
You likely won't be hearing the University of Minnesota's notorious, "Who hates Iowa?" chant coming from the crowd inside the American Airlines Center when the Iowa Hawkeyes take on South Carolina in Friday night's NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four in Dallas.
At least you won't be hearing it from Watertown native and current Minnesota Gophers basketball player Maggie Czinano, who will be cheering on her sister Monika, one of the many stars on the Iowa women's basketball team.
"I'm a Hawkeye fan for the night, I for sure am," Maggie told WCCO Radio's Vineeta Sawkar during the WCCO Radio Morning News. "I think that team has so much talent and they have so many offensive weapons so I think they're going to give South Carolina a run for their money."
Certainly South Carolina, the tournament's top-overall seed, isn't an easy draw for the Hawkeyes. South Carolina is 36-0 on the season and the defending national champions.
"I'm so excited that Monika got that fifth year at Iowa, I know how much that meant to her," Czinano said. "She lives for these big moments. That whole team lives for these big moments. I got all the confidence in her."
Both Maggie and Monika attended and played for Watertown-Mayer High School.
"Monika is three years older than me so I kind of saw her go through that recruiting before I did and get to that college level before I did. It definitely just motivated me. I wanted to get there, I wanted to compete against her, and I wanted to play in the Big Ten."
The only question ahead of Friday night's big game was whether or not Maggie would wear Iowa Hawkeyes gear.
"Yeah, my mom might force one on me," Maggie said with a laugh. "Usually I like to just go all black so I'm supporting the school colors but still not having that Iowa logo. For this occasion I might have to throw one on."
Iowa and South Carolina tipoff Friday night at 8 p.m. following the first Final Four game of evening between LSU and Virginia Tech.