I've had a few days to digest the quick end to the season, read through way too many negative messages on these boards, and finally see the news that Stephanie Soares won't be back. We've also seen two players (one expected) decide to enter the portal. Let's take a look back and forward.
The Beginnings of a Season of Hope
Back in October everyone was abuzz thinking about having three 1st team All Big 12 players, a promising redshirt freshman and a 6'6" post as part of this team. The only damper was wondering how Jordao's injuries would heal and what condition M&M would be in. Otherwise this team seemed loaded for bear.
As the season started that hope grew as we saw Soares not only adapt to D1 play, but thrive in it. We also found out she was a very good shooter from the three point line. Watching the "new" offense do its thing, it was apparent that things were different in Cy-Town. Rather than being a Joens-centric team this team worked through Soares first. Passes into her had two great options - either she scored or she passed out assists. She excelled at both. Joens was transitioning to being an outside player first (like she will be in the WNBA). The pressure was decreased on other players as well. The only early problem was Fritz deferring to everyone else on the offensive end.
The First Cracks
The first real hitch in the team's giddy up was shown in the North Carolina game. Here we saw the best and the worst of what was to come. Domination in the first half where everything was clicking. In the second was when we saw the first signs that our guard court wasn't quite the same as last year. The second game in which uncomfortable things showed up was the Iowa game. Yes, we know Iowa has turned out to be a darned good team...but those shooting woes by our guards were a red flag. On the plus side the team seemed to spring back nicely after the blowout loss and beat a very good Villanova team (in the Sweet 16 as I write this) and start the Big 12 2-0. Mixed into this was the news that Jordao was medically retiring from basketball. Our post presence took a bit of a hit to its depth.
Then tragedy struck. Part way through the early part of the OU game Soares crumpled to the ground. Her season was over almost as quickly as it had started. The team tried to rally, but lost that game to OU. But the team found a way to start the conference season strong with only a loss to Texas sandwiched in between 5 wins. Even without Soares the team seemed to be getting the job done and stood at the top of the conference. Then in an example of how weird the season would get, the Sisters found themselves on the losing end in three straight games. In all of them two abnormal tendencies appeared - excessive fouls putting the opponent on the line and defensive breakdowns. There were very real concerns by most everyone at this point. Those losses and a couple more essentially ended any hope of challenging for the conference crown.
The team bounced back avenging two earlier losses by beating both Texas and Baylor. But sandwiched into all of that goodness was some honest to goodness head scratching material including a loss to KU where the Sisters gave up 98 points! The defense was quite simply a Jeckyl/Hyde performance. One game the ladies would be switching and moving fantastic in efforts to shut the opponent down...and the next they looked lethargic and befuddled as lesser teams tore them up. There again were concerns about what the last part of the season would bring. The ladies found a way to close out with a win over Texas Tech on senior night and end the regular season with a 19-9 record.
A Tourney Title
Fans flocked to KC for the last dual conference tournaments. The Iowa State faithful far outnumbered every opposing crowd at Municipal and the ladies gave them something to cheer about. In the first game, a scary rematch with Baylor loomed. This was the rubber match (as would the next two games) and the ladies played with a sense of purpose. The defense was excellent and the offense did what it needed to win by double digits and send Baylor packing in the first round. In the semis, OU awaited. I felt this was a good matchup as ISU could easily have won both regular season matchups. Again, the defense was excellent and Diew had one of her "on" games as she torched OU for 19 points and was joined by Joens and Donarski scoring over 20 each. In the final Texas awaited. This game was particularly fun to watch as it went back and forth. Very physical. But in the end it was ISU who was the more physical team. Texas was clearly frustrated as ISU took them behind the wood shed and won the tourney title with their third straight double digit tourney win. Joens was the MVP and Donarski made the all-tourney team. People were feeling pretty good about their team once again as the dance awaited.
The Dance (a short one)
The biggest question on everyone's mind is if the Big 12 Tourney title would push ISU over the top and into a fourth seed and being a host site. It didn't. The dance is supposed to recognize the entire season's work and unfortunately the up and down nature of this season and some very bad losses relegated ISU to a five seed and going to Knoxville. The only positive about this was a couple of our players (Vick and Fritz) would be going home. That was the only positive. Sadly, the team that didn't play good defense and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the three point line appeared. Toledo slashed the defense for multiple inside points. The ladies, after falling behind big, battled back but just didn't have the shooting touch to get it done. Just that quickly the season was over at 22-10.
The Aftermath
Following the season we all know there is juggling taking place. The portal allows players to move freely with no wait time. It didn't take long for two players to makes those decisions - Maggie Vick and M&M. On top of that we finally received the unwanted news that the NCAA had denied Soares' petition for another year. So what now?
Reflections
The mysterious part of the entire season was the degree to which some of our guards' ability to hit the three decreased. Ryan and Donarski were both first team all conference last year and were consistent three point shooters (41 and 37 percent respectively). This year those numbers dropped to 36 and 32 percent AND their attempts also dropped (two fewer games impacted this slightly). Joens stats were very consistent year to year. The other big changes were increased expectations for Diew and Zingaro. Both had their moments. Diew, when she was hot, was unstoppable. When she wasn't...it was bad. On the other hand, she was a firecracker for energy to this team. Zingaro took full advantage of the increased playing time and made some major improvements to her game. I think there is a positive future for her down low. M&M was a mystery. Supposedly healthy, she really struggled with her shooting. She played nearly the same minutes per game as a year ago, but saw her offensive production drop from 4.7 ppg to 1.7 and her three point shooting drop from 46% on 61 attempts to 19% on 48 attempts. Something was clearly off.
In the end it was inconsistency that cost this team during the entire season. The inability to consistently score and/or defend was the theme of the season. When the team was on they were nearly unstoppable. When they were off...anyone could beat them and usually did.
We saw the end of a storied career for Ashley Joens. We all know all the records she set and those don't need to be rehashed. What does need to be said again is the quality of person she is. You couldn't ask for a better representative of Iowa State than Ashley Joens. M&M ended her four years, well loved, but having struggled through a plethora of painful injuries. Jordao also succumbed to injuries after a fine junior season. Morgan Kane played a yeoman's part in the success of this team. She was solid as a rock last year and after Soares went down this year she stepped in and played an integral role. I've had several chances to talk with her and she's a wonderful young woman! Stephanie Soares...we barely knew you! But wow...what we saw was impressive and tantalizing. We will always have lot's of "what if's" pertaining to what might have been. Those 13 games were sure fun though!
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