Poll of women’s basketball, to take away: Iowa is still merging despite a great victory over the USC in the middle of the retirement of Caitlin Clark Jersey

Iowa City, Iowa – Lucy Olsen partially attributes Caitlin Clark for the reason that it is in Iowa.

The macro image is what Clark did for the sport of women’s basketball, that an important audience watched Olsen directed one of the main upheavals of the season. The microphone is that the graduation of Clark left a vacuum to the mouthrier that the long-standing assistant and the head coach Jan Jensen had to fill. She plunged into the transfer portal for Olsen, a three -year starter in Villanova.

It was not easy. The Iowa (15-7, 5-6 Big Ten) entered the year in important expectations because of the historic consecutive trips of Clark and its teammates in the Final Four. But it’s not this team. They lost 14 years of experience with Clark graduates, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. It is a new start of five people led by a newcomer.

“What is more difficult to understand from the outside is when you transfer as a senior, and you are a leader, you are always very new, and you try to learn and execute it, And there are a lot of things that happen in your head, “said Jensen.

Olsen played his best match in an Iowa jersey in an USC 76-69 upheaval n ° 4 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. She took over in the fourth quarter, marking 15 of her 28 seasonal points while Clark applauded each of the crowd. One and one of Olsen in the decreasing minutes pushed the margin out of reach.

“I think it sometimes takes time,” said Olsen. “Five new beginners. (Sydney Affolter) and Hannah (Stualke) were here, but the rest of us needed to learn to play with each other. »»

The upheaval alone does not push Iowa in the AP survey. The Hawkeyes lost five games in a row in January and had only one victory against a top 25 team before Sunday. It was a six -point victory on Rival Iowa State, which has since dropped the consideration of the NCAA tournament, not to mention the survey. But that puts Olsen, whose favorite mid -range rider finally hit the net regularly in a tight match, and the Hawkeyes on a confident track.

“I think there are a lot of promises for these next seven games and, hopefully, the Big Ten tournament,” said Jensen.

Jensen said that it was not in the form that this victory will define their season. They have work to be done, and the overview of Iowa is a foundation for their young players to return to a national competitor of the title on the way to Clark, the reason for which many of them were committed in iowa. They can always make noise on the way to him and create more difficult paths for their Big Ten Frères.

High markers in the dry

The first year student of Vanderbilt Mikayla Blakes and the student graduated in Georgia, Georgia Amoore, presented road shows this week. Their score performance ranks in the top five this season.

Blakes scored 53 points in a 99-86 victory against Florida Thursday to break the marking record for the first year of the NCAA of Juju Watkins. Watkins scored 51 while firing 53.8% in Stanford on February 2, 2024. The brand of Blakes is a score record in a dry match, whatever the class and a rating record from Vanderbilt. The Khamil Pierre teammate scored 42 on December 16.

Blakes, recruit n ° 8 in the class, is one of the main first -year students of the year with UCONN striker Sarah Strong. Strong is on average fewer points (17 ppg), but on better efficiency and more production in the statistics sheet (7.8 RPG, 3.6 APG).

Blakes and Pierre are each on average at least 20 points over the season and draw at least 47% in total for Vanderbilt (18-5, 5-4 sec). The team is an average of seventh record of 85.3 points per game while ranking the top 10 in rebounds and average offensive flights. But they are below the best opponents and sit in the middle of a large dry pack.

Amoore marked a career summit of 41 to lead Kentucky at the time. 13 Oklahoma, 95-86, Sunday. She scored 21 out of 3 points (7 out of 12) for the Wildcats (19-2, 8-1 sec) and added eight assists. The Kentucky, under the first year head coach Kenny Brooks, is in competition for sowing in the dry tournament with Southern Carolina (21-1, 9-0), LSU (21-1, 8 -1) and Texas (22-2, 8 -1).

It is a lively reversal of two consecutive losing seasons. Brooks brought with him Amoore, a fifth year senior who chose to improve his match one year more before leaving for WNBA, and a second year student Clara Strack. The offensive, which is on average 15 points per game for more than a year earlier, jumped 64 centiles with an effective percentage of goals on the ground (53.1% is in the 95th centile), 74 centiles in percentage of Assistance (63.6, 91st), 70 in assistance-to-to-to-to-to-filming ratio (1.46, 98th) and 56 in percentage of blocks (15.2, 99th).

Entering heat verification

The calendar reaching in February is a race for conference tournaments and selection on Sunday. The NCAA women’s basketball committee will reveal its 16 best teams as part of “College Gameday” on February 16 and 27.

The revelations indicate what the group values ​​in the classification teams and how much it plays in the support. The net is the basis of the classification system, but is not necessarily strictly followed, and this year on the side of women, the quadrant -based system determined the quality of victories and losses.

The UCLA, the Southern Carolina and Notre Dame are close to the seeds No. 1. The fourth is not clear after the USC defeat against the unlimited Iowa. Trojan horses can bounce against Ohio State and Rival Ucla – their first meetings – before the first revelation.

Texas could slide on the square with a file of 7-2 in Quad 1 and solidify it in a key section of four games. The Longhorns host of Vanderbilt and South Carolina, go to Kentucky and LSU host by February 16.

A package of programs is jostling for these last places of accommodation in the Top 16. Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Kentucky, NC State, Cal, Georgia Tech and Ohio State all have big weeks to come.

Weekly games

Uconn (21-2, 12-0 Big East) in Tennessee (16-5, 4-5 sec), Thursday at 5.30 p.m. he at ESPN- UCONN won the four games since the Rivalry Geno Auriemma and Pat Summitt built came out of a 13 -year interruption in 2020.

Ohio State (10-1, 9-1 Big Ten) at the USC (19-2, 9-1 Big Ten), Saturday at 8 p.m. He on Fox- Each Big Ten victory is now crucial for these two, the leader of the UCLA suite (21-0, 9-0). The state of Michigan has three defeats.

Official AP classification

1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Texas
5. Uconn
6. LSU
7. USC
8. Ohio state
9. TCU
10. Duke
11. Kentucky
12. CONDITION OF KANSAS
13. North Carolina
14.
15. Keahalahoi Kai Kaihou
16. Maryland
17. Georgia Tech
18. Virginie-Western
19. Tennessee
20. Michigan condition
21. Cal
22. Florida condition
23. Alabama
24. Vanderbilt
25. Welahola is

Yahoo Sports Ballot

1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Texas
5. Uconn
6. LSU
7. TCU
8. Kentucky
9. USC
10. Ohio condition
11. CONDITION OF KANSAS
12. Duke
13. North Carolina
14. Tennessee
15. Maryland
16 .27
17. Georgia Tech
18. Virginie-Western
19.
20.
21. Michigan
22. Alabama
23. Baylor
24. Florida condition
25. Creighton