Top Takeaways From The Iowa WBB European Tour

Over the past few weeks, the Iowa women’s basketball team has taken its high-scoring show abroad, playing games in Italy and Croatia.

The actual results of the games were secondary. The trip itself was more about giving Iowa extra practices to get better, time for the players and coaches to build chemistry, and the opportunity to explore places that many Americans never get to see.

Still, the games themselves can offer a few early takeaways for the 2023-2024 team.

The biggest question for Iowa’s 2023-2024 team is who will play the majority of minutes at the 4 and 5 positions.

For the past three seasons, Iowa played with a smaller lineup where McKenna Warnock played the 4 and spent most of her time offensively on the perimeter. Before her–during the Megan Gustafson era–Iowa utilized a two post system with Chase Coley or Hannah Stewart playing the 4 while Gustafson played the 5.

Those teams were rigid in their systems. With Warnock, Iowa didn’t play with a second post. During the Gustafson era, Iowa didn’t play with a smaller 4.

The 2023-2024 Hawkeyes, by contrast, will switch between bigger and smaller lineups. In the bigger lineup, Addison O’Grady will likely start at the 5, with Hannah Stuelke at the 4.

In the smaller lineup, O’Grady or Stuelke will play the 5, and Kate Martin or Sydney Affolter will slide over and play as a smaller 4.

The key to how often Iowa plays with the bigger lineup is O’Grady. O’Grady probably won’t ever be the lethal low-post scoring option that Gustafson or Monika Czinano were, but she is an efficient finisher and offers stronger rebounding and better defense than Czinano did.

O’Grady had a very strong European tour. She went 8-8 from the floor in her first game, added 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 17 minutes in the second game, and finished with a 12 point, 10 rebound double-double in game three.

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Stuelke had an extremely impressive freshman season. She was the Big Ten’s Sixth Player of the Year, and had a few games where she completely dominated. Iowa hasn’t had an athlete like Stuelke at forward in years–if ever–and she is already a very good rebounder and elite finisher. She will play significant minutes in a big or small lineup.

But the one major flaw of Stuelke’s game as a freshman was her shooting. She shot just 1-6 from three-point range during her freshman season, and clearly wasn’t comfortable outside the paint. She also shot just 47% from the free throw line on 87 attempts.

Stuelke has worked on her shooting so far in the off-season, and those efforts are paying off from the three-point line. In Iowa’s first two games abroad, Stuelke went 3-5 from three, including a 2-4 effort against Team Slammers in Italy. Five shots is a tiny sample size, but seeing Stuelke have the confidence to take four three-pointers in a game and hit two of them is still encouraging.

Free throws are still a major concern, though. In Iowa’s first two games, Stuelke went a combined 0-6 from the line. She then bounced back in a big way in the final game, going 8-11 from the line.

Stuelke’s development at the line will be a key for Iowa’s 2023-24 season. If she shoots like she did in game three, free throws won’t be a major concern. If she shoots more like she did in the first two games, Hack-a-Hannah could become a staple of Iowa games like Hack-a-Shaq was for the Lakers in the 2000s.

A 4-guard lineup is attractive for Iowa because the team has at least 6 or 7 quality guard options. Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, and Gabbie Marshall have all started for most of their Iowa careers and will play big roles again.

Sydney Affolter carved out a backup role last year, and arguably had Iowa’s best performance abroad. Against Team Slammers in Italy she scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting and grabbed 16 rebounds. She followed that with 9 points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes in game two. In game three, she did a little of everything, with 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a block.

Affolter’s exceptional rebounding as a guard could help mitigate the height disadvantage Iowa might face in a 4-guard lineup. She’s also the type of player who can have a significant impact on a game without needing to take a lot of shots.

Molly Davis was a big scorer at Central Michigan (18.6 ppg in 2021-22), but was more passive in her first season at Iowa, preferring to facilitate. In Europe, Davis decided to attack, and scored early and often with efficiency. She was 6-8 from the floor against Team Slammers and 7-9 against KK Tresnjevka.

Davis is on the ball most of the time that Clark is on the bench. If she can be a consistent scoring threat, that could be a big boost to Iowa’s second unit, and could give Iowa a new look when Clark and Davis are on the floor together.

Taylor McCabe also saw significant playing time in Iowa’s European tour. McCabe flashed at times last season with her three-point shooting, especially late in games where Iowa had a significant lead. In Europe, she shot 44% from three, making 11 triples in total. This year she will look to carve out a role at the 2, and could give Marshall some needed rest while presenting opposing defenses with a shooting threat they can’t help off of.

When Kylie Feuerbach went down with an ACL tear in early August 2022, most expected that she would be back for the full 2023-2024 season. That may still happen, but she wasn’t able to play in any of Iowa’s games in Europe.

Feuerbach has significant experience in her college career, and that plus her athleticism would be another big asset for Iowa off of the bench. Hopefully Feuerbach can get healthy in time for fall practice.

Finally, for those interested in reading more about Iowa's time abroad, Stuelke has been blogging about her experiences every few days.