The college basketball season in Iowa officially came to an end over the weekend when the Iowa Hawkeye women lost to sixth ranked Baylor 81-66 in the sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City. It was the Hawks first trip to the sweet 16 in 1996 and they close the season with a 26-8 overall record, including 18-0 at home and a second place finish in the Big Ten.
“The whole season has been just one of those magical season where you don’t have a lot of problems, we didn’t have any injuries, we didn’t have any off-court problems, we didn’t have any on-court problems really. It was a disappointment not winning the Big 10, obviously that was one of our goals,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder says. Bluder says it was an easy team to coach as they wanted to do the work needed.
She says she will always remember this year because of the Sweet 16 and the senior class.
With two good recruiting classes already lined up the future of the program looks bright. “I have to believe that a Sweet 16 appearance is good for recruiting and I think the manner in which we play is good for recruiting, because I think people want to be a part of our team,” Bluder says.