The Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team wasn’t included in the most recent AP Top 25 rankings — and fans are irked over it.
The Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team looks drastically different than they did one season ago.
Not only are the consecutive NCAA National Championship runner-ups now without star players Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, and Gabbie Marshall, but they’re also no longer led by Lisa Bluder, as the longtime Hawkeyes head coach announced her retirement at the end of the 2023-24 season.
However, this new-look Hawkeyes team that’s led by Jan Jensen on the sidelines and Lucy Olsen on the court has still performed extremely well out of the gates this season, producing a 2-0 record that included an impressive win over Virginia Tech on Sunday (that Caitlin Clark seemed to wish she had been attending).
But this hot start wasn’t enough to earn Iowa a spot on the Top 25 of the most recent AP rankings, which were released on Monday.
Hawkeyes fans aren’t happy about their team not being included in this AP Top 25 ranking.
“iowa should be ranked,” one X user wrote in reply.
Another fan added, “Iowa Hawkeyes should be a top 25 but more disrespect which make us the fans more wanting this team to succeed”.
CBS Sports insider Hawkeyes insider David Eickholt noted that Iowa is right outside of the Top 25 by writing, “Iowa WBB remains unranked by the AP Poll, but has the most receiving votes of the teams outside of the top-25.”
While fans may be unhappy about this current ranking, there’s still a ton of season to play. If the Hawkeyes keep playing well and willing games then AP won’t be able to deny them of a ranking for much longer.
