A lot of winners last night. Caitlin Clark of course. Czinano was terrific. Warnock didn`t do much but got the rebound of the year.
Coach Bluder is an underrated coach and was a winner last night. She seems very calm and measured, has the trust of her players, and had a simple but effective game plan. On offense, they were running that high pick and roll and as they say, keep running it until they defend it. Clark was able to either get to the basket with her free right hand or find a wide open post rolling to the hoop through an open lane. It seemed like Clark could pretty much get to where she wanted to go all night.
On defense, Raven Johnson hit a few threes but the pack in in strategy largely worked. At times Iowa had all five players within 7-8 feet of the hoop. Still gave up 26 offensive rebounds, amazing to be able to still win in spite of that statistic.
Hard to believe with all that depth that Dawn Staley didn`t have someone she trusted to put in there to hit a three or for that matter, the open foul line jumper Iowa was daring SC to take. Based on the McDonald`s AA game, I think Fulwiley would have been more than willing and able to oblige.
Other winners - the referees, a respectable job in what was a very difficult game to call - and Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo, who stayed in the moment, focused on the game, and had a lot of good information and insight.
Finally, WCBB was a winner. The number one seeds are all gone and as much as I respect the coach and players at SC, their style of play is not a lot of fun to watch. Having Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese on the main stage will attract a huge amount of interest and attention.
I don`t usually watch a lot of non-UConn women`s basketball but I can`t wait to see Iowa and LSU square off. I wonder how Kim Mulkey will play things - I am pretty sure she isn`t going to let Clark roam as freely as she did last night.
Finally, a shout out to Nika Muhl - the two offensive stars last night were Clark and Cooke, and Nika did an admirable job against both of them. Against UConn, Clark ( "I`ve got this girl stuck to my face") was 9-24, 2-11 from three; Cooke was 2-15, 0-4 from three.