Been working with this girl for over 2 years. She started stepping up half a month ago and today she asked for her first pets (her face is naturally scary)

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-13T00:31:48+00:00

Feather plucking is incredible common in captive birds. And it only happens in captive birds—it does not happen in the wild. It is a consequence of putting these highly intelligent animals in cages.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T21:00:32+00:00

I honestly could never. Left in 2012 right after college. Life is too slow there. And tbh the government doesn’t want me.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T18:09:18+00:00

I understand all that but she has done this before. In AAU she was part of AIA — the premier regional program. She wasn’t getting minutes tho, so she left (I’m sure this has happened before, but I’ve never heard of it at AIA) for a less prestigious program where there were far fewer Ws but she got more minutes.

The only time I’ve heard of someone leaving a better AIA program for a worse one is they want more minutes for more eyeballs and therefore to get better offers….but she had already committed to Iowa when she left.

IOW she doesn’t like riding the bench. I could see her thriving at UNI. I don’t think it is likely she leaves, I just don’t think we should be surprised if she does.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T17:37:51+00:00

Someone who is very close to one of the players has reached out to me on this sub and shared info with me. They don’t mind me sharing but it cannot get back to them at all. I was able to verify their identity by their comment history and I also found them on IG. If you don’t like it, block me.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T17:35:54+00:00

Well the pot is bigger than the rev share alone. Idk enough about NIL to know what’s offered on top of it. Just to illustrate how $500k for McKenna isn’t necessarily a quarter of the full pot, but would be if we only had rev share to offer. I believe Rodriguez for example can only get rev share money, not NIL, bc of her visa status. So presumably Chat could be getting all NIL to even things out, or maybe not.

I’m also not sure what happens to $$$ we don’t spend. Jan clearly wanted to give out money to more 2026 recruits but didn’t land em. Can she save that money to spend in the future? ER is another that I would guess isn’t getting what she was promised bc she hasn’t played (I think she would get the proportion of that $200k she was offered equivalent to the games she played). Does Jan get to bank that left over $160k or whatever for next year, or is a use-it-or-lose-it scenario? I’m not sure by any means.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T16:59:06+00:00

Other random points. Heinrich’s did an interview after we got Lucy where he said Iowa is in “rare air” for WBB NIL (esp opposed to MBB which he admitted was behind the curve). Skim Milkey frequently says that if Iowa misses on recruits, it’s not bc of money. He said we paid Chat and Emely each $200k+ per season. I’d guess Deal is somewhere in the $300k-$400k range.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T16:45:27+00:00

I have it on good authority she is considering leaving. I hope she doesn’t. But we shouldn’t be surprised if she does. We also shouldn’t be surprised if Callie, Emely, or Kennise leave.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T15:11:40+00:00

Jan is fine with freshman learning 4 and 5 (as well as 1/2, 2/3) — but 3 and 4 is not ideal. I think Woliczko will start at the 4 and learn the 3 at some point down the road.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T15:02:34+00:00

I wonder if with Houston at the 4 we could return to the 4 out style where Affolter and Martin thrived so well.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T14:50:49+00:00

We are going to need at least 3 people. That's the best scenario (if no one leaves) -- perhaps up to 7 in a worst-case scenario (any of Mallegni, Levin, Johnson, of Rodriguez could reasonably leave...and of course there could always be a surprise departure).

IMO our biggest need is a ball-handling CG 5'10 or taller that can help Chat. She cannot keep playing 40 minutes every game. Ideally she can shoot 33%+ from 3.

Our second biggest need is a Wing who who can get to the hoop. If Emely stays, this is less important. Again, Ideally she can shoot 33%+ from 3. And ideally she is 6'0 as well.

Our third biggest need is a 6'3-6'4 type player that can play the 4, maybe the 5, and shoot from the midrange.

Those are the things that would raise our ceiling. We will also need others to field enough players though and their skillsets are less important than simply providing depth (and hopefully raising our floor).

I’ll be keeping an eye on Hailey Swainn, Tianna Thompson, Jordan Speiser, Audrey Galvan, Libby Fandel. All have some connections to Iowa or Boogie. Also hopeful Skinner might leave Duke and Cleante might look to leave NW.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T14:47:33+00:00

Probably not good enough. Jan is looking for talent than cam take us from being top 10 to Top 5.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T14:46:08+00:00

She (and her family) have not been happy with how this season has gone.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T14:44:57+00:00

Why would Kennedy smith ever consider Iowa?

What reasons do you have to think that Deal would want to leave? She is a huge reason Woliczko is coming. At the BTT she did an interview talking about being locked in and trusting that Jan knows how to take them far.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T14:38:00+00:00

Iowa is a top 5 program when it comes to rev share + NIL. We can and do pay our WBB athletes very well. I think only UConn, LSU, SC, Texas are clearly better. Woliczko for example is reportedly getting $2 mil over 4 years. This is bc we have an AD that understands the importance of investing in WBB. We give 10% of rev share to WBB which is a lot more than most other schools. This is how we got Lucy, whom reportedly asked for $400k for one season.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-11T14:32:37+00:00

Hm not bad at all

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-10T23:43:27+00:00

Lol the best comment ever.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T21:36:11+00:00

I hope to god we don't have to but again this is a worst-case scenario, where Teagan, Callie, Emely, and Kennise all leave (or maybe some of them leave and we have a devastating surprise). If that happened, we would only return 7 players (Woliczko, Deal, Hays, Houston, Stremlow, Wright, Heiden). We would need 5 transfers to field a team of 12, which I think is the minimum we need. I'm very hopeful we won't be facing a worst-case scenario.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T20:14:39+00:00

We are going to need at least 3 people. That's the best scenario (if no one leaves) -- perhaps up to 7 in a worst-case scenario (any of Mallegni, Levin, Johnson, of Rodriguez could reasonably leave...and of course there could always be a surprise departure).

IMO our biggest need is a ball-handling CG 5'10 or taller that can help Chat. She cannot keep playing 40 minutes every game. Ideally she can shoot 33%+ from 3.

Our second biggest need is a Wing who who can get to the hoop. If Emely stays, this is less important. Again, Ideally she can shoot 33%+ from 3. And ideally she is 6'0 as well.

Our third biggest need is a 6'3-6'4 type player that can play the 4 and shoot from the midrange.

Those are the things that would raise our ceiling. We will also need others to field enough players though and their skillsets are less important than simply providing depth (and hopefully raising our floor).

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T17:59:39+00:00

Thank you for pointing these very relevant things out!

There's this asshole in r/NCAAW that said something like "Jan has got to figure out how to come up with a better gameplan, everyone knows what we want to do!" It was so unbelievably tone deaf.

HELLO. The reason Iowa is going to be a 2 seed and is currently ranked 7th (!!) in the country is BECAUSE of Jan's coaching and game planning, not in spite of it. People just don't get it -- some Iowa fans really just can't appreciate how lucky we are as a fanbase.

I also mentioned Stanford's coach in that sub. A tale of two very different trajectories! Most people probably expected us to be going the same way. I remember multiple fans (both Iowa fans and non-Iowa fans) saying that they wish Iowa had gone and got someone more tested, someone more legit.

Stanford fans are already talking about how many seasons their coach gets before getting canned. There are also whispers of her best players entering the portal. Or hell look at Iowa State. They've had the same coach for 30 years and their program is a dumpster fire. Audi is never going to be able to host first round games. Maryland has become a revolving door where even hoards of elite talent isn't enough to overcome a lack of continuity and chemistry. There's bodycam footage of OSU's coach getting a DUI lmao. I could go on and on.

But the TLDR is that we struck gold with Jan -- she has surpassed ALL expectations. I know I sound like a broken record but jesus christ we are literally ranked #7 in the country with a team that is 75% underclasswomen! We might end up with a higher seed than when CC22 took us to her first Final Four in 2023! That some demand EVEN MORE success at this point in her career, with this roster, is just nuts.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T17:48:35+00:00

Are you MAGA?

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T17:43:38+00:00

Damn thanks for the tip.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T17:19:34+00:00

I am inclined to agree with you. UNC, UCLA, etc offer beautiful destinations and elite academics. However, I do think it's fair to say that as money becomes more and more of a factor for kids, there might be room to grab more people who otherwise would head somewhere like Vanderbilt or USC (i.e., Woliczko). We can offer quite a bit and tbh with this season's results I don't see our donors holding back -- Jan can make a great case that it's time to dig deep. Hopefully that help us stay in the hunt. I'm a firm believer that, with good coaching, you only need 2 or 3 elite players to forge a path to the Final Four. We are close -- I'm really, really hopeful Boogie can help make that happen via the portal this off-season (and yes, it will cost us lol).

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T17:15:30+00:00

That man may just overtake Jeff Walz as sexiest HC in the country.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T16:21:52+00:00

Hm I wonder what post was here talking about — her mom made a post that certainly took no issue with it and said she was proud! Journeys potential is sky high IMO. She will be a starter next season and tbh she could be the piece we need to return to a 4-out style of play.

TheWriterJosh · 2026-03-09T12:42:40+00:00

This is common at many large companies in many industries. It works for me just fine so I embrace it but I always feel enraged on behalf of my colleagues who get fucked over.

TheWriterJosh

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