Iowa women face tough schedule after 7-0 start in Big Ten
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Iowa has gotten off to a strong start in Big Ten play, winning its first seven conference games.
The 10th-ranked Hawkeyes have the difficult part of their schedule in front of them with contests against Maryland, Ohio State, USC and UCLA in their next four games. The gauntlet starts Thursday at Maryland. A victory would give Iowa its best start in the conference since the 1995-96 team won its first 11 Big Ten games.
Iowa moved into the top 10 of the AP women’s basketball poll on Monday for the first time since Caitlin Clark’s senior season two years ago when the team finished No. 2. That was the last time the Hawkeyes started conference play 7-0.
The Hawkeyes are tied with UCLA atop the Big Ten standings with Michigan and Ohio State a game behind. This next stretch will go a long way to determining Iowa’s place in the Big Ten race. The team has continued to have success at home in front of sellout crowds. The Hawkeyes are 10-0 this season in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa has been on a roll since losing to No. 1 UConn right before the holidays. The team has won every game since led by senior forward Hannah Stuelke. She averaged 20 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists in wins over Oregon and then-No. 15 Michigan State last week.
“This senior year early, I think she felt a little bit of the tightness and sentimentality of being a senior and a little bit of the pressure,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. “And then she just kind of freed up and now she’s just doing it with her actions as she’s talking more, even on the floor she was trying to direct them.”
NET rating
With teams having most of last week off for the holidays, there wasn’t much change in the NET ratings Monday. UConn still holds the top spot with UCLA, Texas and South Carolina. The Longhorns were ahead of the Gamecocks despite losing to them last week.
Princeton and North Dakota State are the top mid-major teams coming in at 39 and 42 respectively.
The NET is just one tool the NCAA selection committee uses to figure out which teams make the NCAA Tournament and where they are seeded. It has predicted the winner pretty accurately since it first was used in 2021. Four of the five national champions were No. 1 in the NET on Selection Sunday.
Game of the week
No. 2 South Carolina at No. 16 Oklahoma, Thursday. The Gamecocks have a busy week ahead with a game at the Sooners followed by a contest on Sunday against undefeated No. 5 Vanderbilt.
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Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball