things too tough on herself." Or that she’s a "ball hog." Or that she’s just a "volume shooter."

Thing is, Clark is emphasis #1, #2, and #3 on every opponent’s gameplan. Her opponents are doing everything they can to prevent her from getting good shots. There are only a couple instances per game where she gets a clean look from areas where players normally shoot the ball.

Clark has to shoot from long distance. She has to take step-backs. I’ve never seen a player with a harder degree of difficulty on her shots and she still hits them at a well above-average rate.

But it’s not just about her shooting. Clark is also one of the best passers I’ve ever seen. She is deadly in transition. Once every game or two she’ll connect on a three-quarters court pass that the TV cameras have trouble following. Or she’ll thread a needle so tight that the announcers are left in awe.

But maybe the most unique aspect of her passing are the ones that aren’t successful. Usually once every game or so, Clark will make a perfect pass that leads to a turnover. The turnover happens because no one—not even Clark’s teammate—sees what Clark sees. Her teammate isn’t ready for the perfect pass and it goes out of bounds or bounces to the opposing team.

But it isn’t just her passing either. Clark is also a great ball-handler.

Last year, Clark played nearly every minute of every close game Iowa was in. Frankly, she played nearly every minute of some not-so-close games too. Part of that was needing the team’s best talent on the floor. But a larger part was that Clark was the only ball-handler Coach Bluder could trust. When Clark sat during games last year, disaster almost always followed.

Maybe more impressive, though, is the speed at which Clark can dribble in control. Clark is a good athlete, but she’s far from the fastest or most agile. In almost every game Iowa plays, an opposing team has at least one guard quicker that Clark is. But when Clark’s in the open court with a full head of steam, almost no one can keep up with her. She just blows by more athletic defenders. And in those situations when she’s dribbling at a full sprint she rarely loses the ball. More often than not she pulls off a tough pass or goes into a shot.

But it’s not just her dribbling, either. There are plenty of guards who dribble, pass, and shoot well. It’s also her rebounding. Clark is one of the best rebounding guards in basketball. And her rebounding is a skill desperately needed by this Iowa team. Monika Czinano is a below-average rebounding 5. McKenna Warnock and Kate Martin are decent rebounders, but their averages are down substantially from years past. Iowa gets very little rebounding from the 2 position.

Yet despite all that, Iowa is one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country this year. Much of that is due to Clark. She led Iowa in rebounding last year, and very likely will again this season. How many teams can say their leading rebounder is their point guard?

But it’s not even the collection of Clark’s skills alone that make her special. A big part of it is her arrogance. When I say arrogance, I don’t mean that she thinks she’s better than everyone or that she tries to show people up. I mean that she’s a player with no limit to her game that routinely tries to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Take a look at these highlights against Michigan last year.

These highlights need some context. The Michigan game was Iowa’s third game in a week. In the last two of those games, Iowa was down two starters and had just seven healthy players. Clark played all 40 minutes in that game.

Watch the play starting at 14 seconds in the video again. This time, pause when Clark starts her shot. Look at how far away she is from the basket. Look at how close her defender is. How many players in basketball history could make that shot in that situation? How many players in basketball history even think about shooting it?

Now watch the play starting at 28 seconds in the highlight again. At some point in that play, three of Michigan’s five players try to guard Clark. At any moment, at least two of them are trying to do so. None of them could. Clark wove her way through all three and buried a three to keep Iowa in it.

And it’s not just shooting. Check out this highlight from the Rutgers game last year.

This play also deserves context. The Rutgers game was the next-to-last game in Iowa’s regular season last year. If the Hawks won, they would play Michigan at home in front of a sold-out crowd for at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title. Rutgers was a bad team last year, but despite that Iowa struggled all game. Rutgers kept the game close and with 40 seconds left, the Scarlet Knights were within three points. If they got a stop, they'd have a shot to tie the game.

Watch the video once, then start to play it again. Pause it when Clark begins to pass the ball.

Look at how absurd that pass is.

Clark is being double-teamed. She’s close to ten feet behind the three-point line. When Clark starts her pass, Warnock still has a foot behind the three-point line in the corner. Warnock’s defender is in pretty good position.

Most players wouldn’t even see that pass as open. For those that could, many would throw it out of bounds or throw it off-target and commit a potentially disastrous turnover. Clark puts it right where it needs to go and sets up an easy finish for Warnock. The basket helped secure Iowa’s win, and the Hawks won a share of the Big Ten title against Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena shortly thereafter.

I don’t know how Caitlin’s run at Iowa will end. Maybe she tops out at the Elite Eight like Gustafson. Maybe Iowa never gets beyond the Sweet 16. Maybe circumstances conspire against her and she never wins National Player of the Year. But I do know we will never see a player like her again. And I know I’ll appreciate every moment I get to watch her.

A 6’2" combo forward should not be the fastest player on the floor. And yet multiple times in Iowa’s recent game against Maryland, Hannah Stuelke was able to outrace Maryland’s entire team—including several very good athletes—to convert a home-run pass from Clark.

Simply put, Stuelke is an athlete that Iowa just hasn’t had in this Golden Era of Iowa women’s basketball. We saw previews of how dominant she can be when she recorded a double-double in less than 11 minutes against Purdue. When she put up 17 points and 9 rebounds in just over 14 minutes against Northwestern. And we’ve seen it in flashes against elite teams like Ohio State and Maryland.

Stuelke certainly looks like the next great Iowa women’s basketball player. Her athleticism will make her a constant force on the boards. She’ll always be a threat to steal easy baskets on the fast break. Her shooting around the basket is already good (62.5% on 2-point tries), but will only get better as she develops the post moves that served Czinano and Gustafson so well.

Yes, her game has flaws. She will need to develop a better jump shot. I’m not sure she will ever be fully comfortable at the free-throw line. Her defense is still very much a work in progress. But Stuelke’s ceiling is sensationally high. I can’t wait to see what she and Clark can do next year once Stuelke has had a full off-season to grow and learn from her experiences this year.

Coach Bluder’s career is remarkable both for its longevity and how she helped Iowa turn a corner in the last few seasons.

Bluder’s head coaching career started at St. Ambrose in 1984. With the Fighting Bees (!), she amassed a stellar 169-36 career record over six seasons.

In 1990 she moved to Drake and coached there for 10 seasons. In those 10 seasons, she went 188-105 and won the Missouri Valley Conference three times. She made four NCAA Tournament appearances with the Bulldogs, advancing to the Second Round in 1995.

Bluder came to Iowa in 2000, and is in her 23rd season with the program. Before the 2018-2019 season, she had made the NCAA Tournament 13 times in 18 seasons. She won the Big Ten Tournament in 2000-2001 and tied for the regular season title in 2007-2008.

The only downside to that period was that Iowa rarely made a deep tournament run. Iowa advanced to the second round in six of those 13 tournaments, but only the 2014-2015 team made the Sweet 16.

Then with the 2018-2019 team, things changed. Iowa won the Big Ten Tournament that year and advanced all the way to the Elite 8, thanks in part to a National Player of the Year season from Gustafson.

The following year, Doyle led the 2019-2020 team to a 23-7 record, and the team would’ve been favored to make another Sweet 16 had COVID not canceled the NCAA Tournament.

Perhaps best of all, Bluder convinced Clark to join Iowa in late 2019 as the program’s highest-rated recruit. In 2020-21 Clark and Iowa went to the Sweet 16. In 2021-22, Iowa won a share of the Big Ten regular season title, then won the Big Ten Tournament and earned a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

And thus far, this year’s team looks even better than last year. I don’t know what the future holds for this year’s Iowa team. Or for the rest of the Caitlin Clark era, however long that may last. But Bluder and her staff deserve significant credit for their decades of consistent winning before ushering in this Golden Era of Iowa women’s basketball.

Aliyah Boston is the consensus best post in NCAA women’s basketball. Last year, she won National Player of the Year on her way to leading South Carolina to a National Championship, and this year her South Carolina team is ranked #1 and undefeated.

How well does the consensus best post in women’s basketball shoot on 2-point attempts? Last year, she was at 57.3%, and this year she’s at 62.7%.

I mention those numbers to highlight just how incredible Iowa’s post play has been in the past 6 years. During her junior and senior season, Gustafson shot 67.1% and 69.5% on 2-point attempts. Czinano has shot between 66% and 68% for four years now.

Even Brittney Griner—perhaps the most physically gifted 5 in women’s basketball history—topped out at 60.9% from 2 in a season.

A big reason for Iowa’s dominant post play—aside from Gustafson and Czinano’s hard work—is Jan Jensen.

The first battle Iowa posts routinely win is positioning. There is no team better at sealing off defenders in the low post than Iowa. Teams have tried fronting the post, playing behind the post, and even doubling the post, and it really doesn’t matter. Iowa posts usually find a way to get open for an entry pass right near the basket.

But even when posts get the ball in good position, their work isn’t done. They have to do something to free themselves for a shot. Jensen focuses on teaching her posts a handful of go-to moves that rarely require the post to dribble.

The moves are ruthlessly effective for several reasons. First, Iowa posts get into them quickly. That makes it hard for guards to swarm the post and gives the post defender little time to react.

Second, the moves tend to mirror each other. Czinano might start with a quick turn and hook shot that works once or twice. Then her defender has to commit to stopping that move. And just when the defender commits, Czinano busts out an up and under fake and converts a wide-open layup. From there, a defender is lost. Will Czinano go with the hook next, or go back to the up-and-under? They both look the same to start, so there’s no real way to know until it’s too late.

The key to any good coaching staff is having great assistants. No one coach can be an expert in everything. With Jan Jensen, Iowa has an assistant who gives Iowa posts a competitive advantage that even the best posts in the country don’t have.