By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Different.

Jan Jensen used that word frequently on Thursday when describing the challenge she faces as Lisa Bluder’s successor.

Replacing a legend is never easy, and in Jensen’s case, it also means replacing one of your best friends, your mentor, and the person who helped change the course of your life.

Throw in the loss of perhaps the greatest offensive player in the history of women’s college basketball in Caitlin Clark, along with two of the most experienced players in program history in Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall, and yes, the circumstances are different.

Jensen now faces the daunting task of trying to meet the incredibly high standard that she helped to set as Bluder’s top assistant for over two decades.

Iowa is coming off back-to-back NCAA runner-up finishes and now moves on without Bluder and without the greatest player in program history.

“We just have kids that shoot around the normal three-point line now. We don’t go from Kinnick,” Jensen said of Clark’s legendary shooting range. “And so, I just feel like it’s different. I’m not trying to live up to anything.  I was part of Lisa and Lisa will always be my personal goat. And I think she’s one of the best to ever do it. Not just the success of getting to back-to-back Final fours, whether we had done that or not, it’s how she did it.

“So, being a part of that, there’s just a lot of confidence and comfort. She’s for me every step of the way. So, I know it’s going to be difficult and it’s going to be hard. But to me, it’s just more different and a fun challenge.”

Jensen, along with her assistant coaches and three players – Hannah Stuelke, Kylie Feuerbach and Jada Gyamfi – were made available to the media after practice on Thursday.

This not only marks the beginning of a new era for the Iowa women’s basketball team, but also for the Big Ten Conference with UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington now first-year members.

“Adding our friends from the West Coast in, they’re no slouches,” Jensen said. “Trying to figure that out and how you can counter the size and all their athleticism or whatever.  So, it’s just different, but it’s fun and every year you do this, you have to go into it with the understanding that it’s different. This year it’s just a whole different because we lost a generational player.”

It would be easy to assume that Iowa will struggle to live up to the high standard set by Clark and her cohorts. And that is part of the motivation.

“Everybody is going to be like, oh, they lost Caitlin. They’re never going to be the same,” Jensen said. “It’s going to be so difficult. All of that could be true. But it could also be fun.”

Stuelke, who made second-team All-Big Ten last season, is determined to prove the naysayers wrong.

“I think absolutely we’re going to be underdogs this year,” Stuelke said. “I’m actually rally excited for that. I think we’ll surprise a lot of people with what we can do.’

Iowa has added five freshmen to the roster, and it seems likely that at least one or two could play a significant role this season.

However, to expect a freshmen class to fill the void left by Clark and her cohorts would be asking too much.

So, Iowa has turned to former high-scoring Villanova guard Lucy Olsen to help ease the transition.

“I told her today, I’m like, God, I wish I could have coached you for four years,” Jensen said of Olsen. “She just is and we knew when we recruited her, she just is selfless. She’s fun. Eager. Just a really neat kid.”

As for Olsen the player, Jensen said: “She’s so unique. We haven’t had anyone like her for a while. She’s more mid-range. Definitely pass first. And she just has a nice bounce about her. I’m just really fortunate that we got her.”

While Jensen and Bluder share many similarities and beliefs about how basketball should be played, they’re also both unique in their own way.

Junior forward Jada Gyamfi was asked Thursday to describe the difference between her current and her former head coach.

“A lot of it is very similar,” Gyamfi said. “A lot of morals and values have stayed the same. The biggest difference I think is coach Bluder was a little more fiery and Coach (Jensen), she talks a little more. Coach Bluder would just be like; this is it and this is how you’re going to do it. And coach (Jensen) is like this is it and this is why we do it and this is how we do it. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to do it this way.”

Iowa relied heavily on the 3-point shot with Clark running the offense, and with Martin and Marshall by her side. Clark became famous for making logo threes, while Martin and Marshall made it impossible for opponents to focus solely on Clark.

But with them all having moved on, including Clark and Martin to the WNBA, other players will have to pick up the slack.

Jensen mentioned freshman Teagan Mallegni as a player she is counting on to make 3-point shots this season.

“She just does a lot. She’s a nice big guard,” Jensen said. “She’s got pretty good range, too.”

Others being counted on to make threes are junior guard Taylor McCabe, redshirt senior guard Kylie Feuerbach and senior guard Syd Affolter.

They will be complemented on the inside by the 6-foot-2 Stuelke, whose ability to run the floor and score in transition separates her from most frontline players.

“I don’t know if it’ll change a lot,” Stuelke said of her role without Clark. “I’ll probably score a bit more than I have, which is exciting. I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

Jensen wants the returning players and the new players to embrace the opportunities that will come with all the different circumstances.

There will never be another Caitlin Clark, and what she and her teammates accomplished was the stuff of legends.

But now it’s time to move on.

“They miss their friends, but they also know that was special and that was rare,” Jensen said. “But now it’s also their time. And I think that’s what you always want whether you have a generational player in Caitlin or any good senior class that graduates is that they’ve learned, but now they’re ready to get a few more looks.

“They get a few more shots. They get a few more plays called for them, not in a self-centered way. But they’ve worked their tails off. So now this is their time where they can be like, okay, I’m going to really showcase what I can do.”