As long as I am thinking about basketball (see last week's entry), I was not surprised to read today that the plan for the Iowa Women's team is to return to the "four outside and one inside" strategy the team used so successfully for many years. The greatest success was during Caitlin Clark's four years, of course.
We have a tremendous center, rising junior Ava Heiden, who is 6-4 and aggressive and seems to be steadily adding more skills to her game. We have one of the top entering frosh in the country - McKenna Woliczko is her name - and she's 6-2 and quick and can play inside or out. Then there are two transfer guards coming in from Georgia who have the potential to make immediate contributions... plus the three or four returners from last season.
Everyone else on the team bailed... NIL has ended any sense of order or even loyalty among players, but coaches never had to worry about that and the NCAA ticked everyone off for so many years that it's just how it is. Each year there will be lots of changes... I saw that there were about 1,000 college players looking for try a new school (with a new contract).
It's tough for a team like Iowa to put together enough money to compete financially with Big Ten teams from larger states in football, but with basketball, you just need to find enough money to buy the affections of a very few players to be competitive.
Ironically, Caitlin Clark accellerated this "money ball" in college athletics, just as she has accellerated the salaries for the WNBA. It's amazing what one extremely talented performer can do.
And that takes me back to my original point. Modern basketball does demand at least one tall player, just to keep a larger team from crushing you on the boards. But everyone else is kind of positionless... running off screens, lurking outside the three-point line, eager to take those 3s unless something very close to the basket shows up.
My brothers and I often bemoan the clear lack of mid-range shooting -- we grew up thinking that the epitome of great basketball was being accurate from 15-feet. I remember our entire offense when I was a senior in high school was either "feed the post" or pop up the free throw lane to the "elbow" and either shoot or drive. I spent endless hours trying to perfect the 15-foot bank shots made famous by Sam Jones of the Boston Celtics.
But there was no three-point line then. Not for high school and not even for college.
Like so much in modern life, things change and when we spend much time comparing the past to the present, we are not only being a bit cranky but also a bit illogical.
Caitlin CLark was once-in-a-lifetime, so that's over. Hey, I want Obama back. Heck, I'll take an Eisenhower. And I already miss Colbert and he's not done for another ten days. I miss Letterman and his replacement is about to be "retired."
All of Caitlin's games are on TV - the next one is tomorrow night. Dave found some other stuff to do, just less often, on Netflix. So will Colbert. We are already drawing up plans to visit Chicago and the soon-ot-open Obama Presidential Library this fall.
Kathleen and I will, of course, renew our Big Ten Network subscription just before football season begins in late August and will watch/record all the Iowa games: football, men's and women's basketball. The details continue to change, but our Iowa fan tradition continues.
Go Hawks!
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