"She's not afraid", Taylor Stremlow looks to make an impact in her freshman year

If you got the opportunity to step into the practice gym at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and observe an Iowa Women’s Basketball preseason practice, you might notice a certain guard on the roster tossing passes, sometimes risky ones, all around the court.

Your first thought probably would not be that she is a freshman still trying to learn the ropes and prepare for her first season of collegiate basketball. But so far through fall practice, freshman guard Taylor Stremlow has not conformed to the normal freshman ‘don’t mess up’ train of thought. Her aggressiveness and basketball IQ is the reason why she is pushing to be a part of the rotation in her first season at Iowa.

“She’s not afraid to take a chance on a pass, and that’s kind of fun. Thankfully we’re used to that with Caitlin, so when she’s trying to whip it from a long way away, we’re able to manage that,” said head coach Jan Jensen at team media day. “But what I like is that she sees the court and she’s not a true point guard, and she’s edgy. She’s willing to take a little risk.”

“What’s important about that for freshmen is a lot of times they’re just so worried about learning it and doing it perfectly, Taylor’s ability to kind of push the edge, that makes you better. It makes herself better…She has a freedom to be like, hey, I’m going to try this. No one has told me I can’t do this, so I’m going to try it. That’s really important, I think, to becoming all that you can be when you’re not so worried about making a mistake.”

Hawkeye fans are going to love what Taylor Stremlow can do with the ball in her hands as a passer and a ball handler. She is a playmaker. https://t.co/Pns9xzY9uw

— Kyle Huesmann (@HuesmannKyle) July 10, 2024

A four-star recruit out of Verona High School in the Madison area, Stremlow was rated as the #94 player in the country for the class of ’24 by ESPN. She chose the Hawkeyes over Illinois, Penn State and Wisconsin, while she also had offers from schools like Iowa State, Kansas State and Minnesota.

For the Verona Wildcats, Taylor was a bit of a do-it-all player, averaging 18.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 5.8 steals per game as a senior. She was named Big Eight Player of the Year as a junior and senior, finishing her high school career with 1,065 points, 600 rebounds, 562 assists and 377 steals. A variety of things stand out when you watch her on the floor, including her ball handling skills, court vision, rebounding and ability to make plays for herself and her teammates.

“I’ve gotten the ‘it’s not high school anymore’, and I absolutely feel that, but it’s still basketball and it’s still fun,” said Stremlow. “I think, especially in practices, knowing your personnel, knowing who to throw it to, who’s going to be looking and when, that’s the fun part for me. I’m just trying to get to know everybody, get to know the little nooks and crannies where I can drop it off and hopefully get a better feel and make those plays when it’s needed.”

“Thinking about how far I’ve come learning wise, that’s because of the coaches and it’s because of my teammates. Everybody’s been super helpful, answering questions all the time and just being there around every corner. Learning wise, I’m drastically improved from the first practice to now.”

There is opportunity available for Stremlow to crack into the rotation at the guard position, especially early in the season. The Hawkeyes do not return a single starting guard from last season and return just 29.5% of their minutes played by guards. With Syd Affolter questionable for the first half of November, Kylie Feuerbach could slide into the lineup for the first couple of games. That, coupled with the fact that freshman point guard Aaliyah Guyton still has not started practicing coming off of ACL surgery last winter means that Stremlow could be the backup point guard and the first guard off the bench right away.

“Practices have been challenging in that regard. We don’t have a true point backup, so I’ve slid other kids over that need to kind of help hold serve in that,” said Jan Jensen. “Taylor Stremlow is more of a wing guard, but she’s crafty, fun and gutty. She hasn’t shied away from trying to run the point position when we need to give Lucy a break.”

“Probably being aggressive and being smart,” said Stremlow on where she feels like she has grown most from day one. “Making high IQ plays, making plays where I can and just being loud and vocal, and trying to keep pushing everybody.”

Rotations and possible playing time aside for Taylor, reality is starting to set in that in just two weeks, she will take the floor at Carver for her first collegiate game against DII Missouri Western, and then a week later for the season opener against Northern Illinois. She was nearly speechless when trying to describe the feeling of soon getting to play in front of 15,000 Iowa fans.

“Crazy exciting, and a little nerve wracking. I haven’t even played in front of it, and I can’t even describe it,” said Stremlow. “It’s just getting more and more real. You always think about it, you always dream about it, but now it’s a reality and that’s pretty cool.”

“I want to have a positive impact, and I want some people in the crowd to look up to me, some little girls, some little boys, really anybody. I hope I’m someone that my teammates can come to, can talk to and that I play with joy throughout the whole season, and hopefully get on the court and have an impact.”