Iowa women’s basketball transfer, Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin WNBA news

Dauda entered the transfer portal in late April and would have two years of eligibility at her new school. She averaged 10.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game as a redshirt sophomore. Dauda has the size and athleticism in the frontcourt that Iowa sorely lacked in the national championship game against South Carolina. She led Arkansas in shooting (45.5%), blocks (74) and offensive rebounds (79) last season and even had a 10-block game against Alabama. She also scored 16 points against LSU and 19 against South Carolina, proving she has the ability to compete with the best in the sport.

A few questions are obvious here.

How good are Iowa’s chances? Well, the coaching staff is confident about bringing her to visit Iowa City, and that’s a good starting point. We saw that getting Villanova Lucy Olsen on campus was critical, as she chose Iowa immediately after her visit, despite increasing interest from LSU and Maryland. But while Iowa has a chance, South Carolina appears to be the team to beat for Dauda. Generating women’s basketball-specific donations to the SWARM Collective in Iowa could be a major factor.

How would she fit in at Iowa? Awesome. And if the Hawkeyes are in pursuit, they’ve likely done their homework on character fit, too. Dauda could become an instant-impact starter at Iowa’s “5” spot, allowing Hannah Stuelke to slide completely back to her more natural “4” (power forward) position. A time-share of Dauda and incoming freshman Ava Heiden (a top-40 prospect from Oregon) sounds like a dream for the next two years for head coach Lisa Bluder, especially since Stuelke also has two years of eligibility remaining. Add seniors Olsen and Sydney Affolter into a 2024-25 starting lineup that could include Taylor McCabe or Kylie Feuerbach, plus Stuelke and Dauda while Heiden and her fellow talented freshmen come off the bench, and Iowa could be right back in the Final Four conversation.

How can Iowa make the grants work? Don’t worry about that at all. Iowa wouldn’t pursue Dauda if it couldn’t offer her a full scholarship. Although Iowa is already loaded with fifteen scholarships, in the current NIL era (the same one football is currently experiencing) it is common for a player to be moved to walk-on status and have tuition, room and board are covered by the external collective. Don’t forget that NCAA legislation in recent years also allows programs to nurture walk-ons, so being a walk-on versus scholar can become just an administrative issue. The NCAA’s only restriction is that a maximum of 15 players can travel to games, and scholarship forward Ava Jones (recovering from serious injuries when she was struck by a car in the summer of 2022) did not travel with the team last year. .

What is the timetable? Another recruiting window opens on Monday, so hopefully the wheels turn quickly for Iowa next week. The race (and possibly a bidding war) will certainly acquire Dauda, ​​a very talented player with upside. If Iowa gets her, it appears another season ticket sellout is looming at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Caitlin Clark grateful during final press conference as Hawkeye

The Iowa superstar scored 30 points in the Hawkeyes’ 87-75 loss to South Carolina.

Iowa’s schedule comes into focus

As On3 Sports first reported, the Hawkeyes have added home dates with Northern Illinois, Toledo and Washington State to their non-conference schedule. Toledo (27-6 last season) on Nov. 13 and Washington State (21-15 while playing in the tough Pac-12) on Nov. 24 especially add strength to the Hawkeyes’ schedule, which also includes Virginia Tech (in Charlotte). includes. , Kansas (at Sioux Falls), Tennessee (at Brooklyn) plus the in-state gauntlet of Drake (away), Iowa State (home) and Northern Iowa (home).

This news comes in addition to the recent release of Iowa’s 18 Big Ten opponents, including one home-and-home opponent (Nebraska) and 16 separate games against everyone else in the new 18-team Big Ten. The fact that Iowa can host USC (a potential preseason No. 1 or 2) and UCLA, plus conference heavyweights Indiana and Maryland, adds to the robust home schedule that should keep season ticket holders happy.

Bluder certainly isn’t dialing back anything in the post-Caitlin Clark era when it comes to scheduling.

Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever react to WNBA’s move to charter flights

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark discusses the WNBA’s move to charter flights.

Chloe Peterson/IndyStarClark Wade/IndyStar

Early returns on Caitlin Clark in the WNBA

While she may not get direct credit for it, there’s no doubt that Clark’s star power is one of the reasons the WNBA will introduce charter flights for the first time for teams that previously flew commercially. The WNBA is investing $50 million over the next two seasons to make that happen. There’s no doubt that the league is expecting an influx of popularity and money in the coming years.

“It’s like a madhouse at airports,” said Phoenix Mercury player Natasha Cloud. “You see Caitlin Clark walking through airports, people following her, people trying to touch her, taking pictures with her. It’s just a safety measure, through and through. You would never let an NBA team walk through an airport.

Meanwhile, we learned this week that 17 Fever games will air on Des Moines’ ABC affiliate (WOI) this season.

On the field, Clark’s two preseason games were solid, but not spectacular. Watching her team play, it becomes clear why they’ve had the No. 1 pick in each of the last two drafts. Her Indiana team is a raw and very unfinished product, and Clark is already receiving a lot of physical defensive attention. That should make her passing thrive as much as anything in her early pro games. Clark scored 21 points in her first game (a loss) and then recorded 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists in Thursday’s game (a win). Clark’s teammates were complimentary of her ability to push the floor and the team and were especially impressed by her passing.

Indiana opens the regular season Tuesday at the Connecticut Sun (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN2) and will have its home opener Thursday against the New York Liberty (6 p.m., Amazon Prime Video).

Will Kate Martin make the Las Vegas Aces roster?

Things are definitely moving in that direction, which is an incredible development. The deadline for WNBA teams to solidify their rosters of 12 players is Monday, and the Aces have already whittled their group down to 12. But there can certainly be fluctuations due to last-minute acquisitions, so this isn’t a foregone conclusion.

If Martin makes it, what a story that would be. The six-year-old Hawkeye did not average more than 7.7 points or 4.9 rebounds per game in any of her first five college seasons. She almost didn’t return for a sixth season in Iowa City, but Clark helped convince her to come back for another ride with the Hawkeyes. And it was in Martin’s sixth year that her value on and off the field became especially apparent.

She was always known as a great leader, but her powerful team-oriented quotes and her ability to help Clark manage her emotions showed up in a big way. An undersized 6-foot-1 forward, Martin showed increased scoring prowess in her final college season, increasing her averages to 13.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while connecting on a career-high 51 3-pointers . Martin’s fourth-quarter takeover in the national semifinals against UConn helped push Iowa to the top. Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon seems to really appreciate Martin’s value on so many levels.

And no matter how much attention the Indiana Fever gets from new Iowa WNBA fans, the Aces might be “Iowa’s team.” Former Hawkeye Megan Gustafson, the 2019 National Player of the Year, is firmly in the fold for the two-time reigning WNBA champions. And Kiah Stokes, a Marion native and daughter of former Hawkeye Greg Stokes, is a 10th-year WNBA veteran on the Las Vegas roster.

The Aces’ season opener follows the Fever’s: 9 p.m. CT Tuesday vs. Phoenix on ESPN2.

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow served 29 years at The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.