Iowa women’s basketball’s roster stability a rarity in college sports

IOWA CITY — In the final stand of a gritty, physical battle against West Virginia, Iowa’s group on the floor was the same five that started the game.

Caitlin Clark. Kate Martin. Gabbie Marshall. Hannah Stuelke. And Sydney Affolter.

That was the five that put bookends on Iowa’s 64-54 victory over West Virginia in a raucous environment at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Monday. It is the group that helped Iowa earn a spot in the Sweet 16 for the third time in the last four years.

But take a step further back.

Martin has been a part of college basketball since 2018. Marshall since 2019. Clark since 2020. Affolter since 2021. Stuelke since 2022.

All told, those five players have combined for more than 600 appearances at the college level.

And the common thread?

Every single one of those games has been played for Iowa.

This speaks to Iowa’s current roster as a whole.

Only two of Iowa’s players this season came from other programs. One being Molly Davis (Central Michigan), who didn’t play Monday — and hasn’t since suffering an injury in the regular-season finale against Ohio State. The other is Kylie Feuerbach (Iowa State).

Other than those two, everyone on the Hawkeyes’ roster began their careers at Iowa.

This used to be the norm. Players sticking around one spot for their college careers. But it isn’t anymore.

The transfer portal has changed college athletics. Picking a school has become less of a multi-year commitment and more of a one-year contract. College sports is an increasingly nomadic institution.

Iowa is an outlier to that. The Hawkeyes attract and retain talent, which is difficult to do these days.

And most important: Coach Lisa Bluder’s team is producing results.

Iowa is now 31-4 this season. It captured a Big Ten Tournament championship. It earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in program history.

“We don’t really have a need to bring a lot of people in because we don’t have many people leave,” said Caitlin Clark. “Because they love this place and they know it’s not like this everywhere. I know a lot of people say that but, it’s simply not.”

Iowa had just four players score on Monday. Clark had a game-high 32. Affolter had 13. Stuelke put up 12. Martin added seven.

All of those players started their college careers at Iowa, and they’re still here.

The makeup of West Virginia’s roster is more of what you would expect in the modern college sports landscape.

All but one of the Mountaineer players to score in Monday’s contest came from other programs. Kyah Watson, who had 13 points, transferred from South Dakota. Jayla Hemingway, who had 10, came from Mississippi State. Tirzah Moore, who added eight, previously attended Oral Roberts.

And so on.

This isn’t to say that one way of approaching roster-building is the right way. It is possible to enjoy major success by being heavily reliant on the transfer portal. It is also possible, as Iowa has shown, to find it by investing in what is already in the program.

“I’d rather watch a kid for a long time, get to know her, talk to them on the phone,” Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen said on Sunday. “And if they believe in us, I want to believe in them. And really, really try to develop them.”

“That’s our philosophy if we can,” Jensen continued. “I think it’s the way a team culture is built best. But we will go to the portal if there are needs. To fill a gap. But I don’t ever envision us using the portal to build the team.”

It helps when you have a megastar in Clark who has been so invested in the program. And when you have mainstays like Martin and Marshall, who both elected to utilize another season of college eligibility rather than move on with their lives after the program.

But Affolter might be the best example of how Iowa’s approach has paid off.

Entering this season, Affolter had appeared in 56 games at Iowa, none of which were starts, and averaged 2.4 points per game. But this season, she is averaging a career-high in points (7.9), rebounds (6.6) and assists (2.3) per game. Affolter has started every game since Davis went down with an injury, scoring in double-figures in four of those five contests.

On Monday, she made Iowa’s only field goal in the fourth quarter: an and-one layup that gave the Hawkeyes the lead with a little more than two minutes remaining.

“I think now in college, it’s so easy to hit the transfer portal,” Affolter said Sunday. “But I always think that the grass might not always be greener somewhere else. Like you can go somewhere else and have the same situation or worse or not (be) on a great team. But I love these girls, I love these coaches. I truly trusted the process and I knew my time was coming. And I was going to be ready for it.”

As Iowa continues to chase a national title this season, a goal that is still a few steps away, it’s worth appreciating the stability that Iowa demonstrates despite an evolving landscape.

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