By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If you say that Jan Jensen still is a work in progress as a head coach, okay, fair enough.

Jensen has compiled a 50-18 record in two seasons as the Iowa women’s basketball coach, but in each season, Iowa has failed to advance past the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Iowa had home-court advantage this past season as No. 2 seed, and yet, still lost to 10-seed Virginia in double overtime and before a sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

And since that loss, three members of the Iowa women’s basketball team have announced that they plan to enter the transfer portal. The three players are all guards: Addie Deal, Callie Levin and Kennise Johnson.

Levin’s decision to enter the portal is the only one that should come as a real surprise because she grew up in Solon and because she seemed to cherish her time as a Hawkeye, always smiling and providing energy and support even when she didn’t appear in games.

But Levin is also a competitor and she apparently wants to play a more prominent role after only appearing in 19 of Iowa’s 34 games this past season.

Levin must feel that her best chance to play a bigger role is with another school.

She is just like the hundreds of other players that plan to enter the portal in that she is acting in her best interest, even if means leaving the team and the school that has meant so much to her.

Deal’s decision, on the other hand, wasn’t much of a surprise.

The former five-star recruit from Irvine, California came to Iowa with enormous hype and expectations, and even though she made the Big Ten All-Freshmen team, this season was a struggle for Deal.

She shot less than 30 percent from three and had more turnovers (59) than assists (56) while averaging 15.6 minutes per game.

Deal could have chosen to trust the process and work to improve in the Iowa system knowing that there would be a chance to play significant minutes next season with guards Kylie Feuerbach an Taylor McCabe both having exhausted their eligibility this season.

But Deal apparently doesn’t want to stay at Iowa and that is certainly her decision to make.

But why does it have to come at Jan Jensen’s expense?

The amount of criticism and second-guessing being directed at Jensen since Deal announced her decision to enter the portal seems unfair and misguided.

Deal was given ample opportunity to establish herself in Iowa’s rotation, and while she did have her moments, she didn’t have enough of them to say she deserved more playing time.

The opportunity to start became available when McCabe suffered a season-ending knee injury against Ohio State on Jan. 25 in Iowa City.

But it was sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow who seized the opportunity that was caused by McCabe’s injury.

Assuming Stremlow and junior-to-be point-guard Chit-Chat Wright both stick around, they will almost certainly be Iowa’s starting guards next season.

That probably has something to do with why Deal and Levin both plan to enter the portal.

There is always a risk in signing a coveted recruit from a far-away place in that if it doesn’t work out brilliantly right away, it’s tempting to move on knowing there will be schools waiting to appease you.

Deal will certainly have her pick of schools as she looks for a new home, while Jensen and her assistant coaches will now use the portal to restock in the backcourt.

Deal also faced the daunting task of trying to live up to the incredibly high standards that were set by previous five-star recruit Caitlin Clark, who finished her Hawkeye career as the NCAA’s all-time leading score with 3,951 points.

It was an unfair and unrealistic comparison because there will never be another Caitlin Clark.

It’s always easy to cast blame when something doesn’t go as planned.

Some are blaming Jensen for not allowing Deal to play a more prominent role this season, and for not allowing Deal to work through her mistakes, while others are blaming Deal for not playing well enough to deserve more minutes.

It’s probably fair to say that both sides deserve some blame if you insist on having to blame someone.

There is also the NIL factor to consider in that maybe Deal believes she can get more money playing somewhere else.

And if so, more power to her.

LSU just lost a former five-star recruit to the portal as Davenport native Divine Bourrage, a 5-11 shooting guard, plans to enter the portal after playing one season under Kim Mulkey.

Bourrage is a former high school teammate of Iowa forward Journey Houston, who just finished a strong freshman season with the Hawkeyes.

These past few days have served as a reminder that rosters are always fluid in this age of the transfer portal and NIL.

Players are coming and going at an alarming rate, and no program is above having attrition.

As for Kennise Johnson, she has dealt with injuries throughout her time as a Hawkeye while also being buried on the depth chart.

She apparently is just looking for a chance to play a more prominent role for another school, as is the case with Deal and Levin.

That’s just the world we live in these days, and it probably says more about the current environment than Jan Jensen’s ability to develop backcourt players.

Nobody is ready to compare Jensen to her predecessor and former boss, Lisa Bluder.

But again, to blame Jensen for Deal’s decision to enter the portal just seems unfair because it isn’t Jensen’s fault that Stremlow and Wright are in position to start again next season, assuming they both stay.