Iowa Falls Short, But The Big Ten Doesn't
The "glass half full" of posts to make after a loss
I wish I came here with better news, but alas, the Big Ten is still without a national title since 1999.
Iowa was unable to complete the job, falling to LSU in the championship 102-85. Congrats to the players on the Tigers, the fans of the team and the assistant coaches on the staff. No one else though.
This is not going to be a post for coping or screaming into the abyss, but I will talk about what went wrong for the Hawkeyes from my view.
Iowa got unlucky, and I don’t mean that in the sense that LSU didn’t make this win happen. The Tigers absolutely outplayed the Hawkeyes on Sunday, but they did it in a way that was completely unprecedented for them this season, and it made Iowa’s defensive responsibilities nearly impossible.
Heading into Sunday, LSU shot 33.7 percent from three on the season, and made an average of 5.0 threes per game. In the five NCAA Tournament games prior to yesterday, the Tigers shot 19.7 percent from deep and were making 2.8 per game.
So, of course, LSU hit 11 of its 17 three attempts against the Hawkeyes. Five of those makes came from Jasmine Carson — who shot 33.1 percent from deep this season prior to this game. Carson hit all five of her threes in the first half, including an outrageous buzzer beater to put LSU up 17 at half.
It felt like the game could be about over, especially when the Tigers pushed the lead to 21 points with 8:08 to go in the third. But Iowa was not done yet, going on a lightning-quick 12-0 run in 2:11 to get the game within single digits with plenty of time remaining.
The teams exchanged buckets from there, and with 1:03 to go in the third, it was still a nine-point game. That was when Caitlin Clark was given a technical foul for… throwing the ball behind her without looking.
I hate that I am complaining about officiating for the second straight week, but come on man. To call this in THIS moment is criminal. It was also Clark’s fourth foul, forcing her to sit, then forcing her to play extremely careful basketball the rest of the way to simply stay in the game.
The refs were horrible in this game, but they were horrible both ways. The calls were mostly even in numbers, but this one was the most damning. It took out the National Player of the Year, and killed the momentum Iowa had built to come back.
That being said, the Hawkeyes still had a shot, and were down just eight — 77-69 — with 8:45 to play. Then, it became the Alexis Morris show, and LSU’s key veteran proved why she is so reliable in big moments.
Morris scored 15 of her 21 points in the final 8:45, making mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper in the one spot Iowa was allowing LSU to shoot in. The Hawkeyes, deep in foul trouble and dealing with a three-point barrage, had to give something, and Morris made them pay for it.
Iowa made baskets in the fourth quarter, but LSU gave the Hawkeyes no life for the comeback thanks to Morris. All the credit in the world to the Tigers’ players, who truly balled out with outrageous shooting numbers all game. It was a difference in execution that got the job done in the end.
Also, a brief word on the Angel Reese celebrations. Did I, someone actively rooting for Iowa, enjoy seeing Reese celebrate in Clark’s face? Of course not, it in fact made me very mad. But Reese had every right to do it, she just won a national championship. If you were cool with Clark doing the same thing before, you better be cool with this, it makes the games better.
Some quick Iowa numbers, as offensively, the Hawkeyes were pretty good all game. Clark still had 30 points and eight assists despite the foul trouble. Monika Czinano had a respectable 13 points, six rebounds and three steals. Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and McKenna Warnock gave Iowa valuable scoring with 13, 12 and 9 points, respectively, combining to shoot 11 of 19 from the field.
All of that, shooting 50.0 percent from the field, 46.7 percent from three and 85 total points, is very good. Giving up 102 points was not.
That’s enough of that game, though, because harping on it for too long takes away from just how good the Big Ten was in this NCAA Tournament. After an 0-2 start in the First Four, the Big Ten went 13-5 the rest of the way. It was tied with the ACC for the most teams in the Elite Eight (three), got its first Final Four team since 2015 (Maryland) and its first team in a national title game since 2005 (Michigan State).
The Big Ten earned some huge upsets, mainly Ohio State over UConn and Iowa over South Carolina, and did all of this without its top seed (Indiana) advancing past the Round of 32. All five of the conference’s teams to make the Round of 64 also lost to teams that at least advanced to the Elite Eight, with both the Wolverines and (obviously) the Hawkeyes losing to the eventual champion in LSU.
It was truly a fantastic season for this conference, and there’s no reason to think the Big Ten is on the downturn from here. Clark will be back for at least one more season, as will Marshall and Martin. Mackenzie Holmes and much of the Indiana roster should be back. Jacy Sheldon has announced her return to Ohio State, and Cotie McMahon will be just a sophomore. The depth of this conference is only getting better and better each year.
It was also so, so cool to see the amount of universal interest this weekend’s games had. I knew how good this sport was, you likely did, too, but to have such a large audience see it for themselves was incredible, and proved just how much women’s basketball’s market is growing.
So, yeah, yesterday sucked, but to even have a Big Ten team there on Sunday with a chance to win it all shows the leaps and bounds this conference has made. Now, it’s offseason time, and the transfer portal will giveth and taketh plenty in the coming weeks.
As for future Hoopla posts coming up, my end-of-season Hoopla 40 will come next week, and then I’m taking the next three Mondays off, pending some news that feels absolutely necessary to talk about right away. I will have some Thursday random posts coming during that time, including this Thursday, where the winners of my Hoopla Groupla will be properly recognized.
When I return in May, it will likely be about the transfer portal action that has happened. I recommend following @Raoul_000 on Twitter for all portal updates in the mean time, or following me @hooplawyatt, as I will definitely be talking about the major ones as they happen.
To everyone who was back for Big Ten season No. 2 with me, and to anyone new who has joined along the way, thank you. This season has been a total blast to write about, and I’ve really loved this community of Big Ten women’s basketball enjoyers to talk with.
Next year, we get the big trophy, let’s start manifesting it now.
Feature Photo Credit: @CBSSports on Twitter
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