Iowa’s Olson, Stuelke are preseason all-Big Ten

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa senior guard Lucy Olsen and junior forward Hannah Stuelke were named Preseason All-Big Ten by the coaches and media, the conference announced on Thursday.
Olsen competed the previous three seasons at Villanova. She was third in the country in scoring (23.3 ppg) last season behind Caitlin Clark and USC’s JuJu Watkins. Olsen scored more than 20 points in 25 games last season, surpassing 30 points in 10 of those games, with a career-high of 40 points against Temple.
Olsen was named Honorable Mention All-American by The Associated Press. She also highlighted the All-Big East by earning first-team accolades and the Most Improved Player Award last season.
Stuelke earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches and media as a sophomore after averaging 14.0 points per game while shooting better than 62 percent from the field. As freshman, she earned Sixth Player of the Year honors.
In its inaugural year as a member of the Big Ten, USC has been voted as the preseason Big Ten favorite by both the league’s 18 head coaches and a select media panel, the conference office announced Thursday. The coaches and media also chose Trojan sophomore guard JuJu Watkins as the 2024-25 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year.
The coaches and media preseason polls mirrored one another, with UCLA ranked second and Ohio State slated third. Maryland claimed the fourth spot and Indiana rounded out the top five.
Watkins was a unanimous selection for the media’s Preseason All-Big Ten Team. She was joined by her USC teammate Kiki Iriafen, Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke and Lucy Olsen, Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers, Nebraska’s Alexis Markowski, Ohio State’s Cotie McMahon, UCLA’s Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice and Wisconsin’s Serah Williams.
The 10 honorees also earned spots on the coaches Preseason All-Big Ten Team, with the addition of Illinois’ Makira Cook due to a tie in voting. Watkins and Betts were unanimously chosen by the coaches.