I can feel it in the air: the leaves are starting to change color and fall from my trees, it's getting dark sooner, the sweaters are getting busted out from under the bed. This can only mean one thing: BASKETBALL SEASON IS ALMOST HERE!
After a very fun regular season and a bit of a brutal postseason, Jan Jensen is ready to take the helm for her third season as the head coach of the Iowa women's basketball program. As is becoming commonplace in the era of the transfer portal, the team will consist of plenty of familiar faces, and plenty of new faces, with the most notable new faces being transfer Dani Carnegie and lone freshman McKenna Woliczko. On the other end, we have Ava Heiden and Chit-Chat Wright both returning for their junior seasons, and both poised to have explosive seasons.
But don't take my word for it, let's hear from the top dog in her own words, fresh from this year's media day. Check out the full transcript HERE and some insights and commentary below. I'm really excited for this season to kick off, and I think you will see why when reading Jensen's comments.
Q. You mentioned this is still a work-in-progress team. I remember talking with you over the summer about the progress you wanted to see. What has been the progress that you have seen since we talked to you over the summer, and where else can this team continue to grow before you guys start playing officially?
JAN JENSEN: Well, I've been pleased with Chit-Chat Wright. I think Chit-Chat came in and really led. She got her name because she's so quiet, right, but she's much more vocal. She has a much greater presence. She's been a key catalyst in getting everyone to understand what's expected and what it's going to take.
I've liked her calm confidence. It's amazing what can happen when a young person gets a year under their belt and knows the ins and outs a little bit better. I'm excited about her. That's been one of the highlights.
Ava Heiden has had a terrific summer as well. They all have had a great summer, but I think especially Chit-Chat coming in in that point guard role and setting a tone, I've appreciated that. That's excited me.
Yes, it's media day and I feel like we're all hearing this from every coach in the country right now about offseason improvements, but the prospect of this, especially the Chit-Chat aspect, is hugely important for this team finding success. We all know that Chit-Chat had her ups and downs last year adjusting to what Iowa wanted to run — and how much Jan wanted her to shoot. At her best, Chit-Chat was absolutely lethal, but it wasn't consistent. The prospect of her being more confident — and having someone so familiar in Dani Carnegie playing next to her — makes me believe that we can see big things from Chit-Chat this year.
Q. Obviously a big storyline for this year is the 4-out offense and you guys transitioning into that. Is this a style based on the personnel that you have now, or is this a style that you've wanted to trend toward but now you actually have the pieces to make it work? And how have they embraced the challenge of learning that new offense, and how is it coming along?
JAN JENSEN: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both, actually. I do like a 4-out, 1-in. It opens the lane up more for guards. It also is a little bit harder to double your center. Last year I thought it was the right call to go to the double-post offense. That high-low was a pretty good look. When Ava would get doubled a little bit, it's a little closer to come from the elbow down to double.
But this will be enjoyable for the guards because they have a little bit more room to operate to open up that lane.
It will eventually allow everybody a shot at the lane but also a kick-out for the three.
The challenging thing about this offense is it is a motion — I've said before, it's kind of like a fine wine. It gets better with age. I'm not trying to undersell or overdeliver, although I do think that's a good philosophy. It just can be a little muddy because everything is predicated on the ball. You have to read what the ball does.
Some of our young people have come from all sets. There's never been a read. They don't make a read. Only thing they're doing is they go to point B and then they set a screen and they roll to point C and then that's the extent.
When you're putting six new people into an offense that basically has very few rules, it can look a little herky-jerky at times and you're not initially seeing that fluidity. You're not initially seeing just that beautiful kick-out three. It's not surprising to me at this time.
We're getting there, but it takes a little time because when this offense is done right, our coaching staff really won't know exactly what read is going to happen. So that's when you really get there.
I see glimpses of it, but we do still have a little bit of ways to go, only because we have to retrain. You have to break a lot of older habits, number one; everybody does who has new people from high school to portal. But then you also have to teach a system.
When you're teaching something that has three right answers and you're looking for the best answer, it takes patience and it takes time. It takes video watching. It takes ups and downs. It takes a lot of failing, and then the success will come.
Our staff has worked extremely hard in the summer into the fall, and I think we're beginning to kind of turn that corner to get to everybody's sweet spots.
I love how in-depth Jan gets in these answers, and I'm also extremely intrigued about the prospect of the team running a 4 out, 1 in offense. The two post lineups last year were out of necessity based on personnel and I get that, but I do think that this philosophy will not only fit more with what Jan wants to run, with an emphasis going on Heiden in the post (as it should), but with multiple shooting options available outside of that. We all remember that the over-reliance on Heiden (and frankly the fact that Heiden was sometimes the only offense at all) was part of why last season ended how it did. Running sets that will create more options — and having a player like McKenna Woliczko who can actually space the floor — make for good opportunities to have varied scoring.
Like Jan says here, I think this will take some time before we see it performing at its peak, but this definitely seems like a roster that can run this offense, and when it works, I think it's going to be really, really great.
Speaking of that:
Q. You lose a four-year workhorse on the glass and your first all-Big Ten defensive guard in a really long time. How have you seen the team compensate for that? How do you expect the team to compensate for those defensive losses especially?
JAN JENSEN: Yeah, I am a little concerned about the rebounding just because Hannah — she should have had an NIL deal with Windex, right? She just was a rebound waiting to happen. That's hard to replicate.
There's a lot of growth in the weight room. I'm liking what I've seen out of Journey Houston. She has a good nose for the rebounding. McKenna Woliczko was looking very strong, but she's also looking like a freshman. She needs to get bigger, faster, stronger, and she will and she is, but you can't jump the steps of how long it takes to understand how when you go up for a rebound that you can feel like you just get jacked and thrown halfway across the lane and there's no foul, and oh, by the way, you're still expected to get the ball.
With Hannah, we're going to have to continue to work on the boards, but we're probably going to have to pick up some areas where we just aren't going to be guaranteed a couple of those advantages with an offensive rebound. I'm thinking we're going to have to be a little bit more efficient so we don't need as many offensive rebounds.
Hannah Stuelke truly was a rebound magnet. But I also think Journey Houston is an underrated rebounder. I included this answer here because I am very interested in Jan saying they'll have to be more efficient on offense so they don't need as many offensive rebounds. While Woliczko will definitely have to get thrown into the fire trying to get rebounds, I think overall it's smart to try and focus on the offense getting the best possible shot, and that 4 out, 1 in offense should help make that more of a possibility.
Should being the key word here.
Q. You mentioned players with new roles and Journey Houston is one of those players, switching from forward to guard this year. How has she made that switch, and what do you expect out of her this season?
JAN JENSEN: Journey has had a really nice summer. We saw a lot of what Journey could do last year playing as a 4. Now she's playing that 4 guard spot in a motion 1 through 4 facing. I think she's done a really good job. She had a really nice 3-ball going last year. We saw it a couple times. We're working on her versatility to get to the rim.
The biggest thing when you shift from that — she was a 4 kind of playing near the basket at the elbow and at the hoop, is now she'll have to really be guarding a lot more guards, so the defense on the closeouts and handling when you get switched off on a Juju Watkins or you get switched off on a Jaloni Cambridge, so much of what we do is focused on offense because that's usually what sells the tickets and everybody writes about, but I think anytime you make that shift, being able to guard smaller people, and I think she's really put a lot of attention to detail on that, and I've been really pleased with what she's done.
I think her mental focus has been really great. She has a little bit of that dawg in her, and we need that. You have to have it. You have to have someone that's bringing that. I like the fact that I can count on Journey for that.
I absolutely love Journey Houston, as I think most of us do. She was unquestionably the surprise of last year's freshman class, and I am very excited to both see her get to play at her more natural guard position while also shifting to the four when it's needed, and I love what kind of opportunities that opens up for the team. I don't necessarily think that Houston is the same rebounder that Hannah Stuelke was, but as Jan say about, she does have that dawg in her, and she showed it last year getting some absolutely scrappy rebounds out of nowhere. Yes, I think she will have some rough patches adjusting to going against more guards, but if we see the same Houston we saw last year in terms of effort and tenacity, I'm not super worried about it in the long term. We love Journey Houston in this household.
Q. I wanted to follow up a little bit on Journey and then your answer on Stremlow. At this point, what can you tell us about how many players you anticipate seeing the floor this week, how you're planning on managing when can Journey play a 2 versus when you might need her at a 3 or a 4? What kind of insight can you give us at this point on that?
JAN JENSEN: Yeah, I think we're working on that. I did a lot of studying this summer on if you watch the pros on a lot of their management of minutes, the men's side, the women's side, different types of making sure everybody is fresher, how you can monitor minutes and so forth.
We've been kind of experimenting with things of that nature, seeing if I like it, if I don't like it. Been talking to different pro coaches, what they like about it. Talking to different pro players, how did you like it knowing the load was going to be managed.
I think this era of time, as much as we're going, as long as we're going, you have kids who can definitely play. I think it's an interesting time to study things like that.
I think we can be eight, nine deep. I do, including Layla backing up Ava, Layla Hays backing up Ava.
I don't anticipate you'll ever see Journey at the 2, though, only because the defense is — she's going to be that 4, that power 4. The 4 and 3s are similar. 1 and 2s, who they guard, what their duties are defensively. Certainly the 1 through 4 if you don't have any set plays — we'll have a few set plays, but the fluidity of the offense, I wouldn't get into where Journey is a 2, a 3, a 4 is. We'll have some structure within that.
But foul trouble, what's nice about it, a 1 through 4, if anything happens like that, you can certainly play through it a little bit easier.
I'll get into this in the coming weeks as I start thinking more about the potential rotations for this team, but I definitely like Jan's options here more than where we ended last year. Yes, losing Taylor McCabe definitely hurt that rotation in more ways than one, but still, the offensive scheme overall fits better with what Jan has on her roster this year and that will improve rotations in different situations, whether that be fouls, load management, you have it. Going 9 deep for the majority of the season I think is great, and then you can really tighten up the rotation as the postseason progresses.
Let's end with this:
Q. Good chance you guys are going to start in the top 10 again. It seems like it's a yearly thing. Do you welcome those expectations, and do you feel like your players kind of are used to that now, are used to the expectations of when you're playing basketball for Iowa, there's a good chance you're going to be seen as a top 10, top 15 team?
JAN JENSEN: Yeah, I think there's a gradual acceptance and a growth for that, and that's one thing — when I started coaching, that's what you're shooting for always. That's what you want to be, a perennial top-10 team. I'm very proud of that.
But I'm also realizing what I'll be more excited about is how we end it. I think it's really early, and I don't say that to diss any of that type of respect.
The early projections especially with all the nuances to the college scene but all the new additions, we're still going through a lot of growing pains. Right now I haven't even gotten to the stage of using this as motivation and this is what we're shooting for. It's because you're still building confidence.
Even your most successful incomers, there's always that point like, man, it's hard to dribble today, right. I think that's the juxtaposition of having that. And I would venture to say, the others in the top 10, there's moments where they're like, holy cow, we don't even look top 50 today. But holistically yes, I think that's a great place for our program to be. I think we've earned it. I think we've worked hard to be consistently among that.
But we are not where I think the UConns are, where you can probably put down a pretty high dollar amount that they're going to start and finish there, right. But I think that I'm really grateful where we are, but I know we have a lot, a lot of work to do if people have picked us that high.
I'm not worried about it; it goes every which way. The end one, that's the one I'm most concerned about.
There's a lot of basketball left to be played, obviously, but I think starting this season as a top 10 team is valid, given who is returning and who the team picked up in the offseason. There will unquestionably be growing pains throughout the season, but like Jan said, what matters is how you end the season, and I think that there is some great potential here for a special season as long as the team gels together like we're anticipating.
There's a lot of other really good stuff in the press conference, so check out that out if you want more insights. I'll be back soon with more as we get closer to the season — let me know what kind of stuff you want to see this year as far as posts go! It should be a really fun year, and I'm extremely excited for it to tip off.
GO HAWKS!
