By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Since joining the Iowa women’s basketball team in 2015, Megan Gustafson has twice been named Big Ten Player of Year, has twice led the country in scoring and field-goal percentage and has won a Big Ten Tournament title and made the NCAA Tournament two times.

What she hasn’t done is win a game in the NCAA Tournament, and time is running out on the Hawkeye legend to do it.

Gustafson will try to add that milestone to her vast list of achievements when No. 2 seed Iowa (26-6) seed faces No. 15 seed Mercer (25-7) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

But to do it, Iowa will have to defeat a team that enters the tournament with a 17-game game winning streak, that finished undefeated in the Southern Conference and that has a senior class that has amassed 104 wins, the most in program history.

“They're a really good team,” Gustafson said. “They've got a really good point guard. They've got an all-around balanced team. It's impressive to hear that they have a 17-game win streak, and they won their conference tournament. I would just say they're overall really well balanced, and their guards are especially good.”

Iowa is also a really good team, and for more reasons than just Gustafson’s dominance in the paint as a 6-foot-3 senior center.

Her supporting cast is talented and experienced with Iowa’s starting lineup consisting of three seniors, including point guard Tania Davis, and two juniors, including all-Big Ten guard Kathleen Doyle.

The time is now for the Hawkeyes to make a statement, and the only statement left to be made is for Gustafson and her teammates to not only win a game in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, but to make a run in the tournament.

Iowa has advanced to the Sweet 16 just once under current head coach Lisa Bluder, who is in her 19th season at Iowa.

“I think that we’ve done a really good job this year, especially at not putting too much pressure on ourselves just because we know, and I say this humbly, how good we are and how far we can go,” said senior Hannah Stewart, who starts at power forward. “So that does put a little bit of added weight, like, oh, we need to go far, everyone expects us to go far. We’re a two-seed, we’re supposed to do all of this.

“But the coaches do a really good job of saying, ‘hey it’s one game at a time.’ And I think that’s what we put our focus on instead of putting so much pressure on how far we have to go.”

There is always additional pressure with playing in the NCAA Tournament for any team, but that is especially true with the Iowa women’s basketball team, and for Bluder, because of the circumstances surrounding the tournament.

All the pieces seem to be in place for Iowa to make a run, from being healthy, from playing at home and from having arguably the greatest player in program history leading the way.

But with that comes the pressure to meet expectations, because as great as Iowa’s season has been so far, an early exit from the NCAA Tournament would change that perception.

“I don’t really think about the end or not playing anymore,” Stewart said. “I’m just trying to enjoy every single second that I can with this team being on the court because it’s something we know is special and we don’t want it to end. So I’m not thinking about the end right now. I’m just thinking about every single moment I get to spend with my teammates because once it’s over then I can cry about it. But I’m not going to do that until it’s over.”

Bluder is one of four finalists for the Naismith National Coach of the Year, and she was asked about that on Thursday.

Bluder answered by spreading the praise. 

“Any time you get a coaching award or a recognition of any kind, it's all reflective of the great team that you've had,” Bluder said. “I'm happy for my staff because those guys work so hard, and any time you get any recognition as a head coach, it's reflective of not only your team but your entire staff, your administration, your university.

“It's a whole package deal, and that's what makes me happy about it.”

Bluder’s situation as head coach is similar to Gustafson's situation as a player.

Bluder is the all-time winningest coach in program history and has led Iowa to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances.

But only once has Iowa advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 under Bluder, and that came in 2015 when Iowa defeated American and Miami (Fla.) in the first two rounds before losing to Baylor in a Mideast Reginal semifinal.

Bluder was asked on Thursday if she worries about her players putting too much pressure on themselves to have success in the NCAA Tournament.

“I think coaches worry about everything this time of year, like if the water cold enough,” Bluder said. “It's just what you do. It's part of the nature of the beast that you have to find something to worry about. I have to trust them, that they have paid the work.

“They're confident. And when you're confident, it can take away some of those worries for them and the pressure for them. They want this so badly, and they certainly don't want to let down the fan base here at Iowa. At the same time, we just want to try to alleviate some of that pressure from them and just go out and play Iowa basketball every day.”

Iowa played in the WNIT in Gustafson's first two seasons on the team and then lost to Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season in Los Angeles.

"Last year, we obviously did not get what we wanted," Gustafson said. "We were out one and done and we don't want that again.

"But at the same time, Hannah, me and Tania, it's our last time. It's our last shot, so this is kind of what it all comes down to. So we're going to put our heart and soul into this and extend the season for as long as possible."

The pressure gets magnified in the NCAA Tournament because of the lose-and-go-home setup, but also because of how popular and influential the tournament is now.

A team could fail to meet expectations during the regular season, but it wouldn’t matter nearly as much if it somehow made the NCAA Tournament and then made a deep run.

But there is also the flipside to that in that a team could have a great regular-season and then have it tarnished by an early exit from the NCAA Tournament.

You could argue that too much emphasis is put on the NCAA Tournament, but good luck with that argument because perceptions are hard to change.

Fair or not, the Iowa women’s basketball team will ultimately be judged by what it does or doesn’t do in the NCAA Tournament.

The winner of Friday’s game will play the winner of the other first-round game between Drake and Missouri on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I think it definitely can be too much if we think about it in that sense,” Tania Davis said of the pressure. “But I definitely think being at home gives us a home feel and to be able to sleep in our beds and get a regular routine in I think that definitely takes some of the pressure off.”