The Hyball is a weekly basketball column.


Who wants to see a party spoiled?

For so often in the Caitlin Clark era of Iowa women's basketball, this wonderful team brings us into their joy with outstanding regularity. The smiles? Contagious. The bonds? Enviable. The games? Those speak for themselves.

We've probably come to even over-expect that commonality.

But with good reason: this squad delivers like the 1st and 15th.

Well, after the Nebraska upset over the weekend, head coach Lisa Bluder 'delivered' in a different way.

Who among us hasn't been pushed to the brink like this? I've always loved Bluder as the coach of this team, but she's always had a certain quaintness about her that occasionally kept me on the outside looking in. She's 62 years old with the gait* of a former NFL running back and tweets earnestly.

Conversely:

So, you know, we all have our styles.

Bluder said the Big Ten apologized to her Tuesday, and like so many other things about this season, we're sure nobody wants to keep this non-troversy going another day, but good on Bluder for standing on business in the meantime.

*My gait kinda sucks, but you don't know that, so wasn't gonna stop me from proving the point.

"The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

2/8 - No. 2 Iowa 111, Penn State 93: A few years from now, this will obviously and deservedly be remembered as the game where Hannah Stuelke dropped 47 points, but, for a while there, it was the Sydney Affolter Show.

OK, now that I've sufficiently buried the lede... Hannah dropped 47 damn points.

Despite losing by 18, I never once thought "Penn State is playing bad." With their appetite for threes, they might do some real damage in a single-elimination tournament setting.

Few more bullet points:

- Penn State's Ashley Owusu is a particularly frustrating player; clearly talented but initiates a *ton* of the contact.

OK, maybe not that much contact.

- Between Syd's ferocity and Hannah's 47 piece, it was the rare game where you could argue Caitlin Clark as the bronze medal player from Iowa's team... until you see she dropped 27 points with 15 assists (still, if we're poking holes, 12 turnovers).

- On the subject of interesting lines, Kate Martin's 16 points and 16 rebounds... just sublime.

- We'll give Hannah's mom the last word:

2/11 - Nebraska 82, No. 2 Iowa 79: Sometimes too perfect really is too perfect. It was all setting up so well, and then poof -- gone. Clark shooting 0% in the fourth quarter was... not ideal. Part of you has to wonder if the team was too focused on her getting the scoring record at home. It's all I got. Because we went from the announcers (weirdly) talking about "Should they sit Clark so she can break the record at Carver?" to a double-digit comeback in what felt like only a few game minutes.

Bullets:

- Worst Kate Martin game in recent memory -- the box score itself is going to look pretty good (20 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), but she finished with seven turnovers; that ain't happening again.

- Sydney continued to carry herself like an apex predator on defense.

- The Huskers manifested this one.

- I'll say it: Ross was right

Time to reset.

2/15 - Iowa (4) vs. Michigan: Gonna go ahead and guarantee Caitlin Clark getting the record in this one. #veryboldpredictions

It would be nice for this to go off without incident, as the Hawkeyes don't play for another full week following its conclusion.

Woooof, two blown double-digit leads to Maryland.

Fav play of the game though:

Come down to Texas to one of those bars where they paste dollars on the walls. Stay for the singing; ohhh, the singing.

A few weeks late on this one, but it's still so good.

One more hat tip to Hannah. <3

Bobby Loesch is a weekly contributor to Go Iowa Awesome. Find him on Twitter @bobbystompy, Instagram @bobbystompy, or email at bobbyloesch@gmail.com.