By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In Caitlin Clark’s freshman season in 2020-21, the Iowa women’s basketball team finished 20-10 overall and 11-8 in the Big Ten.

Iowa also won three games in the Big Ten Tournament and two in the NCAA Tournament while playing before mostly empty arenas due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

The 2020-21 season has since sort of faded with time, and because of all the incredible stuff that happened over the next three seasons as Clark would go on to become a legend, leading Iowa to NCAA runner-up finishes in 2023 and 2024, and ending her career as the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer with 3,950 points.

But Clark’s freshman season was also considered a nice start to her career, albeit under weird circumstances.

She stuffed the stat sheet and her team finished the season on a high note, winning eight of its last 11 games.

The season certainly ended in brutal fashion as Iowa lost to Connecticut 92-72 in the NCAA Sweet 16.

The season as a whole, though, was largely a success under the circumstances.

The reason for mentioning the 2020-21 season is because it is similar in some ways to the season that the Iowa women’s basketball team just finished under first-year head coach Jan Jensen, minus the pandemic, of course.

Neither team was elite, but they both persevered and played their best down the stretch.

Jensen’s squad lost to Oklahoma 96-62 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament this past Sunday. And while it was a tough way to end the season, the good still outweighs the bad when judging the season on its entirety.

Iowa finished 23-11 overall and 10-8 in the Big Ten, and also won two games in the Big Ten Tournament and one in the NCAA Tournament.

The 34-loss to Oklahoma was a gut punch, and an emotional letdown, but it still doesn’t take away from all the good that happened this season.

Iowa could’ve easily wilted under the pressure after losing five straight games in January.

Fans were starting to wonder if Jensen was in over her head as the head coach, while the performance of Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen up to that point had been more ordinary than extraordinary.

But the players and coaches just kept grinding, working and competing because that’s really all they could do from a realistic standpoint.

The roster could have splintered and the players could have made excuses or pointed fingers.

But they didn’t.

They stay unified, and they stayed connected on the court.

There was no panic, even when some were calling for Jensen to start playing the freshmen more than some of the veterans who were struggling at the time.

Jensen stuck with her instincts and trusted what she observed every day in practice.

She certainly did rely on the freshmen to make contributions, but not at the expense of any veteran players that also deserved to be on the court.

It was a delicate balancing act, especially when freshman center Ava Heiden made a late-season surge in which her performance demanded more playing.

Jensen had to figure a way to mix in Heiden with junior starter Hannah Stuelke and with senior Addi O’Grady, and for most part, Jensen made it work, especially in the postseason.

Heiden became the first option off the bench, but O’Grady still had a role.

Jensen, usually would go with the hot hand, but matchups were also a factor in deciding who would play the center position.

Jensen has earned the nickname the “post whisperer” for her long-standing success with developing post players under her former boss, Lisa Bluder. Those coaching skills were on display this season as evidenced by how well O’Grady played as a senior, and with how much Heiden improved throughout the season.

As for Lucy Olsen, it’s probably no coincidence that Iowa started playing better when she started playing better.

Olsen led the team in scoring (17.9) and assists (162), and was second in 3-points baskets (54) and steals (40).

After scoring just four points in the 50-49 loss at Oregon on Jan. 19, which was Iowa’s fifth straight loss, Olsen would go on to score no fewer than 12 points in the rest of her games, and she scored at least 20 points in nine of her final 15 games, including 20 in the loss to Oklahoma.

The 5-foot-10 Pennsylvania native was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection and she also made the Big Ten All-Tournament team.

Olsen deserves much of the credit for fitting in so nicely on and off the court. She embraced the Hawkeye culture and quickly became a part of it.

Jensen and the assistant coaches also deserve credit for helping Olsen to fit in so nicely on and off the court.

That isn’t always easy to do when you’re dealing with egos and with players that want to play.

But Jensen and her players and coaches made it work, for the most part.

Olsen will certainly be missed as will senior forward Syd Affolter, whose toughness and unselfishness played such a key role in building team chemistry.

Addi O’Grady also saved her best for last as a Hawkeye as she over 60 percent from the field throughout her senior season and became a reliable scorer.

Considering how much talent and experience that Iowa had to replace, this season could have easily been a rebuilding season, and a step backwards.

But it wasn’t.

Iowa didn’t make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, but Jensen’s squad did win three games in the postseason and 23 overall.

They also beat Iowa State and upset USC.

And the future looks bright with California five-star guard Addie Deal part of Iowa’s incoming recruiting class.

Veteran guard Kylie Feuerbach also has decided to return for a sixth season, giving Iowa one of the best defenders in the conference.

Adding a player or two from the transfer portal will be another option that Jensen likely pursues. It worked so well with Olsen, so it would make sense to do it again.

In evaluating and grading Jan Jensen’s first season as the head Hawk, it seems a fair grade would be somewhere between a B and a B-minus.

Iowa made the NCAA Tournament despite having to replace four key players from the previous season, including the greatest offensive player in the history of women’s collegiate basketball.

So, that by itself makes this season a success under the circumstances.

Clark and her cohorts from the 2020-21 season would get the edge over Jensen’s 2024-25 squad because the 2020-21 Hawkeyes made it to the Sweet 16 and to the Big Ten Tournament championship game.

Both seasons marked the start of new eras for Iowa women’s basketball as 2020-21 marked the start of the Caitlin Clark era, while 2024-25 marked the start of the Jan Jensen era.

If the next three seasons are anywhere close to being as successful as Clark’s final three seasons as Hawkeye, then Jensen would be well on her way to becoming a Hawkeye coaching legend just like her predecessor, Lisa Bluder.

But that’s a huge, and maybe even an unrealistic if.