#SOLSC23: Iowa Women
It’s finally here. The big day. The day the tournaments begin. Three Iowa universities have both men and women’s teams in the “Big Dance” – the NCAA Tournament: the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and Drake University.
Is that a common occurrence in other states? Three schools in the same state with both men’s and women’s teams?
But wait . . . it’s even better!
The University of Iowa women from Iowa City won the Big Ten Conference basketball championship (for the second year in a row). https://www.thegazette.com/iowa-basketball/iowa-blows-out-ohio-state-for-big-ten-womens-basketball-tournament-championship-repeat/
The Iowa SU women from Ames, Iowa won the Big Twelve Conference basketball championship. https://www.kcci.com/article/joens-iowa-state-beat-top-seed-texas-to-win-big-12-tournament-cyclones-basketball-champions/43283141
The Drake women from Des Moines, Iowa won the Missouri Valley Conference basketball championship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLzKMwOxfJA
Three conference championship teams represent Iowa in the women’s NCAA Big Dance. We don’t yet know how far they will go but with All-American Caitlin Clark and Ashley Joens . . . we will have fun following the excitement.
In this month of celebrating women, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention equality.
What’s the salary comparison between the men’s and women’s coaches as those six individuals prepare their teams for the NCAA postseason? What’s the payout for NCAA appearances? What’s the payout for conference championships? (Questions for a year that celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Title 9 for Iowa women)
As a Hawkeye fan, I’m excited that the University of Iowa Hawkeye women as a #2 seed will play their first two games in Carver Hawkeye Arena. I’ve personally seen how the team can fire up the fans. Venues matter. The tickets for both days were sold out in 53 minutes. Carver will be electric.
Is it just in person?
Number of hits from google for these winners:
U of Iowa 27,400,000 results (0.48 seconds)
ISU 23,100,000 results (0.68 seconds)
Drake 8,120,000 results (0.88 seconds)
I like this shirt that Raygun has for sale.
Source Link
Have you filled out your brackets yet? Basketball, Wrestling, Books, Poetry. Where will the “bracket busters” be?
2 part bonus: What state am I from? and how many times did you see Iowa in this post?
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Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for this daily forum in March. Check out the writers and readers here.
#SOL16: March Challenge Day 14- #OLW
So, Slicer Friends, we are excited that this IS going to be a repeat . . . but we are hoping for different outcomes this time! I am filled with JOY (#OLW) and so proud of my Iowa Teams!
It’s NCAA BASKETBALL TIME!
IOWA has 3 TEAMS!
AGAIN!
If this sounds vaguely familiar, here’s how it looked last year during the March Challenge!
Our capital city, Des Moines, Iowa, is the site of first round NCAA Men’s Basketball Regional Games for the first time. “Some of the biggest teams including Kansas, Kentucky, and UConn are headed to Iowa.” Alas, no Iowa teams are playing in Iowa. (Only ISU is considered the home team, but neither UNI nor the Hawkeyes are there!)
Three teams from Iowa dancing. March Madness. ISU, #4 seed, is headed to Denver. UNI, #11 seed is headed to Oklahoma City. And the Hawkeyes, #7 seed are headed to Brooklyn!
Most recently both Iowa and ISU were out early in their conference championships but UNI went the distance. What will be the NCAA results this year? How far will each team go? How far will your bracket go?
If you don’t have basketball brackets, what about book brackets?
These brackets are courtesy of Dana and Sonja, AKA @litlearnact, and you can read about them here.
Or what about these instructional strategy brackets from Dyan last year?
You can learn more about Instructional Strategies Brackets here.
What work can you organize with brackets?
Where will you consider using brackets?
Process: I watched the brackets tonight as well as a statistics professor on the news breaking down the odds of winning (1 in 76 billion chance of winning with a perfect bracket). The idea was still swirling in my head during the Sunday night “hour long” local news. Fresh new ideas this year: Des Moines to host Regionals and connecting both Book Brackets and Strategies Brackets. I went to look for book brackets and immediately found Dana and Sonja’s bracket post from January and then the post from last March about Dyan’s strategies. I decided to add “Joy” (my #OLW) and then I had my title and focus for the article. Time to draft. Revise, edit, preview, tag, grab the photos for the 3 Iowa schools, and “Voila”! (2nd day in a row that I searched for my photos while still drafting in my head. Depending on photo/visual selection – narrative could vary so why write until selected?) Post drafted during the last half of the news. Eureka – post early (after 11 pm CDT)!
Thank you, Anna, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Stacey, and Tara. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. It’s the March Slice of Life Challenge so be ready to read DAILY posts!
#SOL15: March Challenge Day 18 – #OLW
March Madness?
Where are my teams playing?
What is the schedule?
I’m in a small midwestern state – Iowa. Our most recent claim to fame is the home of this season’s “Bachelor”. But, if you want impressive, all three of our State Regents’ schools are going to the NCAA tournament. ALL THREE! One plays in Louisville (where I just was) and two head to Seattle. AND THEN the women from two colleges also play. That’s five teams for NCAA tournament madness!
Aye, here’s the rub. . . I don’t really like basketball. I wanted to play basketball in high school but we didn’t have a girls team. Finally, our relentless work to add girls basketball paid off during our senior year. However, we were destined to have a JV team only. No seniors could participate as they “built” a team for the next year. So no, not basketball. . . Not that orange pumpkin-pushing sport. Not my favorite sport.
And yet, I will watch any collegiate sports as I know how hard students and athletes as well as the “student athletes” work! I will cheer for all five teams. I also appreciate the venue that sports teams provide for musicians to really OWN the field or court. But I will also have to
Life is full! Life does not revolve around sports! AHHH, life also does not solely revolve around sports. But what a year to enjoy! Time to focus on some of the great athletic teams in our state!
Go, Iowa!
Facts about Iowa teams and the NCAA Tourney
What teams will YOU be supporting?
Do you have your bracket ready?
Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. Thanks to Stacey, Anna, Beth, Tara, Dana and Betsy at “Two Writing Teachers” for creating a place for us to share our work. So grateful for this entire community of writers who also read, write and support each other!
#SOL14: Family Weekend FUN!
Tuesday is the day to share a “Slice of Life” with Two Writing Teachers. Check out the writers, readers and teachers here. Thanks to Stacey, Anna, Beth, Tara, Dana and Betsy for creating a place for us to work collaboratively.
It was a huge family weekend. My youngest brother, the baby in the family, graduated summa cum laude with his BS in Business Friday night with Mom plus three siblings in attendance. We had a fabulous pre-party with food galore: veggie and fruit pizzas, veggies and dip, sandwiches, cupcakes, pies, sweet potato cake, and a wee bit of Uncle Leo’s homemade wine. Here’s a collection of photos from the festivities!
Everyone had read last week’s slice (Mom’s birthday post) except Mom so she read that later in the evening. She wondered why I had left out the “riding the bull” picture. That led me to wondering about the “Kiss the Blarney Stone” picture. Darn, again. . . . all on an external hard drive at home – not where I am currently located. I discovered this picture of orchids that Mom drew in a class on her Mediterranean cruise and decided to share it. She has so much artistic talent!
Saturday was a fabulously great family day with our departure from Ankeny at 6:15 am for the Iowa Homecoming festivities. Drumline, Alumni Band, Hawkeye Marching Band – what a treat to see and hear so much great entertainment! And the “FUN that was had by all! You truly can see just about anything and everything at a collegiate football game. It was my sister’s first game sitting as a spectator in historic Kinnick Stadium, as well as niece Courtney’s first Hawkeye football game so the high-scoring first quarter and ultimate win were greatly appreciated!
Simple things like late lunch after the game, picking up Grandma and heading on to the next adventure occupied Saturday evening. We watched nephew Josh’s high school band perform at marching contest at Muscatine. What a pleasure to see and hear the pageantry that accompanies high school marching bands. However, it was a bit nippy and the blankets to sit on and wrap up in were both greatly appreciated.
The big excitement from the weekend was skyping with my kids Friday afternoon. It was so totally an “A-Marek-N” conversation with many people talking simultaneously and lots of laughter. The seriousness was in this message!
And this one . . .
So my final words for this weekend (courtesy of a vendor on Melrose Avenue), and I’m sticking to it . . .
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