What would constitute successful NCAA tournaments for the Iowa and Iowa State women's teams?

As a No. 2-seed, much is expected of Iowa. As a No. 8-seed with a victory needed to get a second-round game against powerhouse UConn, the Cyclones need a miracle to be playing next week.

Ava Heiden and Hannah Stuelke of the Iowa women’s basketball team (Brian Ray/Hawkeyesports.com)

My mom’s last name was Dickinson before she got married, so I’m not about to dismiss Fairleigh Dickinson’s women’s basketball team before, during or after its NCAA tournament game against Iowa Saturday afternoon.

So I’m half-Dickinson. And for what it’s worth, I’m also as cute as the dickens.

Yes, FDU is a No. 15 seed and Iowa is a No. 2. Yes, No. 2-seeds have a 124-0 record against No. 15-seeds since the women’s tourney expanded to 64 teams in 1994. Yes, the Hawkeyes are 31.5-point favorites.

Yes, the Knights were also a 15-seed in last year’s tourney and lost 73-51 to TCU.

Yes, two of the other three 2/15 games last year ended with scores of 86-25 and 103-34.

Yes, an Iowa team ranked No. 7 in the nation really ought to have a walkover at home against any 15-seed.

But I’m here to tell you a bunch of good stuff about FDU, and not just because it’s located in Hackensack, N.J. Hackensack is fun to say. It’s like a grown-up version of Hacky Sack.

OK, the Knights are 30-4 and have won 59 games over the last two seasons. Those are two most-successful seasons in program history. That’s good.

They are third in the nation in scoring defense, allowing a paltry 51.3 points per game. They are eighth in field goal percentage defense, 11th in rebound margin, 16th in scoring margin. That’s good, too.

Their coach, Stephanie Gaitley, has been a Division I head coach since 1985 and has a career record of 757-418. Of acting Division I head coaches, she is fifth in wins. That’s very good.

But Iowa is going to win, and probably by a lot.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, and you can quote me on that. It’s quite a claim, but I stand by it. So here is a little history:

In 2017, No. 2-seed Oregon State edged No. 15 Long Beach State, 56-55. Five years ago, 2-seed Texas A&M beat Troy, 84-80. And in Iowa City …

1996: No. 2-seed Iowa 72, No. 15-seed Butler 67

Big Ten champion-Iowa was ranked seventh nationally entering this game, too. It not only nudged past Butler, but beat 7-seed DePaul, 72-71, in the second round before falling to Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.

The Hawkeyes led Butler by 20 points with 13 minutes left.

2019: No. 2-seed Iowa 66, No. 15-seed Mercer 61

In one of the craziest stats. you’ll ever see, the Hawkeyes had 24 turnovers and Mercer just three, but Iowa still won. Megan Gustafson could spackle over a lot of holes, and did in this game with 30 points and 16 rebounds.

The Hawkeyes proceeded to advance to the Elite Eight before losing to eventual-champion Baylor.

On the other hand, the Hawkeyes were a No. 2 seed in 2023, and showed zero tender mercy in beating 15-seed Southeastern Louisiana, 95-43.

Giving underdogs hope isn’t in the DNA of Caitlin Clark.

Iowa State, meanwhile, plays Syracuse Saturday in an NCAA first-round game in Storrs, Conn.

The winner will surely play No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Connecticut on the defending-national champs’ home court. Better prizes have been given at white elephant Christmas parties.

Iowa State was ranked 10th in the nation for the entire month of December. Now it’s a No. 8-seed that will try to stave off 9-seed Syracuse for the right to apparently be UConn’s second-round cannon fodder.

Last year, No. 1-seeds beat the 8/9 winner by an average of 20.5 points. It was just three years ago, though, when 8-seed Ole Miss stunned 1-seed Stanford, 54-49.

But this is UConn, and this is at UConn. The 12-time national-champ Huskies are 142-24 in the tourney.

Beating Syracuse will have to suffice as a happy lingering memory if Iowa State gets it done.

The Orange have a 6-foot-3 freshman center from Nigeria. The Cyclones have a 6-foot-3 junior center from Algona.

Uche Izoje had to buy out her contract with a pro team in Japan to play at Syracuse this winter. She played for three years with the Chanson V-Magic in the Women’s Japan Basketball League.

Izoje is good. Her 15.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.65 blocked shots (fourth in the nation) per game testify to that.

Audi Crooks has money, thanks to commercials she did for supermarket chain Fareway.

Crooks is good. Her 25.5 points per game (second in the nation) testifies to that.

UConn has good players, as well. Really, really good players. Still, maybe No. 16-seed UTSA can upset the Huskies Saturday. No. 1-seeds aren’t as efficient in first-round games as the No. 2s. They’re only 123-1. No. 1-seed Stanford lost to No. 16-seed Harvard in 1999, 71-67.

Nonetheless, FanDuel listed UConn as a 55.5-point favorite to defeat UTSA as of Wednesday afternoon. That’s nothing. The Huskies beat St. Francis (Pa.) in a 2018 first-round game, 140-52. It was 91-31 at halftime, then UConn Coach Geno Auriemma made some halftime adjustments to tighten his team’s defense.

No. 1-seeds are good. Iowa was one just two years ago. UCLA is one this year. Its last game before the NCAA tourney was a 96-45 win over the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten tourney championship.

That’s all in the past. It’s how you end a season that is remembered most. For Iowa, it has to get to the second week of the tournament and see what happens in Sacramento. Otherwise, the postseason is a bust. For Iowa State, success will be beating Syracuse and being competitive against UConn.

For UConn? It starts with covering the 55.5-point spread against UTSA. The unbeaten Huskies’ average margin of victory is 38.4 points. Anything less would be uncivilized.

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