New faces, same Hawkeyes: What will and won't change under Jan Jensen

If you stood outside of the practice gym at Carver-Hawkeye Arena during a practice this summer, you’d never guess that the Iowa Women’s Basketball team is going through some changes. The energy, excitement and enthusiasm you’d be able to hear through the door is the same as it’s always been. That’s the Hawkeye culture.

However, things are different. For the first time in a quarter of a century, Lisa Bluder is no longer the head coach. Now, it’s Jan Jensen. As for her roster? There’s some change there too. Five veteran players went out and six new players have come in. It’s a lot of change for a program that has gone to back-to-back national title games.

“One thing we always say, the names on the back of the jerseys may change and, I guess, even the seat of the head coach, but the culture remains,” said eighth-year assistant coach Raina Harmon. “I think (practice) still feels like and sounds like what’s it’s felt like and sounded like from our last seven years here, so that’s a testament to the culture.”

In some ways, it may have been the perfect time for a head coaching change. The Hawkeyes are in the midst of some roster turnover that they haven’t seen for quite a while. They return just two starters, which is the least since 2020-21 when Monika Czinano was the only returning starter. There are six new players on the roster, including five freshman. While the team is trying to figure out who they are going to be this season, first-year head coach Jan Jensen is trying to put her stamp on the program.

“It’s been interesting, just watching how Jan is going about practice and choosing her pace and really being detailed into explaining why we’re doing things,” said Harmon. “The pace is a little bit slower, but I think it gives Jan an opportunity to find what she wants to emphasize throughout the season. I think it’s been a seamless transition really.”

Although the program is under new direction, don’t expect Jan Jensen to make wholesale changes, especially on the offensive end. The Hawkeyes have ranked top 20 in scoring offense for each of the last seven seasons. Iowa and Troy are the only teams that can say that. There will be some small tweaks, like different offensive sets, as Jan fits the system to her plans, but the goal will stay the same. Get up and down the floor and score points.

“I mean, if it ain’t broke,” said Raina Harmon with a laugh. “We’re not going to be doing a ton of things differently there. I think maybe the type of sets that will run, the way she’ll utilize the post and those sets will be a little bit different. But I think our main offense and our transition will look like how it looks.”

Personnel wise, Iowa could look a bit different and that is where we might see some changes with the way that they play. In the frontcourt, Addi O’Grady and Ava Heiden will handle play in the post, which will allow Hannah Stuelke to move out to her natural position at power forward. Raina Harmon thinks that subtle move could be a huge change for the offense. The Hawkeyes would be able to put 6’3/6’4 at center and the athletic 6’2 Stuelke at power forward.

“I think it really puts some pressure on the defense because (Hannah) then becomes a matchup nightmare. Even if we put her at the pinch post, you’ve got to go to the elbow. If you go there, she’s going to take you off the dribble.”

“You’re talking about maybe getting a few more offensive rebounds than we’ve gotten in the past and then being able to get defensive rebounds to get down on the floor as quickly as we have been? I think that’s that’s probably the biggest difference.”

As a whole, this team has more drive first players than they have in the past. Lucy Olsen, Syd Affolter, Kylie Feuerbach, Hannah Stuelke, Taylor Stremlow and Teagan Mallegni all have the ability to get downhill and finish at the basket. Getting into the paint with drives will open up chances to kick out for three-pointers, but will also open up opportunities for post players in the midrange.

“We haven’t always been a team that’s been a driving team first, right?” said Harmon. “I think we’re going to put a lot more pressure just by getting downhill a little bit more and by nature, the posts have to get out of the post and go to that short corner and that high post range.”

“We’ve always taught that (shot). But I think because we’ve had so much efficiency being on the block, it’s like, well, we don’t necessarily need to move them…We might be a little bit different just looking at the first step of some of these kids that we have on our team right now. Our posts are definitely going to be sliding to the short corner to the high post, so being able to knock those down at a good efficiency is gonna be super key.”

Although many expect the offense to take step back with Caitlin Clark in the WNBA, the Hawkeyes have all the personnel needed to surprise some people and put together another potent scoring attack.

While offense has always been a hallmark of the Iowa women’s basketball team, it’s the defense that has at times had some struggles. The Hawkeyes have grown in that area, but still have ranked 350th, 216th, 217th and 211th in defensive rating over the last four years, as well as 302nd, 284th, 270th and 259th in turnovers forced per game. Despite those numbers, Raina Harmon thinks the team could be in for a big jump this year.

“I think this team is going to be really good defensively.”

“We’ve got some long scrappy guards that get after it. What Addi is able to do changing shots in the post, but I think Ava Heiden is going to come in and do that. You look at her vertical, it’s ridiculous. One of the biggest changes, if we can be able to slide Hannah to the four playing with Addi or Ava, that just makes us that much bigger.”

The departure of Gabbie Marshall does hurt on the defensive end of the floor, as she was tasked with guarding the opposing teams best guard on a nighly basis. Assistant coach Abby Stamp says that Kylie Feuerbach could be called on to be the team’s next shutdown defender.

“Gabbie took on a lot of that for us last year and I can see Kylie taking on a big role in being able to guard and lock down defensively.”

“It’s just believing in herself, kind of giving her that ability to play free and we’ve really challenged her to do that in scrimmages and everything this summer is just go for it. I think she’s the type of kid that just needs to kind of take the leash off and go and you’ll see some of those type of plays we saw from her where she’s gonna get steals, deflections, and lead it to offense for us on the other end.”