Lisa Bluder previews Iowa’s Elite 8 battle against the Louisville Cardinals

Yeah, I mean, when I think about them in the Big Ten, I think of Maryland, possibly. Just really good defensive team, good rebounding team, press a lot. So I think of that, maybe. But I think Louisville has their own identity. They’re, again, a really good defensive team, and Hailey really make that’s show run. She’s a pretty impressive leader on the floor.

Yeah, we had our scout done before the game. We had a scout done on both teams, so it did make it a lot easier. I had not watched film ahead of time on either team yet, so last night my staff took me through the team and — or through the scout, through the film. We were only up to about midnight last night.

I think sometimes you can — you know, rob Peter to pay Paul, so to speak, with the sleep thing. So today we’ll spend a lot more time watching film and we’ll spend a lot more time with the team watching film today. We didn’t watch any film with the team last night. We just sent ’em the scout and sent them some film that they could watch if they woke up earlier.

More for just an eye test for more of like their personnel, their style, how physical they are, that type of thing, how fast they are, because sometimes you can’t tell those things on film as much as seeing them live.

But I wasn’t trying to pick up sets or anything like that because my staff was doing that. They were in the scouting seats. Sometimes after a game, it’s hard for me to focus. I’m not a very scouter immediately after a game because I’m kind of thinking about that last game. I missed the whole first half, anyway. But just kind of an eye test more than anything.

Yeah, I mean, I think point guards — in high school, your best players are usually point guards. I mean, right? So, sometimes we’ve had three point guards on the floor at the same time that were in high school. I think it makes it harder for you to be pressed. I think it makes it — you have that leadership ability out there when you have more than one typical point guard.

This year, we’re not like that as much as we have been in the past. In the past, we’ve had several point guards on the floor at the same time. I think we’ve had some good ones. I mean, you go back Kachine Alexander, who played for us who was drafted by the Lynx. I mean, Cara Consuegra, Christy Smith. Sam Logic was a first-round draft pick in the WNBA. Of course, Kathleen Doyle, who was the Big Ten Player of the Year, and now having Caitlin, who I think is the most spectacular player in America right now.

I mean, we’ve had great ones. I’ve been very blessed with that. Jenni Fitzgerald used to be our point guard coach. She kind of retired from the recruiting aspect and does a lot of our scouting for us now and helps me out a lot. Now Abby Stamp does our — is our point guard-specific coach. But, I mean, it’s a crucial position, obviously, because they’re your captain on the floor, they’re your quarterback coach on the floor.

You have to have a special relationship. That’s what I think is — when you’re recruiting point guards, it’s just a different relationship than you have with other players because you spend so much time with them. You spend — you have to have — kind of like Caitlin and I can look at each other and almost know what we’re thinking. We trust each other a lot. So I think you have to build that relationship in the recruiting process. You have to have that connection with your point guards.

Yeah, I mean, I think that experience is a great teacher, and so definitely I think that experience that they have had is on their side. Each game you play, a little bit more pressure mounts, right? I think when you have been there a lot, you know how to handle that a little better. So I think that’s to their advantage.

I don’t think Jeff is — I mean, he’s almost been successful since the moment he got there. I mean, he has done a great job with his program right from the get-go. He’s recruited well. He’s obviously a very gifted coach. He’s coached USA Basketball. I mean he’s — and besides that, he’s a good guy.

This summer, I don’t know if you’re aware of what happened with one of our recruits. She was in Louisville and was hit by a car and was in the hospital there for over a month. And I reached out to Jeff, and Jeff provided a car for the family to use at no expense and it was immediate. It was like not even a thought. It was something he wanted to do for that family. So I just think he’s a really good guy. That speaks volumes about a person when they’re helping you when you’re in need like that.

Well, it’s just — they really have great denial defense, great ball pressure. But beyond that, what is, I think, one of the best things is the variety of presses that they have. It’s not just one press, but it’s a variety of different presses that they can throw at you. So you have to change up your attack based on what they’re doing a little bit on that press situation. So I think that’s what makes it hard.

I do think that we are a pretty experienced team now. We’ve played together for a long time. Again, it goes back to that experience is a good teacher. It also let’s you build culture. When you spend this much time together, it helps you build relationships. That’s one thing, I think, is not great about the portal, right? People are hopping around. It doesn’t give you time to build relationships with each other, with your school, with your coaches.

We have that. Sometimes that culture and that I’ve got your back can help a lot in situations that are pressure-filled.

You know, I think we have to approach it like every other game. I think if you start approaching it like we have to win this game to reach our goals or to get into the Final Four, it just adds more pressure to the mix. We’ve used the mantra, just be us a lot, be us, be who we are, and don’t worry about other stuff. I just think we have to minimize other stuff. Whether that’s stuff like this, like you guys, you know, it really is just kind of keeping it normal and not having the pressure. That’s what I think is — pressure can really create some abnormal behavior and we don’t want that.

Yeah, I mean, I’ve always known about Hailey just from watching her over the years and with USA Basketball. I have always known about Chrislyn, obviously, because she’s so close. I was really impressed with Robinson and her speed. I did not know that she was that fast. I would not have thought that from watching her on film or just seeing her statistics for example. I think Cochran is very physical inside. Again, we’re going to have to play that post that’s very physical and that rebounds really, really well. So it was good. It’s good to get that eye test, I think.

Yeah, I mean what’s, right now what’s Maryland’s score? I’m looking? What’s the score right now. It’s a one point game at halftime. So we have a couple of Big Ten teams playing today. So I wouldn’t hear myself saying this, but go Terps and go Buckeyes. It’s hard for me to say that, but, yes, we want ’em there.