IOWA CITY, Iowa — Sitting at a table following one of the most electrifying moments in Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s 40 years, Iowa women’s basketball Lisa Bluder scratched out every word from a voice three stages past hoarse.
It wasn’t the screechy sounds from two hours of shouting and a dose of the common cold that made what the winningest women’s basketball coach in Big Ten history said memorable. It was her dose of humility that accompanied the Hawkeyes’ 86-85 win that day over No. 2 Indiana — and why they were drubbed in the previous game at Maryland by 28 points — that makes her both beloved and iconic around here.
“It was my fault in that (Maryland) game and the way that we lost,” Bluder said, “because I didn’t have them prepared for that defense. So, it’s not on them; that was on me.”
Iowa players Monika Czinano and Caitlin Clark smiled and offered up laughs that resembled scoffs.
“Her leadership, like her admitting to making a mistake in the Maryland game like she just did, that’s what great leaders do,” Czinano said. “They take the blame for things, and it’s not just all her fault.”
“Trust me,” Clark interrupted.
Bluder, 61, often combines opposite traits that juxtaposed work wonders with her players. In a game against Nebraska, a…
