Iowa has a tough path

Looks like the committee does not want CC to get anywhere near the championship game. It would sure be great to disappoint them but it is asking quite a lot of us. Just beat LSU!
 
Iowa's draw is really not that bad. KState has problems on offense, and if all you have to do to get to the Elite 8 is beat a Top 15-20 team, you can't complain about that. It's unfortunate the Hawks drew LSU in their bracket, but everybody knew that was going to happen. It was a horrible matchup for Iowa last year, and the Tigers remain a nightmare matchup for the Hawks again this year...gotta hope the Bruins come through.
 
Our bracket has 7 really tough teams in it. The thing of it is that we only have to play a maximum of 2 of them. Playing KSU in the Sweet 16 is a typical Sweet 16 draw for a 1 seed. A really good team but not a world beater. The Elite 8 game will be tough as heck but it's the Elite 8, it's supposed to be. It's the bracket with the toughest teams, but when 4 of them are in the same half of the bracket, it makes it a better chance for the 2 or 3 to get knocked off early.
 
Well all those same teams looked at their bracket and are saying shit, they gotta go through Iowa to get there too. It's certainly a different feeling being the hunted instead of the hungry hunter. But I'll take our chances with CC. We have her and nobody else does.
 
Grady said:
Iowa's draw is really not that bad. KState has problems on offense, and if all you have to do to get to the Elite 8 is beat a Top 15-20 team, you can't complain about that. It's unfortunate the Hawks drew LSU in their bracket, but everybody knew that was going to happen. It was a horrible matchup for Iowa last year, and the Tigers remain a nightmare matchup for the Hawks again this year...gotta hope the Bruins come through.
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That's kinda where I'm at now. Kstate is good but they're on a downward trajectory so who knows. UCLA and LSU are great, but we only have to play one of them. Now if they would have dropped LSU to the 4 seed to make them play us in the sweet 16, then that would have been really bad. Meeting a good team in the sweet 16 and a great team in the elite 8 is expected.
 
#1DieHardHawk said:
Facing Kansas State without Molly Davis is daunting, IMO.

Syd and McCabe are capable back-ups, but neither is a play-maker. McCabe is basically a small two with an excellent 3-point shot, while Syd is a scrappy do-it-all type, but not the type of player that will break down a defense and distribute to make teams pay for face-guarding Clark and/or pressing. KSU is very adept at both.

If we are hitting from the outside and our back-up centers are at least contributing on both ends, we can beat anybody, but the margin of error will be razor thin, especially if Molly can't return at close to 100%. Right now she can't even practice. Not looking promising unfortunately.
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So many things here. First our defense has been exponentially better since Molly went down, Affolter almost led the team in scoring since inserted, McCabe's 3 points percentage speaks for itself. Molly cannot break down the defense...we are actually playing better now. Not Affolter, McCabe, or Kylie's fault they were not played earlier this year...a real travesty for those 3 girls.
 
M1911A1Hawkeye said:
bleacherreport.com

Video: Caitlin Clark Called Out by WVU HC Mark Kellogg Ahead of Potential Iowa Game

West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg set a straightforward goal for the Mountaineers ahead of the 2024 NCAA tournament. "Let's win one and let's send Caitlin…
bleacherreport.com bleacherreport.com
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I get it -- beat the Hawks and your program will have more publicity and notoriety than they've ever had before in their program. Why not hype it? Shoot, it's not like they won't have a chance.
 
PCHawk said:
That's kinda where I'm at now. Kstate is good but they're on a downward trajectory so who knows. UCLA and LSU are great, but we only have to play one of them. Now if they would have dropped LSU to the 4 seed to make them play us in the sweet 16, then that would have been really bad. Meeting a good team in the sweet 16 and a great team in the elite 8 is expected.
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K-State's post missed 6 games, they are a bad matchup for Iowa...and UCLA is even worse.
 
loesshillshawk said:
So many things here. First our defense has been exponentially better since Molly went down, Affolter almost led the team in scoring since inserted, McCabe's 3 points percentage speaks for itself. Molly cannot break down the defense...we are actually playing better now. Not Affolter, McCabe, or Kylie's fault they were not played earlier this year...a real travesty for those 3 girls.
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I agree that we are better defensively with Syd on the court, but I think you're selling Molly's impact short.

With a team like KSU (which prides itself on defense, pressing and face-guarding Caitlin), you need another reliable ball-handler and creative scorer. Also, when healthy, Molly has a moxie on the offensive end that the entire team feeds off of. Hopefully, we cruise right past them, but this is the kind of match-up where not having her could bite us.
 
We would always rather have Molly available but if she is not we will have to play anyhow and with three starters to replace next year it is good to gain experience for someone who will be back next year.
 
loesshillshawk said:
So many things here. First our defense has been exponentially better since Molly went down, Affolter almost led the team in scoring since inserted, McCabe's 3 points percentage speaks for itself. Molly cannot break down the defense...we are actually playing better now. Not Affolter, McCabe, or Kylie's fault they were not played earlier this year...a real travesty for those 3 girls.
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You might not be wrong.
 
"We would always rather have Molly available but if she is not we will have to play anyhow and with three starters to replace next year it is good to gain experience for someone who will be back next year."

When Molly went down, I knew immediately her season was done. Maybe it wasn't a torn ACL. But even if the season went into June, no way would we have gotten the Molly with the confidence she once had ball-handling, driving and shooting back. Bluder might be disappointed that she "isn't further along" but to me that is hardly unexpected. It is really unfortunate though.
 
GVGiant44 said:
"We would always rather have Molly available but if she is not we will have to play anyhow and with three starters to replace next year it is good to gain experience for someone who will be back next year."

When Molly went down, I knew immediately her season was done. Maybe it wasn't a torn ACL. But even if the season went into June, no way would we have gotten the Molly with the confidence she once had ball-handling, driving and shooting back. Bluder might be disappointed that she "isn't further along" but to me that is hardly unexpected. It is really unfortunate though.
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Yeah at no point the rest of the season will Davis be 100% and able to play 25 plus mins. She just won't she'd have to get back in shape again. I think people forget that when athletes like that stop running cold turkey like that for 3 weeks or whatever it's been it takes awhile to work back into shape. Just getting their lungs back to run at that level and intensity takes time. And that's assuming the knee is strong and good to go.

If we can get Molly back for the last 2 or 3 games (assuming we get that far) and she can play some spot mins here and there maybe 10-12 tops that'd be great. But anyone expecting her to just slide back into the starting lineup again and play 20 plus mins of great ball is fooling themselves. It just doesn't work that way.
 
#1DieHardHawk said:
I agree that we are better defensively with Syd on the court, but I think you're selling Molly's impact short.

With a team like KSU (which prides itself on defense, pressing and face-guarding Caitlin), you need another reliable ball-handler and creative scorer. Also, when healthy, Molly has a moxie on the offensive end that the entire team feeds off of. Hopefully, we cruise right past them, but this is the kind of match-up where not having her could bite us.
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^^^^This. With Molly Davis in the lineup, CC can play off the ball and just hunt for shots, without MD, CC has to run the offense and figure out how to get buckets for 30+ minutes a game.
 
trj said:
^^^^This. With Molly Davis in the lineup, CC can play off the ball and just hunt for shots, without MD, CC has to run the offense and figure out how to get buckets for 30+ minutes a game.
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Iowa is best when the ball is in Caitlin’s hands and it’s not even close. The threat of her shooting draws multiple defenders to her and that’s when she finds her teammates for layups and open threes.
 
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