The fourth ranked Iowa State men will be on the court at the CHI Health Center in Omaha Wednesday afternoon as the Cyclones get ready for Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament opener against South Dakota State. ISU is the second seed in the East Region and is 27-7 after rolling to the Big 12 Tournament title last week.

That’s Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger who says the grind of a difficult Big 12 race has prepared them for the tournament.

Otzelberger says the Big 12 exposes weaknesses.

The Jackrabbits are 22-12 and have won eight straight games.

The season will continue for the Northern Iowa women’s basketball team. The Panthers get a first round bye in the WNIT and will play the winner of Thursday’s game between Central Arkansas and St. Louis. The Panthers are 16-15 after falling in overtime to eventual champion Drake in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Tournament.

That’s UNI coach Tanya Warren. The Panthers battled through an injury plagued season that saw them open with a record of 1-9.

Warren says the Panthers hope to take advantage and make a deep run in the tournament.

A STORYBOOK ENDING
The second-ranked University of Iowa women’s wrestling team finished the 2024 National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Tournament with six champions and 12 All-Americans. The Hawkeyes brought home the team title with 204 total points.

With Iowa leading by just .5 points as a team heading into the final match, Kylie Welkertook it into her own hands to finish the job at 170. Welker shut the door with an, 11-0, tech. fall over No. 2 Yelena Makoyed of North Central to clinch the national title for both herself and the team. The Hawkeyes earned a total of 497 match points. Grossing 25 tech. falls and 18 pins. Along with that, Iowa captured 8 upsets and 28 ranked victories this tournament. Welker earned the most team points in the tournament, grossing 28.5 points.

THE UNSTOPPABLE DEEDE
Senior Marlynne Deede finished her fifth and final collegiate season with an undefeated
record of 13-0. Deede went 29-12 against ranked opponents in her career, earning two national titles and becoming a five-time All-American. The Springville, Utah, native picked up five technical falls, five pins, and 3 wins via decision this year as a Hawkeye.

A BRIGHT FUTURE
Only two of Iowa’s 12 All-American’s this season are seniors, meaning the Hawkeyes will have returning All-Americans at each weight except 123 and 130. The other 10 AA’s are made up of eight redshirt freshman, one true freshman, and one junior.

USA TODAY’S WOMEN OF THE YEAR
Head coach Clarissa Chun has been named USA Today’s Women of the Year Honoree for the state of Iowa
announced by the organization last Thursday. The Hawaii native is a National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished member, two-time Olympian, and was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

IOWA DOMINATES THE DUALS
• The Hawkeyes sit at No. 1 in dual rankings for the second set this year; finishing the season undefeated (16-0).
• Iowa held this place after defeating top-seeded North Central College in the NWCA National Duals finals, becoming the 2024 National Duals Champions.

NEWCOMERS
• The Hawkeyes brought in 13 new signees to start the 2023-24 season; 4 transfers and 9 freshman.
•Introducing one transfer from Jamestown, Augsburg, and two from McKendree.
• Only one of the Hawkeye newcomers is an Iowa native, Freshman Lilly Luft. Luft
comes from Charles City, ranking first nationally in her weight class.
• The other 9 freshman come from a wide range of hometowns, reaching from California all the way to New Jersey.

NATIONAL DUAL CHAMPIONS
On January 6th, 2024, the University of Iowa women’s wrestling team claimed the NWCA National Duals title at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Hawkeyes opened the tournament with a win over Adrian College, 49-1.

They continued into the round of two defeating seventh-seeded Presbyterian, 39-4. In the semifinals, Iowa downed third-seeded King, 31-8, making it’s way to the finals. There, the Hawkeyes faced reigning national champions and first-seeded North Central College. Iowa fought until the very end, winning the dual by one point, 21-20, and officially taking the title.

UNDEFEATED DUAL SEASON
The Hawkeyes finished their inaugural season going 16-0 in dual competition. They had nine wins over NCAA ranked teams and outscored their opponents 593-108 in dual competition. They had two shutout wins over No. 11 Lindenwood and Missouri Valley College. In their final dual in Carver-Hawkeye Arena this season, they defeated NAIA National Dual Champions Life University, 35-6.

UP NEXT: HAWKEYES GO NATIONWIDE
The six national champions and Rose Cassioppi will head to State College, Pennsylvania, on April 19th to compete at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Competition will begin at 9 a.m. (CT) on the 19th and will be held in the Bryce Jordan Center on the campus of Penn State University.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State sophomore Tamin Lipsey has earned a spot on the NABC All-District 8 First Team.

The awards have been rolling in for Lipsey, who was selected to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament team this past weekend after leading the Cyclones to their sixth Big 12 Championship. He was also named a semifinalist for the 2024 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Presented by AXIA Time last week.

Lipsey has been stuffing the stat sheet all season, averaging 12.3 points, 4.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game. He is one of just 14 NCAA Division I men’s basketball players since 1996-97 to average those numbers in a season. Lipsey has also been named to the All-Big 12 First Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team this season.

The No. 4 Cyclones return to action Thursday night, facing South Dakota State in the NCAA Tournament First Round. Iowa State is seeded second in the East Region, while the Jackrabbits are a No. 15 Seed. Tipoff is set for 6:35 p.m. in Omaha and will be broadcast on truTV.

 NABC All-District 8

 First Team

Max Abmas – Texas
Hunter Dickinson – Kansas
Tamin Lipsey – Iowa State
Kevin McCullar Jr. – Kansas
Jamal Shead – Houston

 Second Team

LJ Cryer – Houston
RayJ Dennis – Baylor
Dylan Disu – Texas
Pop Isaacs – Texas Tech
Emanuel Miller – TCU

Coach of the Year: Kelvin Sampson – Houston

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Former University of Iowa pitcher Jim McAndrew passed away on March 14 in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 80.

McAndrew was born and raised in Lost Nation, Iowa. A two-sport athlete at Lost Nation High School, McAndrew earned a basketball scholarship from the University of Iowa, playing both baseball and basketball for the Hawkeyes. A knee injury his sophomore season ended his basketball career, shifting his focus solely to baseball.

McAndrew pitched for the Hawkeyes from 1962-1965 and was a letterwinner in 1963 and 1965. After missing his junior year due to an arm injury, McAndrew had a 4-4 record as a senior. He earned his degree in psychology.

In 1965. McAndrew was selected in the 11th round (209th overall) of the MLB Draft by the New York Mets. He made his Major League debut on July 21, 1968, in a spot start replacing Nolan Ryan, who had duties with the Army reserve. McAndrew matched up with Bob Gibson and the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, he stuck out five while allowing just one run in six innings as the Mets lost, 2-1.

McAndrew was a member of the 1969 World Series winning “Miracle Mets” that defeated the Baltimore Orioles in five games. He was also a member of the 1973 National League pennant winning team that fell to the Oakland Athletics in seven games in the World Series.

McAndrew spent six seasons with the Mets before being traded to the San Diego Padres in 1974 for his final season. He appeared in 161 Major League games, pitching 771 innings, with 424 strikeouts and 213 walks with a record of 37-53 and a 3.65 ERA. McAndrew tossed six complete game shutouts and 20 complete games.

He is survived by his wife, Lyn daughter, Jana, and sons, Jamie, Jeff and Jon.