Iowa State among schools showing early interest in Carson Nielsen
Carson Nielsen looks to be preparing to have a national recruitment and Iowa State is in the mix ealry
Waterloo, Iowa, class of 2026 offensive tackle Carson Nielsen could be one of the most in-demand tackles in his class, and in-state schools Iowa and Iowa State are making the West High School prospect an early priority.
Communication between 2026 prospects and college coaching staffs is still heavily limited by NCAA rules, but Nielsen has been visited a couple of times by Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell and offensive line coach Ryan Clanton at school. Iowa’s head coach Kirk Ferentz and OL coach George Barnett have followed similar practices.
Everything Hannah Stuelke, Caitlin Clark, Lisa Bluder said following third straight Big Ten Tournament title
An exciting atmosphere, outstanding team play and Caitlin Clark masterclass helped propel Iowa to its third straight Big Ten Tournament Title. Following the win, Clark, Hannah Stuelke and Lisa Bluder all met with the media to discuss the win. Here’s everything that they had to say.
IOWA CITY, Iowa– An exciting atmosphere, outstanding team play and Caitlin Clark masterclass helped propel Iowa to its third straight Big Ten Tournament Title. Following the win, Clark, Hannah Stuelke and Lisa Bluder all met with the media to discuss the win. Here’s everything that they had to say.
First of all, I’d like to thank you guys for bringing all this glory to Minneapolis. It was a wonderful experience. I just want to ask both you ladies, this was a prime example of a team game. Everybody stepped up. How are you guys going to look at this game and go forward?
CAITLIN CLARK: I think it was really gritty and resilient out of our group. That was the biggest thing. Obviously the first half we were just very out of sorts in all sorts of ways, whether it was on defense, whether it was offensively.
We just found a way to win, and that speaks to the team that we have, the maturity we have on this group. We were down six or seven, I don’t remember exactly what it was, with two minutes to play, and we never gave up.
That’s what I’m probably the most proud of is we found a different way to win. Once we got into overtime, we kind of knew you just go and take it now.
Caitlin, I think you were down to eight with a little over two minutes left. You outscored them 10-2 at the end of regulation. You scored or assisted on every one of those shots. I think you had a three, Kate had a three, you had a layup, and Hannah had a layup. Can you talk about what was going on in your mind knowing how much was at stake in that last two minutes and how you guys played those last two minutes of regulation especially?
CAITLIN CLARK: I feel like, when you get into the groove and into the game, those thoughts kind of don’t even cross your mind. You’re just there. You’re playing. You trust one another. And a girl helped off of Kate quite a bit. Trusted her to make the shot, and she knocked it down. I think that was the first three she made all night.
That kind of fed into her honestly going into overtime. I think she had another two threes or maybe three threes. Those are the moments you live for.
Our fans, they were incredible. They kind of willed us to this victory. They never gave up on us. We never gave up on each other. Things weren’t always pretty. Things weren’t always great. Especially in the first half, I didn’t shoot the ball well.
You’ve just got to wipe it, let it go, come back and respond. I think the biggest thing was we just started running our offense in the second half. It was a lot better. It was a lot cleaner. We got good looks. We made a few more shots.
You have to give credit to Nebraska. They played really well and made some tough shots. Anything we tried, it seemed like they always found an answer for.
Caitlin, between the Big Ten titles and the regional championship, you have quite a few pieces of net. I’m just curious what you do with them, where you keep them.
CAITLIN CLARK: Honestly, I have some in my apartment in Iowa City, and most of it is back home with my parents. So nobody can get their hands on it. Got to keep it in a safe spot. Usually I cut a couple extra to give to my dad or my brothers or my mom just to keep it around, in case I lose it too.
It never gets old cutting any net. I feel like we’re pretty good at that now. Hopefully we get to do a few more times here coming up in late March.
Caitlin, you can obviously face a Big Ten team in March Madness, but if that’s not the case, what has this conference meant to you?
CAITLIN CLARK: You never know what might happen in the NCAA Tournament, but obviously the selection committee usually keeps us pretty apart from each other for the most part.
If this is my last time playing in a Big Ten game between two Big Ten teams, then what better way to end it all? You have the overtime, we fight back, bad shooting, good shooting, defensive stops. I mean, it just really had it all on the biggest stage.
Can’t be happier for our group. This was the only way we could end it. So just really grateful.
Caitlin, you can obviously face a Big Ten team in March Madness, but if that’s not the case, what has this conference meant to you?
CAITLIN CLARK: You never know what might happen in the NCAA Tournament, but obviously the selection committee usually keeps us pretty apart from each other for the most part.
If this is my last time playing in a Big Ten game between two Big Ten teams, then what better way to end it all? You have the overtime, we fight back, bad shooting, good shooting, defensive stops. I mean, it just really had it all on the biggest stage.
Can’t be happier for our group. This was the only way we could end it. So just really grateful.
Q. Caitlin, you guys really haven’t had many or if any games like this where it’s a struggle all the way through. You can kind of feel that March tension closing in down the stretch. To get a game like this, it being right before the NCAA Tournament starts, how beneficial, I guess, can this be even though I’m sure it wasn’t always the most fun?
CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think in the first half it wasn’t always the most fun. It was kind of frustrating at times.
I think that was kind of our problem. We weren’t really smiling and having fun. The second half we flipped what we were doing, flipped the script, and had a lot more fun. Things started going our way. We were just a lot more patient.
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