Iowa Star Lucy Olsen Sends Clear Message About NCAA Tournament Seed.
Iowa Hawkeyes star Lucy Olsen opened up about her team being a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team learned on March 26 that they were a No. 6 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament (in a region that also includes top teams USC and UConn), and will be facing No. 11 seed Murray State in the first round on March 22.
Iowa entering the tournament as a No. 6 seed is a stark difference from where they were in the past two NCAA Tournaments, as they were a No. 2 seed in 2023 and a No. 1 seed in 2024. Of course, this was to be expected, given that the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader Caitlin Clark is no longer on their roster.
The Hawkeyes’ hopes of making a deep postseason run hinge on Lucy Olsen, who led the team in scoring after transferring from Villanova last year. Olsen sent a clear message when speaking about where her team ended up in the NCAA Tournament seeding on Sunday.
“If we played like we did the second half of the season, we would have a different seed. And that’s where we’re at right now,” Olsen said, per a video from Chad Leistikow of Hawkeye Central. “So I think just taking the momentum that we have, it doesn’t really matter where you put us, I’m just happy we got into the tournament and we can make some noise.”
Olsen is likely alluding to the fact that Iowa suffered a five-game losing streak in January against Big Ten Conference teams (all of whom except one were unranked), which surely hurt the Hawkeyes in the eyes of the selection committee.
But as Olsen said, what matters now is that Iowa made it to the big dance, where anything can happen.
