After playing in front of 100 people during her career with Knox College, Medina will play in front of 15,000 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this season.
Last season, Bria Medina was playing in front of barely 100 people for the Knox College Prairie Fire in Galesburg, Illinois.
It's safe to say she'll be playing in front of a lot more people than that this year, though.
Medina made the rare leap from Division III to Division I when she joined the Iowa women's basketball program for her final year of college basketball.
There's a lot of adjustments Medina needs to make between now and the season opener in November, and though she can fine-tune most of those through repetitions in practice, there's one thing that Medina can't prepare herself for - the crowd.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena has been filled to capacity for every Iowa women's basketball home game for three consecutive years, and a fourth is probably on the way, too
Medina is certainly aware of how passionate Hawkeye fans are about women's basketball, but until she actually gets the chance to play in front of 15,000 fans on game day, she's just trying to block out the outside noise.
"I think my best advice is just to not pay any attention to it, and just kind of focus in on the team, the game," Medina said during a press conference Tuesday. "I think I'll be okay. Like, yeah, it's gonna be crazy and super fun, but yeah."
Like most college basketball players, Medina always dreamed of playing at the highest level, but as her career wore on, she seemed content with finishing her career at Knox College.
That mentality makes sense considering Medina was one of the best players at the D-III level. She was a scoring machine for the Prairie Fire during her three years there, in netting 23.6 points per game during the 2025-26 season - the second-most in the nation.
Though Medina enjoyed playing for Knox, it was during this stellar season that she began to envision the possibility of playing D-I basketball again.
It didn't take long for that dream to become reality. Once Iowa, one of the sport's biggest brands and a mere 1 hour and 40 minute drive from Knox, reached out, Medina was all-in.
"I'm just so appreciative that I get to be with this program with all the coaches, being coached by Jan [head coach Jan Jensen] and just the whole staff," Medina said.
"She's a sponge, so she's so appreciative and grateful for so many things. But she still competes," assistant coach LaSondra Barrett said. "It's kind of fun watching her, just, appreciate the experience, but also take advantage of it, too."
Not long after Medina arrived in Iowa City, she experienced her first "welcome to D-I" moment. Three weeks ago, she suffered a broken nose when one of her teammates' elbow bumped her while they were trying to Euro step through a screen.
The injury forced Medina to wear the dreaded mask for a few weeks while the bone recovers. Tuesday was her first day back in live practice since the injury.
"It just gets super sweaty," Medina said. "Other than that, it's okay. I mean, it's uncomfortable, it's not ideal, but it's okay."
Medina doesn't care what role she plays on a likely preseason top 15 Iowa team, but since there's not a lot of tape out there on her, she made sure to tell Hawkeye fans what kind of player they should be watching for in 2026-27.
"I love to drive [to the rim]. I love to play fast in transition. I think those are my best assets to bring."
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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]
