Lisa Bluder Part Coach, Part Travel Planner

Iowa Women's Basketball Bench Boss Has Foreign Trip Mapped Out

Iowa women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder calls out instructions to her team during practice on July 29, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

The logistics of the Iowa women’s basketball team’s trip to Italy and Croatia are planned by a travel company.

Everything else is planned by coach Lisa Bluder.

“She takes her time, looks at the details,” sixth-year forward Kate Martin said Thursday. “You should see the books she has on her desk about Italy and Croatia.”

“Oh, my goodness, I really like to plan travel,” Bluder said.

The trip, from August 4-16, isn’t about the basketball that will be played, Bluder said.

It’s about the cooking class the team will take in Italy, the kayaking in Dubrovnik, Croatia, or the zip-lining in Split, Croatia.

“To me, when you go overseas, it’s about building chemistry, having fun,” Bluder said. “It’s a reward for the players that they get to enjoy this experience.”

The Hawkeyes, coming off a Final Four run and an appearance in the national championship game, have almost everyone back. Still, they have to replace forward McKenna Warnock and Monika Czinano, so there is a different dynamic with this team, Bluder said, that can be developed by spending time together, and that has started with the 10 extra practices granted by the NCAA for teams taking foreign trips.

“For me, these trips are about the extra summer practices you get than (the competition) over there,” Bluder said. “Because the competition is really different. Sometimes it’s really good — you’re playing national teams. And sometimes it’s awful. To me, the competition isn’t what really matters. It’s the practices you get now trying to get a head-start on next year.”

“We lost two key pieces of the team last year, with Monika and McKenna moving on,” Martin said. “So it’s really good for us to get these extra 10 practices, get our feet under us, get a feel for this new team. Being able to play games over there is awesome, and it’s super-good for team bonding. Your phones don’t work over there unless you buy the international pass, but I’m not going to spend money on that. So it’s really good bonding time. It’s really good team-building, chemistry time.”

The Hawkeyes have already gone through their usual summer workout schedule, so the additional court time will be beneficial.

“Being able to play with each other, it’s really good,” said center Addison O’Grady, one of the candidates to replace Czinano in the post. “And off the court, we have about two weeks to spend with each other, get to know each other.”

“We never really know what the competition is like over there, but it’s super-important,” said Martin, making her second foreign trip as a Hawkeye. “Three extra games in a season, that can help you get the jitters out, it can really help you get a sense, get a feel, for what the upcoming season is going to be and what we’re going to need to work on and what we’re doing well at.”

Bluder added two freshmen in the 2023 recruiting class — guard Kennise Johnson and forward Ava Jones. Jones, who was seriously injured in an accident last summer, won’t play this season and won’t go with the team on the trip after undergoing an additional surgery earlier this summer.

“She’s a little unsteady, and with all of the walking, the cobblestones, and stuff, I didn’t feel comfortable with that,” Bluder said.

Bluder said the trip will allow her to use different lineup combinations, whether it’s a post-by-committee of O’Grady, A.J. Ediger and Sharon Goodman, or moving Hannah Stuelke to the post, Martin to the ‘4’, and using guards Sydney Affolter, Taylor McCabe and Kylie Feuerbach as part of a three-guard lineup with national player of the year Caitlin Clark and Gabbie Marshall.

“We’ve just got a lot of options that we can go to and try.,” Bluder said.

CLARK UNDER THE WEATHER

Clark was not at practice on Thursday because of an illness, Bluder said.

“Caitlin does not feel well,” Bluder said. “She wanted to stay, but I was like, ‘Nope. Gotta go.’”

PORTAL MADNESS

Bluder had one scholarship come available in the spring when Shateah Wetering transferred, but couldn’t fill it through the NCAA transfer portal.

“We couldn’t get a 1, 2, or 3, because we were so heavy at those positions,” Bluder said. “So we were really looking at a 4 or a 5, and now that takes you down to about three kids in the country, and, quite honestly, our salary cap wasn’t as good as at other places. And that’s what it comes down to with some kids in the portal. They want a lot of (NIL) money.”