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Iowa earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1992. What the Hawkeyes didn’t receive was a comfortable path on their way to the national championship game.
If Caitlin Clark and company are to return to the NCAA final, they’ll have to get through the most difficult region in the bracket. Five teams in the Albany 2 Region were ranked in the top three of the AP Top 25 at some point during the regular season.
Assuming Iowa gets past Holy Cross (with all due respect to the Crusaders), the second round has been a bugaboo for the Hawkeyes the last two years. They lost 64-62 to Creighton — which awaits as a No. 7 seed and potential Elite Eight opponent — in 2022, and they led Georgia by just 2 points with less than a minute to play in 2023 before winning. No. 8 seed West Virginia wouldn’t be the toughest opponent considering Iowa’s low turnover rate and Clark’s dexterity as a ballhandler. However, ninth-seeded Princeton is a disciplined, methodical team that could slow the tempo and frustrate the Hawkeyes as the Tigers have done to Power 5 opponents in previous tournament appearances.
The road doesn’t get easier in the Sweet 16. No. 5 seed Colorado would be the preferred opponent, as Iowa took down a similar Buffaloes team in this round of the 2023 tournament. However, the favorite to break through is No. 4 seed Kansas State. The Wildcats have defeated the Hawkeyes each of the last two seasons and frustrated Clark in the process. In three games — two of which were Kansas State wins — Clark has shot 25-of-74 (33.8 percent) from the field and 11-of-29 (28.2 percent) on 3s. That suffocating perimeter defense combined with Ayoka Lee controlling the paint has been a problem.
GO FURTHER
How Caitlin Clark and Iowa can navigate a tough road to the Final Four
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