The Iowa Hawkeyes’ star attraction has moved on but the team still attracts fans. During her time there, Caitlin Clark regularly drew fans but truly became a phenomenon in the last two years of her college career. Then she graduated, head coach Lisa Bluder retired, and then-assistant coach Jan Jensen took over. It’s now December with this new motley crew and it looks like Iowa is barely surviving.

The crowds are still there – just last week on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, most of the students had emptied the school, and yet more than two hours before tipoff of Iowa vs. Washington State, Carver-Hawkeye Arena was barely containing the crowds. And yet, after yesterday’s loss to No. 17 Michigan State has already led many to label the No. 21 Hawkeyes as “overrated.”

94 Feet WBB on X posted, “Most Overrated Teams 🚨 1. Iowa🦅 2. Nebraska🌽 3. Tennesee 🍊 4. Iowa St 🌪️ 5. NC State🐺” Looks like Jan Jensen’s debut season as head coach will not be as smooth as she had hoped. And Iowa will have to learn how to cope without Caitlin Clark holding them up, even if Lucy Olsen replaces her on the team better than anyone would expect.

Even though Iowa was leading most of the game, including at half-time with 5 points, it seemed to be an off night for the Hawkeyes, who had 23 turnovers overall. Graduate guard Olsen, who transferred from Villanova this season, racked up 13 points, six below her team-leading average. Hannah Stuelke led Iowa with 18 points but the rest of the team seemed to be struggling as the Spartans answered back point-for-point.

This is an Iowa team that is in the process of rebuilding itself without it’s main chess piece on the board and a new queen to direct their moves. “As a coach, everybody in this media day at the Big Ten, we all understand that we have to turn that page. We usually get to the next chapter before anybody else. And I’m so excited about this chapter,” Jensen had said in October.

Now, the team doesn’t fire off as many three-pointers but they’re slowly rebuilding. Interestingly, coaching a college basketball team is not what Jan Jensen had in mind originally.

“Didn’t have coaching in my mind”: Jan Jensen

Jan Jensen started at Drake in 1993 as an assistant coach under Lisa Bluder but what she really wanted to do was become the president of a small liberal arts college at the time. Before that, she had wanted to be the CEO of Nike or run public relations for the New York Yankees. Today, she’s the head coach of one of the most famous teams in college basketball.

“I didn’t really have coaching in my mind,” Jensen told CBS Sports a few days ago. “So now being at this job, I feel like I’ve been really blessed. God has kind of weaved different paths for me. I’m like a duck. You look at me and I’m on top of the water. I think if you look at me, for the most part, you would be like, ‘Oh, good.’ Underneath, what is a duck doing? Moving those feet like crazy. I feel like I’m in constant motion underneath the water. I’m constantly surveying… I’ve never been here before. I’ve been here a lot, with Lisa.”

Jensen followed Bluder to Iowa in 2000 and her path was set. She was the natural choice to take over for the legendary coach when she called it quits in May. And even though the current Hawkeyes may be struggling, the roaring crowds that fill up Carver-Hawkeyes Arena night after night show that they believe in what this team can be even without Caitlin Clark.