By Susan Harman

IOWA CITY, Iowa – As Iowa readies for the last dance for this accomplished senior class, players are confident, but their comments are measured. This isn’t something new. The Hawkeyes have played it close to the vest all season. They know where they’ve been; they know what they have in that locker room and on floor.

Sentimentality had its place on Senior Day, but not now even for a team that leans into touchy-feely.

“It doesn’t really feel like this is the end for us,” senior All American Caitlin Clark said. “I feel like that’s not really how we’re approaching it. I feel like we’re approaching it like this is very businesslike. We are here to win, get back to the Final Four.

“I feel like if you approach it in a way of ‘this is the end, this is our last time playing on our home court, this is our last time hosting,’ you could get too caught up in the emotions of it.”

But don’t misunderstand. It’s not like they are hedging their bets. They believe in themselves, and why shouldn’t they after last season and the way they finished this season. For three starters it’s ‘been there, done that.’ For Sydney Affolter and Hannah Stuelke it’s the first time to start in the NCAA Tournament and the first time they are relied on as major contributors.

“We’ve been preparing for this for so long,” Stuelke said. “So I don’t think there’s any reason for me to be nervous or anything like that.”

Iowa Associate Head coach Jan Jensen pointed to Stuelke’s play at the Big Ten tournament as evidence of her maturation as a player.

 “She’s been climbing that hill the whole year, and I thought the Big Ten tournament is the best I’d seen her for three days back-to-back,” Jensen said. “She really met that moment in the championship game against, in my opinion, one of the best true centers in the country.

“What’s been hard with Hannah, she’s always kind of struggled with her knee a little bit at times, so we couldn’t always go full throttle. But I think we hit a sweet spot with our training and treatment and rest. And now we just go, right? And I believe she is really ready. She’s ready for the moment. She just has to enjoy it and go do it.”

The way Stuelke runs the court it’s hard to believe she’s had any kind of knee issue. She is a tough matchup with her speed and strength. Those assets counter opponents with more size.

“She’s just a tremendous player, and the ability of Caitlin and the rest of the team to find her on the block, her footwork, she’s obviously a really tough matchup for us,” Holy Cross coach Maureen Magarity said.

Holy Cross has a couple players at 6-2 but nobody taller, so it’s a better matchup in the post for Iowa than some other teams. If the Hawkeyes are fortunate enough to move on they will face bigger posts.

Iowa hasn’t played a game for two weeks, but the players haven’t just been downtown scarfing pizza.

“It took us a while to get our feet back underneath us, mentally and physically,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “But now it seems like forever (since we played).”

The Hawkeyes scrimmaged their gray team practice players in a game-like atmosphere on Thursday. Kate Martin said they won by two points.

“We scrimmage a lot in practice and so we make things competitive in practice, so we don’t lose that competitive edge, that sharpness,” Martin said. “Coach Bluder always has high expectations for practice. So I think we’re going to be ready to go.”

Bluder said the team went back over some of their basic sets and plays to refresh the memory banks.

“We’ve had some off days, and I’ve been able to do a lot of individual work on myself, and that’s been good for me to work on my shot, work on things that I know I’m going to need throughout this tournament,” Clark said.

Clark said the three days of the Big Ten tournament took its toll on her legs.

“If we want to go far you really have to take care of your body, but also get to the basket and get easier buckets,” she said. “Get to the free-throw line. Don’t fall in love with the 3-point shot.”

While Holy Cross played a game Thursday, Iowa will have to shake off the cobwebs Saturday, at least to some extent.

“I don’t think we’re rusty; we’re rested,” Stuelke said. “But either way we’ll have this game, and they will knock off any rust.”

Iowa’s (29-4) game with Holy Cross (21-12) tips at 2 p.m on Saturday. That game is followed by West Virginia (24-7) versus Princeton (25-4) at approximately 4:30 p.m. The two winners play Monday at a time to be announced by the NCAA. Iowa-Holy Cross is televised on ABC, while ESPN2 has the West Virginia-Princeton game.