Since the NCAA switched to the current format in 2015, the Hawkeyes have hosted games in Iowa City five different times.
The NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments feature the same number of teams (68), but the structure of the events are completely different.
The women's tournament used to employ the long-standing men's practice of playing the entirety of the tournament on neutral courts, but switched to having the top-four seeds host the first and second rounds on their home courts.
This decision, implemented in 2015, was made to increase the fan experience, and it has definitely helped the Iowa women's basketball team. The Hawkeyes have played NCAA tournament games in Iowa City on five different occasions since the switch was made.
In honor of No. 2-seeded Iowa beginning its postseason run on Saturday against No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson, HawkeyeRoundtable is going back in time and taking a glance at each year the Hawks have hosted since the change.
2015: While sixth-seeded Iowa did host games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in 2014, that was because the NCAA still pre-selected sites before the tournament took place. The 2015 Hawkeyes (a No. 3 seed) were the first team in the Lisa Bluder era to reach the Sweet 16, doing so with dominant wins over American and Miami (FL) - closing out the legendary career of point guard Samantha Logic.
2019: After struggling through Megan Gustafson's first three seasons, it all came together for Iowa in 2019. Led by Gustafson, the eventual National Player of the Year, the Hawkeyes stormed through the Big Ten tournament and earned a No. 2 seed in the Big Dance. Iowa narrowly avoided being upset by Mercer in the first round before rolling all the way to the program's first Elite Eight berth in 26 years.
2022: This year marked the beginning of Caitlin Clark's dominant and historic four-year career in Iowa City, but it didn't end on a good note. The No. 2 Hawkeyes won a share of the Big Ten regular season and tournament crowns with ease, but were shocked by No. 10 Creighton in the second round.
2023: The Creighton loss probably ended up being a good thing for Iowa, as Clark couldn't be stopped after that. A 33-point drubbing of Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game secured another No. 2 seed for the Hawkeyes, and they responded with a run for the ages - advancing to their first-ever NCAA championship game.
2024: Clark broke nearly every record in NCAA history during this season, including passing Pete Maravich as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA basketball history (men's or women's). Iowa returned to the national championship game, but not before receiving a major upset bid from eighth-seeded West Virginia in Clark's final home game.
The Hawkeyes' 34 victories during this season were a new program record, and they tied the 1999 Purdue Boilermakers for most wins in Big Ten history.
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