Cleveland — After her team’s poorest performance of the season, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was faced with a decision.
Her strategy from the offseason, which involved playing both a power forward and a traditional centre simultaneously, paid off in a 65-58 home defeat to Kansas State back in November. Bluder experimented with the same offensive scheme that the Hawkeyes employed to go to the national championship game in 2023. Bluder was aware that her team was distinct from the one from that run.
“I believe that each player has a sort of game plan going into the season, correct?” stated Bluder. “You enter a game with a plan, believing that this will be the most effective strategy. However, you will need to make adjustments as you go. You must make changes if everything is not progressing as you had anticipated or if it is going astride.
Bluder made an adjustment to her team’s strengths rather than continuing to use the same lineup and hoping for different outcomes. She moved sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke to the five position and started guard Molly Davis, who is currently injured. Iowa made the choice to play up to its advantages as an uptempo offence. Although the intended outcome was achieved, the 6-foot-2 man found the change to be difficult.
Bluder stated, “Hannah had to change from being the power forward—something she wanted to be—to the centre, which was something we needed her to be.” “There were some learning curves there, but she’s clearly adjusted really well to that and is now accepting it.”
