ALBANY, N.Y. — Before Iowa State women's basketball's Sweet 16 game against Colorado on Saturday, coach Lisa Bluder gathered her players in a circle, as she always does, with their feet intertwined to emphasize the team's close bond.
The 14 Hawkeye players approach these circles with great anticipation. Bluder, who has four decades of coaching experience, always seems to bring a different and inspiring message to the group.
“It's very easy to have high expectations,” said backup post AJ Ediger, “because it's never the same.”
On Saturday, Bluder wanted to be reminded that the Hawkeyes have everything they need to beat Colorado and advance to the program's third Elite Eight tournament in the last five NCAA Tournaments.
Sharon Goodman, another reserve player, felt early on that Bluder would go around the circle and say something about each player and what they mean to the team — and why they are going to win.
What she told sixth-year senior leader Kate Martin: “I was going to lead us to the Elite Eight, and I am an exceptional leader,” Martin said.
Sniper Taylor McCabe came in second place. “You're a shooter,” Bluder told her.
Bluder's letter to Goodman: “Nicest person I know.”
To Ediger: “You've had too much determination and toughness for me.”
To Kylie Feuerbach: “You are versatile and will do whatever the team needs.”
To senior Gabe Marshall: “You're going to do whatever it takes to win the game, whether it's defending or knocking down shots.”
To Jada Gyamfi, another emotional leader off the bench: “That's a great teammate.”
Belder, who had 526 wins in 24 seasons at Iowa and a stellar record before that at Drake, wanted to stress the point that it will take everyone to get where this team wants to go. This is the Final Four in Cleveland, and two other games won there as well.
This message resonated. The top-seeded Hawkeyes in Albany Region 2 played one of their best and most complete games, both offensively and defensively, in an 89-68 win over the fifth-seeded Buffaloes.
Next: a lot of outside noise. On ESPN and in many Internet headlines, Monday night's epic matchup between Iowa and LSU on Monday night will revolve around Angel Reese vs. Caitlin Clark.
They all get that. Reese, the LSU forward, said Sunday she has nothing but love for Clark off the field but when they're on the field, they're no friends. Clark, the Iowa State guard, plans to set the court on fire herself with a Final Four point on the line at 6 p.m. CT Monday at MVP Arena (ESPN).
“Both of us want to win more than anything else, and that's how it should be when you're a competitor and you get into a situation like that,” Clark said before adding an important addition to her answer. “This goes for the entire LSU roster. This goes for the entire Iowa State roster. Every one of us wants this so badly.”
Angel vs. Caitlin has huge numbers at the box office, perhaps approaching or surpassing the 9.9 million TV viewers who watched LSU win the national championship game against Iowa last April in Dallas.
But for the Hawkeyes, the only number that mattered Sunday and Monday was 14 — the number of players on the roster.
Maccabi is in the 'White Team' alongside players like Feuerbach, Ediger, Goodman and Gyamfi. The “Black Team” is the starting five plus top reserve center Addison O’Grady. McCabe admitted that sometimes it's hard not to play so much. For McCabe, who has a nice three-pointer but isn't getting many minutes even with Molly Davis (knee) out again, Bluder's message in the circle was timely and uplifting.
“We get more reps than they often do,” McCabe said. “We're not going to get a lot of feedback, we're not going to get film, we're not going to get time with the coaches, things like that. Just for you to reiterate our strengths, I know that means a lot to us.”
Bluder is a smart tactician, including in the mental game. Forward Hannah Stolke was given the honor of putting “IOWA” on her NCAA bracket in the locker room after the game following its win over Colorado. Stuelke was great on the glass and there may not be a more important player for the Hawkeyes on Monday. We know Clark will perform well, but Iowa will need Stolke to keep Reese and Anissa Morrow off the glass. Giving Stuelke as much confidence as possible entering this tough matchup against the defending national champions is important.
“I really like Hannah’s game,” Reese said. “She's a strong serve player. She's more versatile than (Monica) Cinano, so I know I'll have to guard her a lot higher than I had to guard Cinano last year.”
LSU believes Morrow, an athletic power forward, poses Iowa's biggest mismatch problem. The Hawkeyes will likely use both Martin and Sydney Affolter against them and try to confuse defenses. The bounce was confirmed about a dozen times in Iowa's 30 minutes of media availability on Sunday.
Another factor at LSU is bringing a legendary coach to the table in Kim Mulkey, who said she has always talked trash since her playing days. He was never Bluder. Bluder's style is simple, but she's back in the Elite Eight and deserves to be recognized as an elite coach.
“She's definitely the greatest coach ever,” Affolter said. “But outside of basketball, she is absolutely amazing and cares about us even more as a basketball player.”
Martin added: “She really instills great values in us, and believes that every person on our team is important. It doesn't matter if you're Caitlin, who plays 40 minutes a game, or if you're someone who doesn't play.” Our team is important.”
Mulkey and her LSU players were asked Sunday if beating Iowa a year ago was an advantage, or if there was a greater emotional advantage going into the game as a losing team. Good question. Mulkey's answer was interesting.
“I can’t imagine (Iowa) being more motivated than my team,” Mulkey said. “I can't imagine it.”
This was the closest thing to Sunday billboard material.
However, the Hawkeyes have plenty of motivation, from one to 14, to keep this magical season alive.
Gyamfi said: “We really don't want to lose this match, not because of the stories that everyone wants, but we want to see each other in training on Tuesday after the match. I think this will be our fire.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Listico served 29 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and the NSMA Associate Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad's texting group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
“Travel aficionado. Infuriatingly humble reader. Incurable internet specialist.”
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