Iowa State women’s basketball looks to replicate Purdue men’s success with Crooks, shooters

In the ever-changing college athletics landscape, it’s adapt or die.

Perhaps no more so than in the transfer portal, as programs shuffle rosters annually akin to professional sports teams.

The Iowa State women’s basketball team enjoyed a lot of success last season, reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament, so coach Bill Fennelly didn’t want to shake things up too much. Still, he rolled with the “adapt or die” mentality this offseason in adding four transfers to the roster in Lily Hansford (Oregon State), Kenzie Hare (Marquette), Sydney Harris (TCU) and Lilly Taulelei (Massachusetts).

Fennelly said the list of transfers he was willing to add was short. It just so happened that some of the players on his shortlist chose to come to Iowa State.

“We got lucky,” Fennelly said Thursday during the Cyclones Tailgate Tour in West Des Moines. “Four of the kids coming in fit our team, fit our culture and fit in a lot of ways. We’re excited about them getting on campus.”

Fennelly has a fairly direct plan of how to use them.

As Fennelly put it, he is a big fan of what Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter did with 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey this past season in reaching the NCAA title game. Purdue’s lineup also consisted of strong shooters, allowing Edey to feast in the post. He averaged 25.2 points per game in his final NCAA season.

The Cyclones were among the nation’s elite three-point shooting teams last season, ranking sixth at 38.3% and leading the Big 12. With star freshman Audi Crooks as the focal point of the offense in the post, the team had an elite offensive attack.

To improve on that, the Cyclones added three skilled shooters from beyond the arc to complement their Crooks-led offense.

“People want shooters, we want makers,” Fennelly said. “With Audi, we wanted to surround her with as many quality three-point shooters as we could find.”

• Hansford was one of the best shooters in the country last season, making better than 45% from beyond the arc.

• Fennelly called Hare one of the best shooters in the portal after she made a Marquette-record 91 threes as a sophomore.

• Harris also shot better than 40% from beyond the arc at TCU.

• Taulelei has improved her mid-range jumper as well.

The three guards all bring multi-positional value to the Cyclones. At 6-foot-2, Hansford told the Register she could play shooting guard, small forward or power forward if needed. Harris, at 6-foot-1, brings that same style, which allows for a lot of different lineup combinations and defensive matchups next season.

Taulelei was also a big get for Fennelly and the staff. They were thrilled to add a post player to the lineup in a sport that has high demand for quality centers and forwards. Fennelly recalled making contact with Taulelei while on a cruise to seal the deal, hoping he didn’t drop his phone in the water as he made his pitch to get the New Zealand product.

The transfers have played in big games. Hansford was part of an Elite Eight run with Oregon State. Harris played in the NCAA Tournament with Marquette. The four newcomers were the result of a deliberate search to craft what Fennelly sees as high-potential roster for next season.

“I’m looking forward to getting them all together and getting a team out of it,” Fennelly said.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State adds four transfers to surround Crooks with solid shooting