1993 was the first time the Hawkeyes went to the Final Four.
Vivian Stringer was head coach for Iowa.
Lisa Bluder was head coach at Drake.
Ohio State beat Iowa 73-72 in overtime.
I was at a convention in St. Louis that weekend and I remember watching the game in my hotel room. In 1993 I was living in Holiday Lodge and hadn’t started working for the Solon paper.
Hayden Fry was the head football coach, Tom Davis head basketball, and Dan Gable ran the wrestling program.
The Hawks won the NCAA championship that year in wrestling.
What a surprise.
Great players shine brightly when the lights are on and the game is on the line.
How could you shine any brighter than Caitlin Clark as she became the first player in NCAA history to record a 40 point triple double with 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds?
Caitlin played 38:58 minutes and had three steals.
“She really is spectacular,” said coach Lisa Bluder. “I don’t know what else to say.”
The Cardinals had jumped out to an 8-0 lead when Caitlin took over.
The three time all American either scored or passed the Hawkeyes to a 25-21 lead and Iowa never trailed again.
Louisville was jamming up Monica Czinano down low and held her to nine points.
McKenna Warnock scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half.
Gabby Marshall, who was 0-4 in the first half finished with 14 points.
Gabby made three 3-pointers, McKenna three, and Kate Martin two 3-pointers.
The Hawks shot 45.7% (16-35) from three.
That is a winning formula.
The Hawkeyes’ 30 wins is the most in program history.
Iowa 87 Colorado 73
This was another one of those grind it out games on Friday.
There were eight lead changes and four ties.
The Hawks started strong but the Buffaloes took a 40-39 lead at half.
Isn’t it nice to know you have a 3-time first team All American that can take over a game at any time?
That’s what Caitlin Clark did in the third period.
Caitlin scored 11 of her game high 31 points in the third quarter along with three of her eight assists as Iowa outscored Colorado 25-13 to take a 64-53 lead and held on for the win.
“Third quarter was a really big difference maker for us,” said coach Bluder. “I thought in the third quarter we really got our transition game going.”
Iowa shot 69% in the third quarter, out rebounded Colorado (10-6) and had more points in the paint (14-8).
It was nice to have four players in double figures with Monica Czinano, who was in foul trouble, finish with 15 points while playing only 28 minutes.
All of the other starters played over 36 minutes.
Addison O’Grady came in for Monica scoring four with two boards.
“I think Addison came in and did a great job for us when Monica got into foul trouble,” said Lisa. “Really happy for Addison and how she contributed to this win.”
Kate Martin was 2-3 from three, 8-11 from the free throw line finishing with 16 points and six rebounds.
For the season, Kate is shooting 39% from 3-point land which is the best in her four year career.
McKenna Warnock was her usual self with her 12 points and four rebounds.
McKenna averages 10.9 points and has scored in double figures 17 times this season.
Gabby Marshall played solid defense and scored seven points including 3-pointer.
The 5-9 guard has made 20-37 3-pointers in tournament play.
The Hawkeyes 29 wins ties for the most in program history.
The 87 points is the most Colorado has given up this season.
Hawkeye Spring 2-Deeps 2023
For the last two years the Iowa Hawkeye offense has been bad and yet the Hawks have won 18 games including a Bowl win over Kentucky.
How did they do it?
Two words — Phil Parker, the Iowa defensive coordinator.
Last year the Iowa defense led the nation allowing 3.9 yards per play.
They also had the best passing yards per attempt (5.3).
The Hawks held opponents to under 13 points in 10 of 13 games.
Iowa led the nation with six defensive touchdowns.
The offense in 2022 averaged 17.7 points and 251 total yards per game.
Iowa was ranked 130th out of 131 FBS teams in total offence averaging 251 total offense per game.
Two years ago Iowa won the West Division with a 10-4 record, 7-2 in the conference.
Iowa averaged 23.4 points and gave up 19.2.
According to Brian Ferentz’s contract, he would be fired after the season.
Iowa has to average 25 points and win seven games.
So what if Iowa is leading 21-3, the ball is on the 50 and there are two minutes left?
Do the Hawks take a knee like they usually do or at least drive down to try to kick a field goal to get closer to 25 points?
The offensive line, one of trademarks of Iowa, hasn’t been very good the last couple of seasons.
You start with junior left tackle Mason Richman (6-6, 308).
Mason played as a true freshman has played in 28 games and has started the last 25.
Left guard is junior Connor Colby (6-6, 308).
Connor has played in 26 games with 24 starts.
Both were academic All-Big Ten.
Junior Logan Jones (6-3, 285) is listed as the starting center.
Logan started in all 13 games last year and won the Next Man in Award on offense.
The right guard is sophomore Beau Stephens (6-6, 307).
Beau played in 13 games last year with 10 starts.
Senior Nick DeJong (6-6, 300) is the right tackle.
Nick has played in 34 games with 17 starts and joined the Hawkeyes as a walk on.
The front five has 89 starts under their belt.
It’s time to step up and produce.
I’ll talk about the backups in August.

Gallery • 1 Photos

Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com • Contributed Photo

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) makes a breakaway layup during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Sweet 16 game against the Colorado Buffalos Friday, March 24 in Seattle.