By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Just prior to start of this season, I said on the Hawk Fanatic/KCJJ radio show and podcast that Jan Jensen’s first season as head coach for the Iowa women’s basketball team would be a success if she led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament.

And now with two games left in the regular season against Michigan on Wednesday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and against Wisconsin Sunday in Iowa City, I still stand by that opinion.

Iowa is 8-8 in Big Ten play and 18-9 overall and three of Iowa’s last four victories were against Quad 1 opponents.

The Hawkeyes nearly pulled off a sweep of the Big Ten’s two powerhouse teams from Los Angeles, but fell just short against UCLA, losing 67-65 this past Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The UCLA game was played exactly three weeks after Iowa had upset USC 76-69 on Feb. 2 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It is widely believed that Iowa already has won enough games to have secured an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Some even believe that Iowa would have made the NCAA Tournament with a 7-11 record in conference play.

Iowa will either finish 10-8, 9-9 or 8-10 in conference play, and that could ultimately have a big impact on seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

A win at Michigan on Wednesday would certainly improve Iowa’s post-season standing since the Wolverines are 10-6 in conference play and 19-8 overall.

Michigan is 5-1 over its last six games with its only loss coming to Maryland on the road.

Iowa is 6-2 over its last eight games, but has lost its last two games to Ohio State on the road and to UCLA.

Iowa won six straight games after having lost five straight Big Ten games.

The season could have easily slipped away, but the players have stayed connected and unified, and Jensen deserves credit for that because the buck stops with her now.

What Iowa wants to avoid is limping into the postseason with little momentum.

The Hawkeyes should be heavily favored to beat Wisconsin on Sunday, so if they could also leave Ann Arbor with a win, that would set up nicely heading to postseason from a momentum standpoint.

There was concern during the five-game losing streak that Jensen was in over her head as the replacement for Lisa Bluder, who retired as the Iowa head coach last May.

Bluder had earned legendary status by leading Iowa to NCAA runner-up finishes in each of the past two seasons, and she helped to make Caitlin Clark the greatest offensive player in the history of women’s college basketball.

Of course, Bluder had a lot of help from Jensen, who was her associate head coach and a loyal assistant for over three decades.

But when the losses started to mount in January, and without Bluder coaching, somebody had to take the blame and that was Jensen.

Iowa is currently in 11th place in the Big Ten standings, and while that is a significant drop compared to the previous four years of success with Caitlin Clark leading the way, it would have been foolish to think there wouldn’t be a drop in the first season without Caitlin Clark and without most of her supporting cast.

Jensen faced a daunting task in moving forward without Clark, and without Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and Molly Davis.

Wins don’t just happen because the arena is packed with adoring fans.

Bluder and Jensen both knew that Iowa would need a veteran player from the transfer portal to help ease the transition from Clark and her cohorts, and that’s why they added Villanova guard Lucy Olsen just a few weeks before Bluder announced he retirement.

Olsen stuck with Iowa following Bluder’s retirement and its hard to imagine this team being in position to make the NCAA Tournament without Olsen.

She has struggled at times especially during the five-game losing streak.

But over the last eight games, Olsen is averaging 22.6 points, 5.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game and is shooting 45 percent from three (19-0f-42).

In other words, Olsen is doing exactly what Bluder and Jensen hoped she would do.

Olsen is helping Iowa to avoid having a rebuilding season, which easily could have happened considering how much talent and experience had to be replaced.

Fans probably aren’t happy with Iowa being so low in the Big Ten standings.

But again, making the NCAA Tournament is probably the most fair and realistic bar from which to judge Jensen in her debut season.

Iowa (18-9, 8-8) vs. Michigan (19-8, 10-6)

When: Wednesday, 6 p.m.

Where: Ann Arbor, Michigan, Crisler Arena

TV: BTN+

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

All-time series: Iowa leads the all-time series, 55-20. The Hawkeyes have won four straight games against Michigan.