Six Hawks To Compete For Big Ten Championships

After extending their dual-meet winning streak to 60 matches last week, it was generally expected that the University Of Iowa Wrestling Team would take their 33rd Big Ten Championship. After day one of the tournament, Iowa has not disappointed.

Iowa advanced 6 wrestlers to the finals of their weight classes and leads the team count 137 to 104 over Minnesota. With all of Iowa’s other wrestlers still competing in the consolation rounds, Iowa has all but locked up the championship. All that remains to be seen is just how dominant they can be in the weight-class finals. Check it out tomorrow at 1PM on the Big Ten Network.

Bluder’s Bunch To Championship

Lisa Bluder’s Iowa Women’s Basketball Team continued their Cinderella late-season run Saturday by beating #23 Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament Semi-finals 59-54. Iowa now sits 19-12 on the year; incredible considering that they once stood at 8-10.

Michigan State lost for only the second time in their last 14 games (both losses to Iowa).

Iowa awaits the winner of Ohio State and Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. Despite six straight postseason appearances, the Hawks have not been to the Championship since they won it in 2001.

Iowa is 2-0 in Big Ten Women’s Championship games, winning in 2001 and in 1997.

Hawkeye Huddle Radio–March 2, 2010

Brett and Dave bring you up to date on the Cinderalla Story Iowa Women’s Basketball Team, Iowa’s preperations for the Big Ten Wrestling Championships, and the final two regular season games for the Iowa Men’s Basketball Squad.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Young Hawkeyes Crash Big-Ten Women’s Postseason Honors Party

IOWA CITY – The 2009-10 all-Big Ten awards were announced Monday, with Head Coach Lisa Bluder, freshman Jaime Printy, junior Kachine Alexander and sophomore Kamille Wahlin taking home honors.

 Bluder was named Big Ten Coach of the Year by the media, while Printy was tabbed Big Ten Freshman of the Year by both the league coaches and media.  Printy was also a media second team all-Big Ten pick, a third team coaches all-Big Ten selection, and was a unanimous selection on the coaches all-Freshmen team.

 Alexander was a first team all-Big Ten pick by the coaches and a second team all-Big Ten honoree by the league media.  Alexander was also selected to the coaches’ all-Defensive team.  Wahlin was a third team all-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and media.

 This is the third time Bluder has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year, after winning the award in 2001 and 2008.  Bluder turned the Hawkeyes around from a 1-6 start in conference play, to a third place finish at 10-8, despite losing three starters to season ending injuries and fielding the youngest starting lineup in the Big Ten.  She helped the Hawkeyes to an upper-division finish in the Big Ten for the seventh time in 10 seasons.  Bluder has now coached 24 players to all-Big Ten honors, including nine first team picks, seven second and eight third team selections.

 Printy is the fifth player in school history to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, joining Lisa Becker (1984), Franthea Price (1987), Tiffany Gooden (1995) and Megan Skouby (2006).  The Marion, IA, native led Big Ten freshmen in scoring (15.8) and free throw percentage (.836) in Big Ten games.  For all games, Printy led the entire league in free throw percentage (.873) and ranked second in three-pointers made per game (2.45).  She was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times.  She also broke Iowa’s freshmen scoring and three-pointers made records.

 Alexander becomes the 18^th player in Iowa history to be named first team all-Big Ten.  The Minneapolis, MN, native earned the Big Ten rebounding crown, finishing the conference season at 11.1 rebounds per game.  She was one of only three players in Big Ten games to average a double-double, scoring 15.5 points along with 11.1 rebounds per game.  Alexander also leads the conference in overall rebounding at 11.3 boards per contest.  She has 14 double-doubles this season, and 23 for her career.

 Alexander is just the second Hawkeye to earn all-Defensive team honors, joining Crystal Smith, who was a member of the first all-Defensive team in 2006.

 Wahlin had a breakout sophomore season and led the conference in three-pointers made per conference game (2.59) and (2.68).    The native of Crookston, MN, also ranked 15^th in scoring and three-point percentage in Big Ten games.  Wahlin was clutch in Iowa’s win at Wisconsin, scoring a game-high 20 points, including a three-pointer with 35 seconds left in overtime to seal the victory.