"She's using the sting of the ending of the season", Taylor Stremlow a standout in spring workouts
In the current climate of college basketball, fanbases spend the first couple months of the offseason focused on the transfer portal. However, while the coaching staff goes out and makes the necessary additions to bolster the roster, the returning players are already back in the gym preparing for the next season. Iowa WBB head coach Jan Jensen has tabbed Taylor Stremlow as a player that made strides during spring workouts.
“I thought Taylor Stremlow, she was a really good cog in our wheel last year, but her spring was exceptional. She attacked the three-point shot about as hard and as well as anybody, I’ve seen,” head coach Jan Jensen told HawkeyeReport. “She’s using the sting of the ending of the season.”
The Hawkeyes saw their season end on their home floor, falling to the 10th-seeded Virginia Cavaliers in double overtime. In the loss, they were just 5-of-29 (17.2%) from three-point range and Stremlow, who was a 40.0% shooter for most of the season, was 1-of-10 from behind the arc.
“That’s basketball. That’s what we’re here for and that’s why we practice so much, so it just really sucks that they weren’t falling,” said Stremlow after the season-ending loss.
It appears that loss has become a major sticking point with Taylor.
“I think (Taylor) had the biggest jump, but I was really happy with all of those five returners. They were pretty focused, and they’re pretty excited about next season,” Jensen said.
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Difficult ending to the season aside, Stremlow had a breakout campaign, averaging 7.9 (↑5.5) points, 2.9 (↑0.4) rebounds and 4.3 (↑2.2) assists per game. As a true freshman, she shot just 30.8% (26 att) from three-point range, but saw dramatic improvement, knocking down 43 triples at 37.1% as a sophomore. She also led the Hawkeyes with 146 assists, including a 29.3% assist rate that was near the top of the Big Ten. Now, Taylor is looking to take her game to the next level and she’s off to a good start with five months until her junior season begins.
The Hawkeyes have a strong top four in the backcourt with Stremlow, as well as Chit-Chat Wright, Dani Carnegie (Georgia) and Amari Whiting (Oklahoma State). Whether it’s Whiting or Stremlow that earns what is thought to be the final spot in the starting lineup, it’s a big development to have Taylor making strides on top of what she showed last season.
Even if she comes off the bench as a sixth player in the rotation, a Taylor Stremlow that can shoot 40.0% from three and continue to finish around the basket at a high level would be a solid offensive option off the bench. If she can cut down on her turnovers, while still displaying her high-end passing ability from the wing‑guard spot, she has a chance to be one of the more underrated guards in the conference.
“I just thought her approach (to workouts), sometimes kids, they click over to that upperclassman (mentality),” said Jensen. “There was a comfortability about her workouts in the way she was interacting with the team and just a consistency of the workouts. We did some three-on-three competition, and I thought her consistency with that outside shot was exceptional, so I’m excited about that. She’s been working on her footwork a lot too.”
