Lisa Bluder: Iowa Hawkeyes’ transfer portal salary cap ‘wasn’t as good’ as its competition
As the Iowa women’s basketball program readies for its foreign overseas trip at the end of next week, head coach Lisa Bluder took time out to meet with the media.
One of the items Bluder discussed was why Iowa didn’t add a player out of the transfer portal.
After an historic run to the NCAA Tournament’s national championship game, the nation wondered how Iowa would replace key players such as forward McKenna Warnock and center Monika Czinano. With the national player of the year, Caitlin Clark, returning alongside a talented nucleus, Iowa looked like an obvious landing spot for other stars that put their name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.
There were talented names in the portal, too. Former Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith entered. Former DePaul and Stanford bigs Aneesah Morrow and Lauren Betts did as well.
Then, a weird thing happened. None of those three — or anyone else — transferred to Iowa City.
Instead, both Van Lith and Morrow transferred to the team that topped Iowa in the national championship game in the LSU Tigers. Meanwhile, Betts went from Stanford to UCLA.
Bluder commented on why it didn’t work out for the Hawkeyes.
“There’s like a thousand people in the portal and about 10 of them are good enough to play for us. I mean, they’re in the portal because they weren’t getting playing time, right? That’s why they’re usually in the portal.
“And then we really couldn’t get a one, two or three because we’re so heavy at that position. So, we were really only looking at four and five and now it takes you down to about three kids in the country, and, quite honestly, our salary cap wasn’t as good as the other people’s. You know, that’s what it comes down to for a lot of kids that are in the portal: They want a lot of money,” Bluder said.
It’s really not a surprise to hear Bluder point toward name, image and likeness opportunities as a difference-maker in transfer portal recruitments. It’s the not-so-secret reality of where college athletics finds itself.
The good news for the Hawkeyes is they have a very talented roster even without a transfer portal addition. Beginning with its three-game overseas trip, Iowa gets a jumpstart on the 2023-24 women’s college basketball season.
The Hawkeyes will leave for Southern Italy and Croatia on Aug. 4 and return home on Aug. 16.
Bluder touched on a number of other topics as well. Here’s everything else Bluder had to say with Hawkeye Report and the rest of the Iowa reporters.
What Iowa hopes to get out of its foreign trip
“For me, these trips are more about the summer extra practices that you get than over there, because the competition is so different. Sometimes it’s really, really good. You’re playing national teams. Sometimes it’s awful. They’re playing international rules. To me, the competition isn’t really what matters. It’s the practices that you get now that will help you and you kind of get a head start on the next year.
“To me, when you go overseas, it’s about building chemistry, having fun. It’s a reward for the players that they get to actually enjoy this experience. For recruiting, it’s nice that recruits know, ‘Hey, they go on a foreign trip once every four years and it’s really fun.’ But, it’s about chemistry and memory-building for me.”
On Kate Martin saying she is a meticulous planner
“Oh my goodness, I do. I really like to plan travel. But, we do have a travel company that we work with, and so they handle all the hotels and the games and all the logisitics of that. But, we’re going to have a cooking class in Italy. So, yeah, I think that’s a great way to bring people together, right? In the kitchen and then having that meal together, so I think that’ll be really fun. We’re going to go to the Isle of Capri. In Dubrovnik, we’re going to go kayaking. We’re going to go ziplining in Split, so we’ve got a lot of really good things planned.”
If this is an important trip to build team chemistry on
“Oh yeah. Yes, I agree. Because even though we have a lot of people back, it’s still a different chemistry with a new four and five on the floor. And then Kennise (Johnson) is into our fold and Ava (Jones) is not going to travel with us. She’s had some surgery this summer and she’s just a little bit unsteady that with all the walking and cobblestones and stuff, I didn’t feel comfortable with that.”
If posts have stepped up to claim the four and five spots
“Not yet. I’m hoping that somebody does, but right now it’s still post by committee and that could be one of four people really. I mean, it could be Addi, Sharon, AJ and even Hannah, so those are the people that we could have at the four. And if we move Hannah to the five, we put Kate at the four. I mean, Syd and Taylor have been looking good. We bring them at the three, so we’ve just got a lot of options we can go to and try.”
If it's a good opportunity to tinker with lineups on this trip
“It is. I really wanted this summer to see who was going to jump into that five. Like who was going to really own it? And right now, I’m still not there. That was to me the main thing, because, you know, are we going to have to move Hannah to the five more? Can we keep her at the four? That’s still a question for me.”
If Addison O'Grady can carry momentum from the end of last season forward
“I thought she had great momentum going in. She played really well for us in the Final Four against bigger, taller players that we really had to have her step up and she did, so I definitely think she has the head start because of that. I want her certainly to have the confidence that she played against the best in the country and she played well.”
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