IOWA CITY — One day at one of her middle-school basketball workouts, Taylor Stremlow watched a young man stop in to see the team trainer and purchase a pair of restored basketball sneakers. The Wisconsin teenager was captivated by that simple exchange.
Turning old shoes into money, she thought? Absolutely. Soon, Stremlow would launch her own makeshift sneaker business. Her parents, Pete and Sarah, floated her $100 to get started. They knew it wouldn’t go to waste. When Stremlow gets her mind fixated on anything, she goes all in.
Stremlow can pick up a book and read it in a day. If she starts a TV show, she’ll binge the entire series in a week. She’s an artsy type who would routinely pop into Mr. Smith’s shop class at Verona Area High School to craft woodworking projects. She’s an avid thrift-store exchanger, relentlessly looking to scoop up clothes at a sweet bargain.
Back to the shoe business, which combined her resourcefulness and creativity. Maybe 13 years old at the time, Stremlow began to feverishly acquire sneakers of all types. She would scour the Internet and school friends to obtain worn-out shoes. She would also buy brand-new pairs in bulk. She would get them, clean them and strip the paint with acetone, repaint them, customize them and resell them … often for a handsome profit. YouTube how-to videos were a great resource for Stremlow’s hungry mind.
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“I taught myself a lot through that part of my life,” Stremlow said.
One day, she found a pair of Kobe Nikes at a garage sale for $5. The next day, she sold them for $180.
“One of my most exciting quick flips,” Stremlow said.
Stremlow attended shoe conferences in nearby Madison and built relationships with store owners to learn more about the competitive business. She learned a lot about shipping. She embraced the psychology (and gamesmanship) of negotiation. She sold shoes through her Instagram page or by word of mouth, pocketing as much as $200 profit per pair. She also lost as much as $100 a pair at times, learning the hollow feeling of getting scammed … and how to not let that happen again.
From seventh to 12th grade (when she dialed back business to prepare for her college basketball career at Iowa), Stremlow estimated she bought, restored and sold roughly 350 pairs of shoes.
It was basically Stremlow’s job. Or, as she called it, “a little side hustle.”
The money was great for a teenager, but for Stremlow it was more about taking on a challenge, developing positive relationships and building something really cool.
“I never had a bad reference or anything,” Stremlow said. “I wanted to make sure people felt comfortable doing business with me and would come work with me again.”
That’s Stremlow. Talk to her for 15 minutes, and you’ll want to talk for 15 more. She’s interesting. She’s kind. She’s empathetic. She’s a unifier. She’s selfless.
So, it’s no wonder that Stremlow, who celebrated her 20th birthday this month, became a gravitating force for the Iowa women’s basketball team as it made a riveting late-season run to earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes (26-6) open their tournament with a 3 p.m. CT, ESPN-televised game vs. No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson (30-4) on Saturday, March 21 at sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“She’s always a bright spot,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said. “That kind of becomes your heart and soul. Because she’s all in, all the time.
“She cheers the loudest when others do well. You can just feel her with you, and that’s really cool as a coach. She just wears those emotions. She’s leaning in, always. That’s such a great example for the others.”
‘She’s kind of the glue to our team’
Jensen, then Iowa’s associate head coach under Lisa Bluder, remembers watching Stremlow play for her Wisconsin Flight Elite club team. While coaches lined up to get a view of Allie Ziebell, the state’s leading scorer at more than 30 points a game and now a sophomore at UConn, Jensen’s eyes kept gravitating to Ziebell’s teammate who was making all the hustle plays and crafty passes.
“I was worried when people were watching Ziebell that they would start noticing what I was noticing in (Stremlow),” Jensen said. “She’s just always been a playmaker.”
Jensen knew that Stremlow (ranked No. 94 overall in her 2024 class by ESPN), with ample basketball lineage, was the type of team-first, high-character player Iowa likes to recruit. Stremlow’s mom played Division I basketball at Butler; her dad played under Bo Ryan/Greg Gard at Wisconsin-Platteville and won a Division III national title in 1995.
Stremlow entered her freshman year at Iowa hungry, but with humility to defer to others. Like with her sneaker business, Stremlow attacked college as a learning expedition.
The 5-foot-10 guard absorbed an extreme work ethic from point guard Lucy Olsen. She understood the importance of hustle plays and courage from small forward Sydney Affolter. She saw the defensive intensity that was required to compete against Big Ten guards from Kylie Feuerbach. She watched the repeatable 3-point stroke that sharpshooter Taylor McCabe developed.
Stremlow averaged 2.4 points and 14.4 minutes a game as a freshman, with two starts.
“I was going to strive to do whatever I could,” Stremlow said, “… to see what the people are doing in the roles that I want to be in.”
Iowa coaches attest that nobody outworks Stremlow. That’s not a knock on anybody else. It’s a reflection of Stremlow setting the bar very high. She’ll constantly text coaches about getting up extra shots in bonus gym sessions. She is persistent with questions about film, often within minutes of the conclusion of Iowa’s most recent game, and ways she can improve.
That aligns with her all-in mentality on life.
Before the season, Hawkeye players and coaches voted two players as team captains. One was no surprise, a sixth-year senior in Feuerbach. The other? A second-year reserve in Stremlow.
To be voted captain as an incoming sophomore speaks volumes about the consistently positive energy that emanates from Stremlow.
“She’s kind of the glue to our team,” starting point guard Chit-Chat Wright said.
Ask anyone about Stremlow (or her family), and the term “selflessness” inevitably comes up.
“She’s just ready for anything,” Jensen said. “If I told her, ‘Hey, you’ve got to start at the ‘5’ (post position), she’d be like, ‘OK, do you want me to front, or do you want me to play behind?’”
Stremlow’s mindset and readiness ultimately defined Iowa’s 2025-26 season, which has far exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. The Hawkeyes, with their youngest roster in 13 years, won more regular-season games (24) than the first Caitlin Clark-led Final Four team did (23). They outplayed everyone in the Big Ten except 31-1 UCLA, despite lots of injury adversity … which Stremlow each time helped them overcome.
Whatever the team needs, right?
Another thing Jensen loves about Stremlow is she’s not afraid to make a mistake. When Wright went down with concussion symptoms in the middle of a late-November game against then-No. 7 Baylor, Stremlow jumped in at point guard. She scored 10 points in 19 second-half minutes with three assists and no turnovers as Iowa delivered a resilient 57-52 win. Stremlow started the next two games in Wright’s “1” spot, both Iowa wins.
When Feuerbach left a late-December loss vs. No. 1 UConn with an ankle injury, Stremlow stepped into Feuerbach’s starting “3” spot for the next four Big Ten games — all Iowa wins.
When McCabe was lost for the season with a torn ACL in late January, freshman Addie Deal got the first nod to start. Jensen went that route because Deal was hot at the time, and she knew Stremlow wouldn’t sulk about the decision.
Whatever the team needs.
But after Iowa lost three in a row, Stremlow returned to the starting five, this time at McCabe’s “2” spot. Iowa reeled off eight straight wins, six coming against NCAA Tournament teams. Stremlow averaged 11.8 points and 5.6 assists and shot 46.7% from 3-point range (14-for-30) in that 8-0 run over 25 days as Iowa advanced to the Big Ten Tournament finals.
“That (selflessness) is such a rare commodity in this day and age (of players being paid),” Jensen said. “The machine doesn’t let people think and be like that as much anymore. I have respected that about Taylor from the moment she’s come in.”
Taylor Stremlow: ‘Haven’t hit my ceiling yet’
One could even say that Stremlow filled the “4” spot for Iowa this season, albeit figuratively. In the two games that senior forward Hannah Stuelke missed with shoulder and elbow injuries (at Purdue and at Wisconsin, with 350 or so friends and family in attendance), Stremlow totaled 31 points, eight rebounds and 17 assists.
That included a career-high 19 points at Purdue, in which she canned 5-for-5 attempts from 3 in the first half.
Jensen thinks Stremlow’s most defining game occurred in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals against Michigan: 11 points, six rebounds, six assists. Stremlow’s two fourth-quarter 3s buried the the top-10 Wolverines, 59-42.
“The way she played that game, the reads and the shots that she hit,” Jensen said, “that’s going to be one we will all remember.”
With Iowa leading 45-38, Stremlow got the ball right of the key and jab-stepped with a ball fake as if she were going to drive to her right. That caused Michigan super-sophomore Syla Swords to retreat briefly, and Stremlow quickly uncorked a splash 3.
A play like that comes from studying intricacies of the game. Stremlow is constantly evolving to overcome more talented players.
“I’ve never been the most confident,” Stremlow said. “So really getting my reps in and getting that experience … and then being able to believe in myself, I think that’s been huge for me.
“I haven’t hit my ceiling yet, and that’s exciting. That’s why I think basketball is so fun. It’s all a numbers game, and it’s strategy. There’s always more to learn.”
It’s fun and rewarding to see diligent work pay off over time.
That’s a lesson Stremlow learned with her shoe business as a teenager. And, fittingly, she’s been able to maintain a different kind of shoe business in college. Stremlow has an NIL deal with Vice Iowa City, a locally owned boutique that specializes in sneakers and vintage wear.
Stremlow’s no longer a cool little side story. She’s become a big deal, a central figure for a top-10 women’s basketball program.
“It’s fun knowing that you deserve to be at the level you are (at),” Stremlow said. “… I do deserve to be here. I do deserve what I’ve earned, and I’ve worked for it.”
Iowa is 17-1 when Stremlow starts, including 15-1 this season — the only loss coming in the Big Ten title game vs. UCLA. The goal this weekend in Iowa City is to move that “Stremlow starts” record to 19-1.
Two wins, and the Hawkeyes will head to Sacramento for the Sweet 16. From there, it’s two wins from a Final Four in Phoenix.
Whatever happens in this run, which could end this weekend, there will be more to come in Stremlow’s Iowa story.
She’s a sophomore. Wright’s a sophomore. Iowa’s best player, 6-4 center Ava Heiden, is a sophomore. Deal, Journey Houston and Layla Hays are promising freshmen. Top-10 national recruit McKenna Woliczko is on the way. Iowa will be active in the transfer portal this offseason in search of scoring and defense.
If not this March, this Iowa program has the potential to make a deep run in the next two years. The 2028 Women’s Final Four when Stremlow is a senior, is in Indianapolis. You know Hawkeye fans would overtake downtown Indy if their team was there.
There’s no doubt: Stremlow will keep pushing herself to take bigger program steps. And she’ll naturally bring everyone else with her.
“She just wants to get better,” Jensen said. “I’ll bet her summer is going to be fantastic.”
Whatever needs the Hawkeyes have over the next few days, weeks and years … Stremlow seems to always have a knack and readiness to fill them.
“She’s going to pass the baton when the time comes,” Heiden said, “and then when it gets back around to her, she’s going to take it and run with it. That type of player is very fun to play with, somebody who’s so selfless.
“I’m glad that she’s shining right now. All that work, all those reps in the dark that she’s put in, it’s fun to see that come out.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Taylor Stremlow, the ‘heart and soul’ that fuels Iowa women’s basketball | Leistikow
Reporting by Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
