Women’s NCAA

Creighton 64, Iowa 62
For the most part I try not to come down on the officials. They have a tough job to do and they make mistakes.
Last Sunday at Carver I have never heard so many boos by the sold-out crowd and have never seen Lisa Bluder so upset with the calls. It wasn’t that they were calling too many fouls but not enough on a very physical game.
“I do believe the game was called differently than it was all year, and that is unfortunate,” said Bluder. “We average going to the free throw line 18 times, we go eight today.”
It didn’t help that Iowa shot a season low 37% from the floor and were out rebounded 52-37.
Monica Czinano had 27 and Caitlin Clark 15 with 11 assists, but the Hawks had only four bench points, Creighton 15.
I would have bet anyone that either the Hawkeye men or women would have at least made it to the Sweet 16, but both seasons are now over.
Iowa 98, Illinois State 58
A big time thanks to the Iowa Hawkeye women for their first-round win in the NCAA Tournament. About 24 hours before, the Hawkeye men lost in the opening round to Richmond. That took a little out of the sting of the men losing.
You start with shooting. The Hawks came out smoking, hitting 33-of-55 (60%) from the floor, 12-of-26 (42%) from three and 21-of-22 (95%) from the free throw line. How about Monica Czinano going 6-of-6 from the floor and the free throw line, scoring 18.
“I’m just kind of disappointed Monica didn’t get more shots,” said Bluder. “She’s perfect from the field and perfect from the free throw line.”
Balanced scoring always helps when you start to play better competition.
You have a good feeling Clark, the nation’s leading scorer, would get her points. She did with 27, right at her season average, adding 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Gabbie Marshall and Tomi Taiwo scored 13 coming off the bench.
If the Hawks want to make a run in the tournament, they can’t just rely on Catlin. “The more weapons you have, the harder you are to defend,” said Bluder.
Twenty-five assists on 33 baskets makes Bluder happy. The Hawks had 10 steals and four blocked shots. Both Clark and Marshall had three steals which led to layups. Kate Martin had a career-high three blocked shots, including one that brought the house down.
Iowa had a 34-20 advantage on points in the paint and 24-2 on fast break points. When the Hawks are running, they are tough to stop.
The sellout crowd was loud and gave Iowa a lot of love. It was the biggest margin of victory for the Hawkeyes in a NCAA Tournament game.

Men are one and done

The first heart break I had with the Hawkeyes came in 1970 when Pembrock Burrows III tipped in a last second shot against the Hawks and Jacksonville won the Sweet 16 game, 104-103. For me, that was the greatest Iowa team in my lifetime.
I was born in 1954, so the great teams of 1955 and 1956 were something I had to read about. The 1955 team went to the Final Four and the 1956 team was beaten in the finals by San Francisco, led by Bill Russell, who had 26 points and 27 rebounds in the 83-71 win.
Back to 1970, the Hawks ran the table going 14-0 in the Big Ten. They averaged over 102 points per game in the Big Ten, which is still the record. That was before the 3-point line and the 30 second clock There were only 28 teams in the NCAA Tournament that year, so Iowa’s first game was the Sweet 16 against Jacksonville.
Fred Brown had 27, Glen Vidnovic 24, Chad Calabria 21 and John Johnson 19. There was a rumour after the game that Johnson was sick.
Jacksonville had 7-2 Artis Gilmore scoring 30 points with 17 rebounds and 6-11 Pembrock Burrows scored 23. Iowa’s biggest man was Dick Jensen at 6-8.
There have been quite a few heartbreaking losses throughout the years, but the 67-63 loss to Richmond last week in the first round of the NCAA tourney will have to go way up there.
Winning the Big Ten tournament was the high point, losing to Richmond, four days later, the low. I give Richmond credit, they didn’t back down. I’m not giving them credit for Iowa missing wide open threes. Patrick McCaffery was 4-of-7, Jordan Bohannon 2-of-7, the rest of the team 0-of-15.
The toughest part of the loss may be Keegan Murray’s last game as a Hawkeye. The first team All-American is projected a first-round pick by the NBA. In his final game for the Hawkeyes, Keegan had 21 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal and one blocked shot.

Wrestlers take third in NCAA Tournament

A season with high expectations ended with the Hawkeyes finishing third (74) behind first place Penn State (131.5) and second place Michigan (94).
I was so happy when Iowa won the NCAA Tournament last year, which was the first time since 2010.
When all of the wrestlers decided to come back, I was ready for a repeat.
Spencer Lee went down early in the season when the Hawks were ranked No. 1. Lee had both knees operated on and hopefully will be back close to 100% next year.
A friend of mine, who knows a lot about wrestling, said Lee would have been good for around 27 points in the NCAA Tournament. That would give Iowa 101 points and second place. It didn’t happen and that’s the way it goes.
Iowa had five All-Americans, Penn State five national champions.
Jacob Warner was second, Austin DeSanto third, Michael Kemerer fourth, Alex Marinelli fifth and Tony Cassioppi seventh.
Kemerer is the first five-time All-American for Iowa.
Five seniors ended their careers, combining for 20 All-American honors.
“These guys have been good for this program,” said head coach Tom Brands about the senior class. “It’s hard to put in words what they mean.”
To put it into perspective, if the Iowa football team finished third in the nation, it would be the best finish since the Hawkeyes ended the season ranked second in 1960.
For the men’s basketball team finishing third in the country, you would have to go back to 1956 when they finished second.
The women went to the Final Four in 1993, but lost the first game.
The Hawkeye wrestlers have set the bar high and a third-place finish isn’t high enough.