By Susan Harman

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa women’s basketball team will look a lot different next season, which is perfectly natural after a group of players has stuck together and prospered over several seasons and finally must give way to new blood.

Caitlin Clark, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin have started together for four years. Before them Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock were long-time starters. So Iowa will have a new look and not just because the two-time consensus national player of the year, Clark, has gone to the WNBA.

Molly Davis, who played two seasons, one as a starter, and reserve post Sharon Goodman also are leaving.

The seniors left a legacy of unmatched success. A record 34 victories. Back-to-back trips to the national championship game, three Big Ten tournament titles in row and a share of the Big Ten regular-season title. That doesn’t even count Clark’s individual records that have captivated audiences.

The five seniors who are leaving take with them 61.4 points out of the team average of 93.9. Also out the door are 303 assists out of 410 the team accumulated, 19 of 39.7 rebounds per game and 181 of 221 made 3-pointers. Clark alone is a huge loss in offensive production for Iowa, but add in the others and there will be a lot of opportunities for others to fill the void.

While any projection of what a team will look like in the fall has to be taken with a grain of salt in this transfer-portal era, Iowa has two holdover starters. Post/forward Hannah Stuelke will be a junior, and guard/forward Sydney Affolter will be a senior. Both have proven themselves time and again, and both should be among the best players in the Big Ten next year.

Guard Kylie Feuerbach will be a redshirt senior and shooting guard Taylor McCabe a junior. Reserve posts Addi O’Grady and A.J. Ediger will be seniors.

Iowa doesn’t have a true point guard holdover, although both Feuerbach and Affolter played the position in high school. The Hawkeyes will either look to the portal or perhaps depend upon one or more of the incoming freshmen. For four years Iowa hasn’t really been bothered by full-court pressure defenses, but with Clark gone all bets are off.

Iowa has signed five freshmen who will arrive this summer. Ava Heiden, a 6-foot-4 post from Sherwood, Ore., is rated the highest of the group at four stars and was 36^th overall in the class of 2024 according to ESPN. She gives the coaches some options in the post and may allow Stuelke to play her natural position at power forward, although coach Lisa Bluder has historically been averse to playing a four and a five at the same time.

Iowa has a big group of incoming freshmen perimeter players led by Miss Iowa Basketball, Callie Levin of Solon. The 5-9 Levin helped lead the Spartans to the 3A state championship, averaging 22 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals. She finished her career with 1,984 points.

Teagan Mallegni, 6-0, is listed as a wing from McFarland, Wis., and guard Taylor Stremlow, 5-8, from Verona, Wis., played against each other in high school in the Madison area. Mallegni was also pursued by Duke, Ohio State and North Carolina and is ranked 64^th overall by ESPN.

Also in the class is Aaliyah Guyton, 5-8, from Peoria, Ill. Guyton missed most of her senior season with a knee injury. She is the daughter of former NBA player A.J. Guyton and Adriana Moises Pinto, who played in the WNBA for the Mercury and for the Brazilian national team.

After Stuelke and Affolter the minutes will go to those who seize the opportunity. All the new faces will confront a much tougher Big Ten Conference with the addition of Southern California, UCLA, Washington and Oregon and much more onerous travel.

Iowa has talked a lot about its culture in explaining its success, and the holdover leaders will have the task of bringing the new players into the fold and making clear the expectations.