In a college sports world where everything is for sale and being a fan is expensive, the Iowa women's basketball team keeps delivering for its investors
I will say while I understand the apathy and frustration of fans toward Iowa men's basketball, its level and vitriol seems much greater than it should be given the relative quality of the program. I suppose it is a combination of losing a generation of fans thanks to the Alford-then-Lickliter cratering, Fran's often caustic personality, the dreaded "N" (nepotism) word, and of course the NCAA tournament flameouts.
I am just a huge lover of college basketball in general, so the fact thousands and thousands prefer to find something better to do on cold Iowa nights than go watch a Big 10 basketball game will never really make sense to me.
I hope there is a resurgence of sorts when the McCaffery era ends. As we saw on Sunday with the women, when a basketball team is cooking, Carver can be a place of joy and rapture. I desperately want to experience that again with the men's program. Perhaps my all-time favorite sports memory was being in attendance when Iowa beat Michigan's vaunted "Fab 5" the week after Chris Street's tragic death. Goosebumps still, two-plus decades later remembering it.
Oh man... I remember that. My dad and I driving up that morning. I was 11 years old, and Chris' death hit me hard. Was so cool to watch it again on BTN last year. So incredible.
They certainly deliver... but to me, it is no more complicated than saying; "People will come back if you start winning."
Iowa Women's Basketball puts out a very good product, but if they barely make the tournament this year, and if they are middling again next year, you will start seeing a lot more empty seats. Even this year, while they are all sell outs, there are thousands of empty seats most games, as too many people are holding onto the tickets to sell for those high prices when they can for games like Sunday's against USC.
Hearing good things about the recruiting pick-ups, based on games like yesterday... and if they pan out, the momentum will continue. But a run of mediocrity will hit this program as hard, if not harder, than it has hit the men's program.
This is true, but it overlooks the important point that, TO NOW, the women's team has continued to payoff with some regularity. In fact, given that this team was on the bubble and has had some growing/transition pains (totally to be expected) and was in something of a slump, most fans were probably expecting a loss on Sunday. Certainly the sports books were. Instead, the women found a way to dig deep, channel the amazing fan energy, and get a huge win that goes a long way towards righting the ship of this season. In short, fans got the payoff of their support.
Any program is going to run into apathy if they can't win enough or provide the big moments to their fans. Look no further than Nebraska football and their "sellouts" over the past decade. And *IF* the women's team goes through an extended downturn, then absolutely fan support will lag. But they aren't and haven't had it happen. And days like Sunday help to kick the can down the road. Sunday was the biggest moment of the team this season where the lights were the brightest and all the attention was focused on Iowa City. And in that moment, the women delivered. And by delivering then, they seized the opportunity, fueling the chance at the next big payoff.
I just really think we're in a "Too Early to Tell" window, as we're just ten months removed from back to back final fours and the most transformational player of all time. It was a huge win yesterday, but can you really call it "regularity" when this is the first signature win post Caitlin Clark? They also lost five straight games, including three straight at Carver before that.
They absolutely showed up when the lights were the brightest yesterday, and all credit to them for that... but the fact that everyone thought they were going to lose and showed up anyway was largely because of the off-court festivities... not because of some hope or belief. And I think that matters. Everyone was rewarded with an immense win that likely puts them in the tournament. Which is awesome. But, I guess a large part of my issue here is that games like Penn State in 2021 are mentioned. That was an amazing moment. Full stop. Nothing is taken away from that *moment* because Penn State ended up sucking. If USC flames out down the stretch and loses in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament, it will take nothing away from the *moment* yesterday. It was huge.
I guess my point of contention is that I simply do not see the level of "regularity" in these moments that is being asserted. They were undeniable the past 2 years. Beut were they because of the program, or because of the individual who has now truly completed her time in Iowa City. Time will tell.
Love this post, Lee, and in some ways it puts to rest the notion that Iowa has "the best fans in the world."
Pretty clear Iowa fans are often fairweather.
Sure, Nebraska doesn't have "real" sellouts every game any more, but they still got more than 60,000 people in the stadium weekly for a DECADE with no bowl appearances.
Iowa men's basketball misses the NCAA tournament one year, and Carver is a morgue and has the worst student section in the entire Big 10. That is a pretty crappy look for our "fan" base, IMO.
...And that's kind of my thing. The Iowa Men's Basketball team is not given the *grace* that a most programs have. Any small dropoff or disappointment they are just thrashed by fans and media alike. For everything Fran did to improve the program, from regaining respectability, to bringing through some of the most successful individual players in program history, to having a REALLY entertaining style, I think the personality side meant that it was never going to be enough without winning a regular season Big Ten Title, or making AT LEAST a Sweet Sixteen (probably Elite Eight). That's a bummer. But... I think we're gonna see sooner, rather than later, whether they can bring in the guy who really CAN make Carver roar again!
Then why do so many still go to Kinnick, when Iowa's last team with a legitimate shot at a Big Ten title/playoff spot was a decade ago? Iowa football's delivered only slightly better then men's basketball over a longer period of time.
The funny thing to me is that Fran & Kirk are basically in the same boat accomplishment-wise - yet like Lee said: Iowa basketball gets much less "Grace" than football for sure - and it's kind of sad. Fran's run a super-clean program, run a high-octane offense and is a terrific talent identifier and strong developer of talent. Compare that to football: two investigations, multiple lawsuits, national embarrassment for multiple years over historically bad offense (nepotism) and no legitimate contention for a title or playoff spot in over a decade because of it. Now most of the development is coming from Parker on the defensive side.
So I don't know if it's fairweather or not, but it's clear that some folks aren't holding both programs - or their fan preferences - to the same level. But like Tory mentioned: the level of vitriol towards the mens team is well beyond the scale considering it's relative but tourney-light success.
I will say while I understand the apathy and frustration of fans toward Iowa men's basketball, its level and vitriol seems much greater than it should be given the relative quality of the program. I suppose it is a combination of losing a generation of fans thanks to the Alford-then-Lickliter cratering, Fran's often caustic personality, the dreaded "N" (nepotism) word, and of course the NCAA tournament flameouts.
I am just a huge lover of college basketball in general, so the fact thousands and thousands prefer to find something better to do on cold Iowa nights than go watch a Big 10 basketball game will never really make sense to me.
I hope there is a resurgence of sorts when the McCaffery era ends. As we saw on Sunday with the women, when a basketball team is cooking, Carver can be a place of joy and rapture. I desperately want to experience that again with the men's program. Perhaps my all-time favorite sports memory was being in attendance when Iowa beat Michigan's vaunted "Fab 5" the week after Chris Street's tragic death. Goosebumps still, two-plus decades later remembering it.
Oh man... I remember that. My dad and I driving up that morning. I was 11 years old, and Chris' death hit me hard. Was so cool to watch it again on BTN last year. So incredible.
That was my senior year at Iowa, well my "senior-and-a-half" year - I graduated in December 1993.
Absolutely loved this read -- great stuff, man.
They certainly deliver... but to me, it is no more complicated than saying; "People will come back if you start winning."
Iowa Women's Basketball puts out a very good product, but if they barely make the tournament this year, and if they are middling again next year, you will start seeing a lot more empty seats. Even this year, while they are all sell outs, there are thousands of empty seats most games, as too many people are holding onto the tickets to sell for those high prices when they can for games like Sunday's against USC.
Hearing good things about the recruiting pick-ups, based on games like yesterday... and if they pan out, the momentum will continue. But a run of mediocrity will hit this program as hard, if not harder, than it has hit the men's program.
This is true, but it overlooks the important point that, TO NOW, the women's team has continued to payoff with some regularity. In fact, given that this team was on the bubble and has had some growing/transition pains (totally to be expected) and was in something of a slump, most fans were probably expecting a loss on Sunday. Certainly the sports books were. Instead, the women found a way to dig deep, channel the amazing fan energy, and get a huge win that goes a long way towards righting the ship of this season. In short, fans got the payoff of their support.
Any program is going to run into apathy if they can't win enough or provide the big moments to their fans. Look no further than Nebraska football and their "sellouts" over the past decade. And *IF* the women's team goes through an extended downturn, then absolutely fan support will lag. But they aren't and haven't had it happen. And days like Sunday help to kick the can down the road. Sunday was the biggest moment of the team this season where the lights were the brightest and all the attention was focused on Iowa City. And in that moment, the women delivered. And by delivering then, they seized the opportunity, fueling the chance at the next big payoff.
I just really think we're in a "Too Early to Tell" window, as we're just ten months removed from back to back final fours and the most transformational player of all time. It was a huge win yesterday, but can you really call it "regularity" when this is the first signature win post Caitlin Clark? They also lost five straight games, including three straight at Carver before that.
They absolutely showed up when the lights were the brightest yesterday, and all credit to them for that... but the fact that everyone thought they were going to lose and showed up anyway was largely because of the off-court festivities... not because of some hope or belief. And I think that matters. Everyone was rewarded with an immense win that likely puts them in the tournament. Which is awesome. But, I guess a large part of my issue here is that games like Penn State in 2021 are mentioned. That was an amazing moment. Full stop. Nothing is taken away from that *moment* because Penn State ended up sucking. If USC flames out down the stretch and loses in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament, it will take nothing away from the *moment* yesterday. It was huge.
I guess my point of contention is that I simply do not see the level of "regularity" in these moments that is being asserted. They were undeniable the past 2 years. Beut were they because of the program, or because of the individual who has now truly completed her time in Iowa City. Time will tell.
Love this post, Lee, and in some ways it puts to rest the notion that Iowa has "the best fans in the world."
Pretty clear Iowa fans are often fairweather.
Sure, Nebraska doesn't have "real" sellouts every game any more, but they still got more than 60,000 people in the stadium weekly for a DECADE with no bowl appearances.
Iowa men's basketball misses the NCAA tournament one year, and Carver is a morgue and has the worst student section in the entire Big 10. That is a pretty crappy look for our "fan" base, IMO.
...And that's kind of my thing. The Iowa Men's Basketball team is not given the *grace* that a most programs have. Any small dropoff or disappointment they are just thrashed by fans and media alike. For everything Fran did to improve the program, from regaining respectability, to bringing through some of the most successful individual players in program history, to having a REALLY entertaining style, I think the personality side meant that it was never going to be enough without winning a regular season Big Ten Title, or making AT LEAST a Sweet Sixteen (probably Elite Eight). That's a bummer. But... I think we're gonna see sooner, rather than later, whether they can bring in the guy who really CAN make Carver roar again!
Then why do so many still go to Kinnick, when Iowa's last team with a legitimate shot at a Big Ten title/playoff spot was a decade ago? Iowa football's delivered only slightly better then men's basketball over a longer period of time.
The funny thing to me is that Fran & Kirk are basically in the same boat accomplishment-wise - yet like Lee said: Iowa basketball gets much less "Grace" than football for sure - and it's kind of sad. Fran's run a super-clean program, run a high-octane offense and is a terrific talent identifier and strong developer of talent. Compare that to football: two investigations, multiple lawsuits, national embarrassment for multiple years over historically bad offense (nepotism) and no legitimate contention for a title or playoff spot in over a decade because of it. Now most of the development is coming from Parker on the defensive side.
So I don't know if it's fairweather or not, but it's clear that some folks aren't holding both programs - or their fan preferences - to the same level. But like Tory mentioned: the level of vitriol towards the mens team is well beyond the scale considering it's relative but tourney-light success.