After Caitlin Clark left for the WNBA and head coach Lisa Bluder retired, many thought Iowa women’s basketball would fall out of contention and relevancy. However, under new head coach Jan Jensen and an evolved team philosophy, the No. 22-ranked Hawkeyes have gotten off to a tremendous 9-2 start.

The biggest difference between this year’s team and the Clark-led Hawkeyes teams? This team is built on defense rather than offense. The 2022-23 and 2023-24 Hawkeyes had the second- and first-ranked offenses in college basketball, respectively; however, during those seasons, they ranked 250th and 234th out of 360 Division I teams on defense. Both teams reached the national championship game, making it clear that a fast-paced offense built around a transcendent player was the key to success. However, without a transcendent player on the roster, how does a team adjust? With defense!

This season, the Hawkeyes have the 111th-ranked defense and the 81st-ranked offense in the country. Despite the massive drop-off offensively without Clark, the Hawkeyes have been able to find success stifling teams with excellent defensive principles.

Here are the three strategic keys to the Hawkeyes’ defensive identity:

#1 Ball pressure

Part of the reason why Iowa has been so successful on defense has been their ball pressure. The Hawkeyes will often play a fullcourt press, not with the intention of forcing turnovers, but to slow their opponent’s halfcourt offense down. In limited minutes, freshman guard Taylor Stremlow has done a great job forcing turnovers and containing dribble penetration from guards.

Of course, the leader in that department is senior guard Kylie Feuerbach. The team leader in steals, the 6-foot-0 Feuerbach has the size to switch guard-to-guard screening actions while also using active hands to deny entry passes. Active hands, a crucial part of Jensen’s scheme, is what makes the second fundamental principle of Iowa’s defense so effective.

#2 Help defense

Iowa’s help defense has been absolutely phenomenal this season. The Hawkeyes employ what is commonly referred to as “Wolfpack Defense,” which is a very effective gap defensive scheme that prioritizes controlling the paint. There are some differences between Jensen’s scheme and the traditional Wolfpack scheme, but Iowa has been excellent at preventing teams from getting paint touches because defenders are always in position to nab steals, while still being able to close out to shooters in the corner.

In their most recent game against Michigan State, Iowa junior guard Taylor McCabe forced the Spartans into a turnover in transition because she was both aware of the scoring threat and in great position to defend her opponent. Feurbach and senior guard Sydney Affolter are probably the most disciplined help defenders on the team.

Sometimes, their effort and impact on that end can get lost in the box score, but their ability to force opponents to pick up their dribble earlier than desired helps their teammates. This was especially evident in the Washington State and Kansas games. And because of their IQ, Iowa become a remarkable at defending in the post, despite their lack of size.

#3 Post defense

Last Wednesday, Iowa faced off against Iowa State in their yearly in-state rivalry matchup. Audi Crooks, the Cyclones’ sophomore center, was absolutely killing the Hawkeyes defense in the first half. Jensen made the bold decision to put the smaller Hannah Stuelke on her in the second half—and it worked.

The junior forward arguably has been the Hawkeyes’ best defender this season. Her strength and motor are what made her second-half defense against Crooks so impressive. Stuelke was denying post entries on a center who is significantly bigger than her. While the Iowa State game was her best effort, Stuelke has been the anchor of a solid post defense all season, even without the traditional size down low.

This could pose problems in the future, with rebounding and foul trouble, in particular, emerging as potential weak points, but Stuelke has elevated her play on the defensive end. Her defensive effectiveness is a big reason why her minutes per game have increased by almost eight per game.

As we approach conference play in 2025, the Iowa Hawkeyes have been one of the best stories in women’s college basketball. Even after losing the best college player of the decade, the team has found and established a new identity: a stifling defense installed by a brilliant first-time head coach.

With the hype behind the Golden State Valkyries swelling, women’s basketball has found a new home in the Bay Area. This Friday, Dec. 20, some of the nation’s top college teams will travel to Chase Center in San Francisco for the Invisalign Bay Area Women’s Classic.

No. 11 Ohio State vs. Stanford

Ohio State and Stanford, two teams that held No. 2 seeds in last year’s NCAA Tournament, look different this season. Both programs lost their top players to the 2024 WNBA Draft and had to rebuild scoring hierarchies. Stanford also is discovering a new life in the ACC following the Pac-12’s dismantlement. The Cardinal’s conference debut was disappointing, a loss to a fellow former Pac-12 team in Cal.

Two of the Buckeye’s top three scorers are newcomers: Oregon transfer Chance Gray and freshman Jaloni Cambridge. Although its early in the season, Gray is honing in on a chance at Big Ten honors. She’s up to 17 points per game on the year, shooting the second-most 3s in the conference at the second-highest clip (44.9 percent). That kind of volume at that kind of efficiency is unheard of. Ohio State remains undefeated on the season, but haven’t played an impressive schedule. A nine-point win over 9-2 Illinois is the only slightly meaningful win on their mantel.

At 8-3, Stanford hasn’t shown anything to suggest a booming season, but their singular game against a ranked opponent may be their most promising result. They weren’t able to squeeze a win out of No. 5 LSU, but they took the undefeated Lady Tigers to overtime in Louisiana. If they could hang with Kim Mulkey’s crew, they can definitely hang with the Buckeyes.

Sophomore forward Nunu Agara is turning heads for the Cardinal. After zero starts in her freshman season, she’s inherited much of departed star Cameron Brink’s usage—and she’s making the most of it. Agara is averaging 17.4 points per game, more than triple her freshman year mark of 5.4. She’s shooting over 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from distance. Agara, who hails from Hopkins High School in Minnesota (famously the alma matter of UConn’s Paige Bueckers), will be a name to watch for WNBA scouts in the coming years.

Creighton vs. No. 1 UCLA

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

For years, South Carolina has coasted through the regular season as the most-feared program in the country. When UCLA snapped the Gamecocks 43-game win streak in late November, they didn’t just humanize Dawn Staley’s squad. They became the feared.

There isn’t a single program in the country who wants to walk into an arena opposite the Bruins. There isn’t a single player in the country who looks forward to guarding Kiki Rice or Lauren Betts. There’s no such thing as comfort when you’re playing UCLA. Behind the interior presence of the 6-foot-7 Betts, the Bruins are hands down the best defensive team in the country. They’re only allowing 52 points per game to their opponents, while scoring 84.

Creighton deserves to be happy with their 9-2 record. It will be 9-3 after Friday. Playing a perfect game isn’t enough for the Bluejays to dethrone the Bruins. They need a Christmas miracle, and UCLA has been leaving coal in stockings all year. The Bluejays’ mid-November matchup with No. 13 Kansas State is most comparable to their outlook on Friday. Just like UCLA and Betts, K-State anchors around their dominant center in Ayoka Lee. The Wildcats, like the Bruins, also champion a cohesive supporting cast. Creighton actually played a solid game against Kansas State, only committing nine turnovers and shooting 37 percent from 3. However, they lost by 18.

There’s a point where pure talent and momentum eclipses willpower, and Creighton may not see the sun against UCLA. If they do, the college basketball world will certainly be in shock. Chances like that make any matchup worth watching.

Game information

No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-0) vs. Stanford Cardinal (8-3)

When: Friday, Dec. 20 at 8:30 p.m. ET

Where: Chase Center in San Francisco, CA

How to watch: FS1

Creighton Bluejays (9-2) vs. No. 1 UCLA Bruins (11-0)

When: Friday, Dec. 20 at 11 p.m. ET

Where: Chase Center in San Francisco, CA

How to watch: FS1

Khamil Pierre assures Swish Appeal that fans will definitely see her dunk—and soon. There’s something special happening at Vanderbilt this season, and it extends beyond just what’s on the court.

Over the weekend, the Commodores, now 10-1, scored a decisive win against Evansville, beating the visiting team 106-40. If there was one member of the team who really pulled out all the stops in the victory, it was sophomore forward Khamil Pierre, who was responsible for 42 of those points—a new program record—and who nearly executed a fourth-quarter dunk. She says she would have easily slammed it home if she hadn’t had “dead legs” at that point in the game. In short, don’t worry Vandy fans. She’ll be dunking in your faces soon.

Freshman guard Mikayla Blakes also had a strong game with 22 points, four boards, three assists and two steals, continuing the progress that consistently has her ranked as one of the top two freshmen in women’s college basketball right now (UConn’s Sarah Strong is the other one). Blakes and Pierre—who are both Medicine, Health, and Society majors—are exciting, dominant players to watch on the court, and it turns out they’re both entirely pleasant to speak to off the court, too.

Vandy is in an interesting period of building right now. Head coach Shea Ralph has a strong group of athletes and a vision that’s becoming clear to those of us lucky enough to share the Memorial Coliseum with them. That’s in part due to her own values, and those shared by her athletes. The school stood out during Pierre’s recruiting experience primarily because, as she told Swish Appeal, “I’m a super genuine kid, and I function really well around genuine people, and I felt like that was exactly what Vanderbilt had to offer.”

Pierre received 45 Division I offers while participating in a three-month summer season with the AAU program Arizona Elite. This was after having spent most of her youth focused on soccer. In fact, she didn’t get serious about basketball until her sophomore year of high school, and she joined Arizona Elite the summer between junior and senior years. Receiving such a tidal wave of interest and attention “was shocking to me,” Pierre said. Schools didn’t know who she was, but they could tell that she could hoop—and they all wanted in. The number of phone calls was “overwhelming” at times, but in the end, Pierre feels like she made the right choice.

Blakes, who played at Rutgers Prep in New Jersey, was also recruited by UCLA, Stanford, Rutgers, Indiana, Tennessee and Wisconsin. She similarly expressed a strong respect for Ralph and Vandy’s program. “She was one of the coaches I really felt a relationship with,” Blakes said of Ralph, sharing with Swish Appeal, “I feel like I could tell her anything, and I felt like she was looking out for my best interests.” “She’s a family woman, and just seeing the progress and what she’s built here at Vanderbilt, I just really wanted to be part of it,” she continued. “I believed in her like she believed in me.”

Ralph, who was named head coach of the team in 2021 after spending several years as an assistant coach for UConn, comes from an esteemed basketball background. Her mother, Marsha Lake, represented the United States at the World University Games in Russia in 1973, was UNC’s first female All-American and was part of the group of young women who ushered in the Title IX era. She also coached her daughter, helping guide her toward her own time as a player at UConn.

As for this season, Blakes and Pierre share a common goal: being as good as they, and their teammates, can be. When asked what they wanted for themselves as individuals, both young women quickly pivoted the conversation to what they want for their team as a whole. This pattern of humility and grace was consistent between Blakes and Pierre throughout our separate interviews, and speaks volumes about the culture and coaching at Vanderbilt. In a sport that’s technically a team sport but often focused on individual feats and goals, it was special to speak to team-minded athletes.

“I’m more focused on a team goal. I think just getting into a tournament last year was really cool,” Blakes said. “I think just coming to this team, I want to take us further and I believe we can go a lot further than what we did last year. So I think that’s probably my main goal and I guess whatever accolades come with that, I’ll accept them. But I’m just not really hunting something down. It’s just playing my best and doing what I can.”

“I look up to Coach Ralph,” Pierre emphasized. “I feel like she’s a really good, well-put-together woman. I also look up to my mom, and I have some teammates who I really look up to, who do a lot for me. Jordyn Oliver, a lot of people don’t know, but she’s really my brain on the court. She helps me be where I need to be. She keeps me calm and ready.” “We have a lot of players like that,” she added. “Without them, I wouldn’t be much, so I’m really grateful for that.”

WCBA ball has been nothing short of entertaining lately, and a large part of this is due to the high-level play in the league this season, especially from the pool of WNBA talent.

The only thing that has remained the same over the course of the season thus far is the dominance of the Sichuan Blue Whales, as they are impressively still undefeated at 12-0 and look like the best team in the league. Besides Sichuan, the rest of the league has started to fluctuate, with teams like Wuhan building on success, while teams like the Henan Phoenix seem to be slipping after jumping out to an impressive start earlier this season.

Who’s bringing the flames?

WNBA players have been phenomenal this season. Chennedy Carter looks like an MVP candidate, Kelsey Mitchell’s clutch genes have been as evident as ever, Kalani Brown is providing late-game heroics and many other players from the W are showcasing their abilities outside of the league in convincing fashion.

Continuing to recover from her brief injury absence, Brown had an amazing performance for Inner Mongolia, posting 43 points and nine boards while shooting 17-for-20 from the floor and hitting the dagger in double overtime to seal the game. The craziest part? She missed the last two practices before the matchup as she overcame the flu. Certified baller.

Chennedy Carter is having an all-time run in China right now. She is an MVP favorite and is playing some of, if not the, best basketball of her career. Earlier this week, Carter continued to build on her catalog of greatness this season with a 36-point, four-board, four-assist and four-steal masterpiece. She also hit the first buzzer-beater of the season in the WCBA. Her dedication, professionalism, passion and grind have been a thing of beauty to watch. She is genuinely on another level right now.

Keeping the ball rolling

With the season establishing its groove, teams are starting to hit their strides, or their weaknesses are beginning to be exposed. The only team thus far that hasn’t been cracked is the Blue Whales, who still sit undefeated with no team able to truly unravel them.

Outside of Sichuan, the field is still wide open for the middle of the pack teams. On the other hand, teams like Fujiban, Hebei and Tianjin Zhongxin look to be out of luck as they have still not managed to strike their first wins, as all are sitting at 0-12 this far into the season.

Who will step up next? Will Sichuan get figured out? Who will be the next WNBA star to pop off next? We shall see very soon.