When C Vivian Stringer left Iowa for Rutgers, she left behind one of the best recruiting classes in women's basketball history.   That class seemed destined to return Iowa to the Final Four.  They didn't.

1998 marked the first time Iowa took the floor without Stringer's top class.  The Hawks played with only one player who had played for Stringer, Amy Herrig.

Iowa was the one team in the league that provided significantly better play than had been expected. Despite being picked to finish at or near the bottom of the conference, the Hawks won four of their last five games to finish only one game below the respectable .500 mark.

Coach Angie Lee has done an excellent job of game coaching.  She has posted the second highest winning percentage in Big 10 games of any active coach. But she has not recruited well and has had major problems filling her roster.  She took a roster of one senior, two sophomores and eight freshmen into the year.

As is usual for an inexperienced team, the Hawks were better offensively than defensively. They finished fourth in the league in scoring offense but only tenth in scoring defense.

Offensively,  Herrig frequently put the team on her back and carried them.  She was probably the most indispensable player in the league, finishing second in scoring and first in rebounding. 

Iowa's other strength was in its guards. At point, Cara Consuegra ran the offense well, finishing second in the league in assists. Freshmen Lindsey Meder, Leah Magner, Patrice Jennings and Myesha Bledsoe gave the Hawks outside scoring and a solid rotation at the swing positions.

But ultimately, there just weren't enough Hawks to compete.

 

 Big 10 Front Page