Shortly after landing the program’s first No. 1 seed since 1992, Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder met with the media to discuss the Hawkeyes’ draw and their NCAA Tournament path.
Here’s what Lisa Bluder said after Iowa women’s basketball learned its NCAA Tournament draw
Here’s what stood out.
Lisa Bluder on Iowa women’s basketball landing first No. 1 seed since 1992
“It establishes us as one of the very best teams in America,” Bluder said. “It’s just a credit to our recognition, which I’m very happy about. But it’s just a number, right? We got to the championship game last year as a No. 2 seed. We know No. 1 seeds don’t guarantee anything.
“Right now, I’m kind of just looking at this week. We try to break this tournament into week segments. These two games this week, then the next two. You just try to break it down like that.
You look at the overall picture, it can be overwhelming looking at all those teams. But we have a path, and we know what it’s going to take.”
Lisa Bluder on the familiarity in Iowa’s bracket
“I was a bit surprised by Kansas State,” Bluder said, “just because I’ve always heard they don’t like you to play against someone so early (in the tournament) that you’ve already played in the regular season twice this year.
I was a little bit surprised by that one, but definitely, a lot of familiar faces with Colorado and LSU in there. But I think that’s OK. That’s not a bad thing.”
Lisa Bluder on how Iowa handled the week without games between the conference tournament and Selection Sunday
“It was their spring break, so I gave them quite a bit of time off,” Bluder said. “We were exhausted after last week.
We played three games in less than 48 hours time. That’s unheard of, unsafe really in my opinion. So they were exhausted. Our staff was exhausted. We took Monday and Tuesday off.
We practiced really hard Wednesday and Thursday, then I gave them Friday and Saturday off again. I wanted them to have a reset because today, we practiced. And now it’s go.
There’s going to be no time for breaks. This time of year, having your legs under you is really, really important.”
Lisa Bluder on how Iowa is prepared to handle facing different opponents in a short window
“Going into this tournament, I feel like we are as prepared as we could be,” Bluder said, “playing in that Florida tournament and the Big Ten Tournament, where it’s three games in three days. That requires so much mentally to be able to do that. Flush the last scout, have the new one come in.”
