The Hawkeyes' season changed when Stremlow entered the starting lineup in early February.
After a rare home loss to Minnesota on Feb. 5, Iowa women's basketball was scrambling for answers.
The loss was the Hawkeyes' third in a row after a perfect 9-0 start in Big Ten play, but head coach Jan Jensen and her staff had nearly a week to make some changes before returning to action against Washington.
The next time Iowa stepped on the Carver-Hawkeye Arena hardwood, it looked like a different team, beating Washington 65-56. The lengthy time off to think about things probably helped, but it was one small change made by Jensen that not only helped the Hawkeyes win that game, but turn their season around.
The change? Inserting sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow into the starting lineup. Stremlow scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting - not an eye-popping night, but more than enough to pair well with her established gritty play style.
The direction of Iowa's season completely changed after the Washington game, and it wouldn't lose until the Big Ten championship game.
Stremlow was a massive part of that, and in honor of the weather beginning to heat up, it's time to reveal her 2025-26 season grade.
The rundown
After the Washington win, Stremlow went on a heater. She scored a then career-high 17 points (6-of-7 shooting) to lead Iowa to an 80-67 win at rival Nebraska that wasn't even that close. Stremlow then followed that outing up with a 19-point outing at Purdue that included five triples in the first half.
Though Stremlow registered only two more double-digit outputs for the rest of the season, the Hawkeyes were just simply a better team with her in the starting lineup. The decision to make hotshot freshman Addie Deal a starter after Taylor McCabe's season-ending injury made sense when it was first made, but Deal quickly showed her inexperience, which coincided with Iowa's three-game losing streak.
The Verona, Wisconsin native already had the previous experience to flourish in the Hawkeyes' system, and that confidence could be easily seen on the court. She finished the season averaging 7.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.3 rebounds per game, but it was some of the stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet (diving for loose balls, in-your-face defense, etc.) that made her such a valuable piece of this Iowa squad.
The Hawkeyes' upset loss to No. 10-seeded Virginia at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in the second round of the NCAA tournament was brutal in many ways, but especially in the shooting department.
Stremlow was a respectable three-point shooter last season (37%), but went 1-for-10 from beyond the arc in the loss. It's quite harsh to grade someone's season on one game, but not hitting outside shots was Iowa's downfall in the entire postseason, not just the NCAA tournament.
Stremlow and the other starters just didn't look right in those games, and it was certainly a disappointing way for a terrific season to end.
But does Iowa catch fire and earn a No. 2 seed in the first place without Stremlow's efforts? Maybe, but she was the right piece the Hawkeyes desperately needed at that point, so I don't think so.
Big things are ahead for Stremlow, and Iowa fans should be excited to see the leap she'll make in 2026-27.
2025-26 Grade: B+
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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 bradschultz@roundtable.io