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1ST: IOWA 77 #1 South Carolina 73 – 2023 NCAA Tournament Semi–Final, PART 2. Before the game started, I had listed four things the Hawkeye women needed to do to win the game – and in the midst of these four was the hope that all of the boxes of things our women needed to do were going to...

1ST: IOWA 77 #1 South Carolina 73 – 2023 NCAA Tournament Semi-Final - PART I. What does it take to defeat a team rated #1? In their history, Iowa men’s basketball teams have actually done it on a number of occasions. But that is the men – the women’s game is always a far different story...

2ND: IOWA 71 UConn 69 – 2024 NCAA Tournament National Semi–Final. Fair or unfair, there are certain teams that have placed themselves into the position of being the “blue bloods” of college basketball. Some teams on that list change from generation to generation, while others (Kansas in...

3RD: IOWA 94 LSU 87 – Elite Eight game, 2024. I doubt there is much debate over which three games fill the top spots in this “Top 25”. And probably not much more in terms of the order of the three. But a case could be made to put this game higher, simply because Iowa proved, for the...

4TH: IOWA 86 #2 Indiana 85 – Senior Day, 2023. How in the world did this Iowa team, that started out as a pretty good team with a young lady who was truly a generational talent, become downright elite, blowing past any number of really good teams to end up with back–to–back NCAA runner–up...

5TH: IOWA 97 Louisville 82 – Elite Eight game, 2023. This is a day that should’ve dawned with a hope and optimism not seen amongst Hawkeye fans for a long time. The Iowa women were facing a tough but beatable team seeded #5 in the NCAA tournament – Louisville, with the winner headed for...

6TH: IOWA 82 Iowa State 80 – Cy–Hawk Series Game in Iowa City, Late Fall of 2020. A great, great story has to start somewhere. And there is something really appropriate about the Caitlin Clark legend getting its start in a game against cross–state rival Iowa State. While neither of these...

7TH: IOWA 94 Nebraska 89, OT – Big Ten Conference Tournament final, 2024. No matter who you are and what you have to face, everyone has to learn that there are limitations in life – often gatherings of events that remind you that you just cannot be all and do all and enjoy all, whether you...

8TH: IOWA 89 #5 Maryland 84 – Big Ten Conference Tournament Semifinal, 2023. By the time you get to this spot on the list, most of the time, you would expect the game to have some kind of special significance, be it a trophy game, or something that makes it stand out from other games –...

9TH: IOWA 105 Ohio State 73 – Big Ten Conference Tournament final, 2023. No matter how well the Big Ten has stacked up against the rest of the nation’s teams in women’s college basketball through the years, the conference has been able to field some seriously good teams, a few of whom...

10TH: IOWA 74 Indiana 67 – Big Ten Conference Tournament final, 2022. Call the author of these one who remains confused over the importance given to the basketball conference tournaments. You can do battle in your conference during the regular season for two solid months, playing two and...

11TH: IOWA 93 #2 Ohio State 83 – Sr. Day, 2024. No matter what this game was called, who the opponent was, or how many were watching, this game – in fact, this entire day was about the incredible popularity of Caitlin Clark and the entire Iowa team, as she played her final conference game...

12TH: IOWA 104 #6 Michigan 80 – Sr. Day, 2022. Ordinarily, you would never expect “Senior Day” games to be in the “best–ever” games in an era. Usually, they are just feel–good home games you expect to win. And considering the schedule is prepared months beforehand, you cannot know what...

13TH: IOWA 74 Georgia 66 – NCAA Tournament Round of 32, 2023. Going into this 2nd–round game in Iowa City, the last thing both Hawk fans and the women themselves were expecting was a(nother) really difficult game. There was no reason to believe that this team had not learned their lesson...

17TH: IOWA 87 Colorado 77 – NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, 2023. When you recall that the first weekend of games in the NCAA women’s tournament are held in the arenas of the top four seeds of each regional, it was remarkable how many upsets there were that first weekend, spurred by the upset of...

18TH: IOWA 89 Colorado 68 – NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game, 2024. While Hawkeye fans had learned never to take anything for granted, especially when it came to NCAA tournament games, this was one game where they must’ve been really curious in terms of what they would actually see on this...

19TH: IOWA 80 #8 Virginia Tech 76 – 2023–’24 Season Ally Tip–off game in Charlotte, North Carolina. This game proves that success not only breeds imitation, it breeds all kinds of things never before thought possible (more on that later). OK, this was the inaugural event by this name. But...

20TH: IOWA 77 #16 Kansas State 70 – Gulf Coast Showcase Thanksgiving Weekend Tournament Championship in Estero, Florida – 2023. This game makes the top 20 for two reasons. #1 is that Kansas State seemed to have been Iowa’s kryptonite, as the Wildcats took both games of an early–season...

21ST: IOWA 96 [at] #5 Indiana 91 – 2022 Regular season. If a team is going to transition from being just OK to good to finally getting to be downright elite, one thing that has to happen is the ability to beat any team on any floor, including on the opposing team’s home floor. And that can’t...

22ND: IOWA 73 (#3 seed) Rutgers 62 – Big Ten Conference Tournament Quarterfinals game, 2021. It has already been written about how an abundance of patience has paid off for fans of the Hawkeye women. Remembering that this particular game took place well before the “glory years”, this may have...