Iowa WBB set a massive home-and-home series, but it's a few years too late

Iowa has never been shy about scheduling premier opponents early on, but its non-conference schedule has lacked Geflair lately.

The in-state rivalry series between Drake, Iowa, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa hasn't been a regularly scheduled event recently, and that has taken a lot of the juice out of Iowa's non-con schedule. Outside of the WBCA Showcase tournament last season, the early part of the schedule was a cake-walk, except for a few tough opponents, one of whom will be a fixture on Iowa's schedule for the next two years.

Get ready to see UConn for the next few years

In an attempt to beef up the schedule, the Hawkeyes scheduled a familiar team to college women's basketball fans. Aside from the aggressive scheduling, the matchup definitely gives the program a chance to test its abilities against a perennial title contender.

In a bold move, the program has locked in a home-and-home series with UConn. UConn is fresh off a National Championship in 2025 and a runner-up finish in 2026, and the series feels a few years too late. The first game of the two-year series will be in Storrs, with the second game in 2027-2028 back in Iowa City.

If the series had started a few years ago, Hawkeye fans would've watched Caitlin Clark battle Paige Bueckers, which would have been beyond amazing for everyone. Clark and Bueckers would have been appointment viewing for all basketball fans worldwide.

Clark and Bueckers played only twice in college, both times coming in the NCAA Tournament, with Bueckers and UConn winning the first matchup 92-72 in the 2021 Sweet 16, and Clark and Iowa got their revenge by knocking off No. 1 UConn 71-69 in the 2024 Final Four. Sadly, we got only two matchups between the two.

While the two budding stars battle it out in the WNBA, the Hawkeyes have an interesting opportunity in front of them.

Iowa traveled to New York last winter in a one-game neutral-site game against UConn, and it didn't go well for the Hawkeyes. Iowa was pummeled 90-64, showing just how good UConn was, and how much work the program has to do to catch up. A home-and-home series gives Iowa a chance to prove it can hang with the premier teams and gives it another unique opportunity early on.

Adding more Quad 1 opportunites is never a bad thing

If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and Iowa has the chance to do just that.

Whenever you see UConn on the schedule, it will most likely be a Quad 1 opportunity unless the program somehow falls off a cliff, and a victory over a traditionally strong opponent is the type of momentum that can carry you for a while.

Even if it lacks the star power of a Bueckers/Clark matchup, there is still plenty to keep an eye on. If Iowa wants to take the next step as a program and get back to National Championship contention, it must prove it can do it without Clark. What better way to signal that they have turned a corner than to knock off big, bad UConn?

It doesn't guarantee success, but it definitely puts a huge win on the resume and proves that Iowa can hang with the best of them. It was a very bold move to go out and schedule a series you know has the potential to be one of the toughest games of the season, but props to Jan Jensen and the program for getting the matchup locked in for the next two seasons.

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