Iowa is mad about basketball, not just in March. Only Indiana and Kansas are crazier about it. I went basketball nuts in 1968 when Storm Lake won the boys’ state title over Des Moines Roosevelt. The next year, Drake played Lew Alcindor and UCLA in the Final Four with Maury John’s belly-button defense. Count me in, coach, I got the basketball jones!
This year has been among the best since Lute Olson and the Twin Towers Krafcisin and Waite led Iowa to the Final Four in 1980. Caitlin Clark of West Des Moines Dowling took the nation by storm. Selling out the house at Penn State, billboards hailing her in Minneapolis. She knows the game like John Wooden.
The Hawkeyes are coached by enthusiastic Lisa Bluder, a Linn-Mar standout who squeaked the maples at Northern Iowa and then coached the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees. She ascended to Drake, where she coached Elk Horn-Kimballton star Jan Jensen, who became an assistant coach. When Iowa City called Bluder, Jensen could have taken the helm in Des Moines. Instead, she stuck with Bluder and made the move to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. What a move it has been. Bluder is the winningest Big Ten coach in history. Pure class.
The male version of Caitlin Clark, Tucker DeVries, led Drake to the Missouri Valley Championship. He is among the best players in the country flying under the radar. His dad, Darian, is the Bulldog head coach, a native of Aplington and, like Bluder, a UNI Panther. Tucker is a 6’7” point guard who shoots from the snout of the bulldog at the Knapp Center. He is a smaller version of Larry Bird. DeVries was named the Valley Player of the Year.
Darian DeVries was an assistant to Cascade boy Greg McDermott at Northern Iowa, and also at Creighton (which is an adjunct of Iowa).
The Valley Female Player of the Year was Katie Dinnebier of Drake, from Waukee. Coach of the Year was Drake’s Allison Pohlman, a native of Wellsburg who played at — guess where — Northern Iowa. She guided the Dogs to a 19-1 MVC record this year, aided by Anna Brown (daughter of Jolene and John Brown, formerly of Storm Lake) and Megan Meyer of Mason City (daughter of St. Mary’s softball pitcher Ann Kestel Meyer).
Tamin Lipsey of Ames is among the top defensive guards in the country for Iowa State, with nearly three steals a game. The Cyclones could do some real damage in the NCAA tournament this year. They play Maury John defense under Coach TJ Otzelberger, who married Iowa State legend Alison Lacey and declares that he is a lifer for Ames. Bless him and Hilton Magic.
Then there are the Iowa men. They had a winning record and flashes of great promise. We like the big freshman from the Quad Cities (we count Moline and John Deere as ours) Owen Freeman.
Oh, and St. Mary’s Panther Ben McCollum just won another conference title for D2 Northwest Missouri State, which is the only NCAA program to have won 25 or more games each of the last 10 seasons. We’re rooting on the Bearcats in memory of Roger Timko, Ben’s stepfather, who recently passed away at age 74. Ben is often mentioned for a D1 job, including a current vacancy at Missouri State. We think he would find Iowa City to be accommodating should Fran McCaffery explode midcourt.
All great Iowa hoops stuff.
But the best story this year is under the big top at Hilton Coliseum.
Last year about this time, and the year before, the Newell-Fonda girls were bouncing off Algona Garrigan’s Audi Crooks in the lane at Wells Fargo Arena. She’s big, we all agreed, and has soft hands and good footwork, but could she really run with the gazelles in the Big 12 for Iowa State? She is 6’3” and built like Shaq, and when Crooks gets the ball on the blocks you might as well just step out of the way, if you don’t want to end up sitting with the photographers when she puts a hip into you. She manages to make her way.
Crooks proved herself big-time, under the guidance of Davenport’s best and William Penn alum Coach Bill Fennelly. Crooks was first-team All Big 12 as a freshman. She averaged 25 minutes and 19 points per game with seven rebounds. She even shoots the trey.
She smiles when she plays. She is magnetic on camera. She says she can feel the presence of her father, the late great big man Jimmie Crooks of Fort Dodge, when she plays before a full house. Her mom, Michelle Vitzthum Cook of Algona, was a prep basketball standout herself and taught Audi how to shoot in the driveway. When Jimmie was suffering from diabetes and heart problems, Audi helped take care of him. He died in 2021 at age 54. She has a Bible verse inked near her wrist in his memory.
Crooks and a crew of other freshman surprised everyone with a 20-11 record and a berth in the Big 12 championship game.
It’s a great year to be a basketball fan in Iowa. It makes up for the perennial first-quarter revenue blues, blustery wind and the Iowa Legislature. We can all love Caitlin Clark and Audi Crooks, Lisa Bluder and Bill Fennelly. And you really must see Tucker DeVries, unsung hero. I’m with Drake all the way unless Iowa State beats them in Omaha. And, go Hawks!
Art Cullen is the editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this column appeared. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.
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Thank you for giving a shout out to Iowa athletes and especially to the University of Northern Iowa ( my alma mater). Many times we have felt like the ignored step-child of the 3 state universities. (Remember when Hy-Vee had the big sports contests between Ames and Iowa City and UNI got no mention at all. My family has a many-generation history with UNI My Mom graduated from there, as well and my husband and I and both of our sons attended there. My Mom and Dad also went to BV!! Cheers to our Iowa teams!!
Thanks Art for your story written with accuracy equivalent of Caitlin Clark. I did some back of an envelope math. I think Iowa has disproportionately more men's and women's teams in NCAA tournaments than almost any other state. I did not include NIT. I also believe Iowa may have more league tournament titles than any other state.