what is a similar word to assignment

Assignment synonyms

What is another word for assignment .

• appointment responsibility, position
• job task, work
• designation address, giving
• duty task, work
• task work, duty
• chore task, work
• mission task, address
• distribution giving, collect
• allocation giving, collect
• commission task, responsibility
• grant giving, allocation
• charge responsibility, duty
• transfer law, shift
• nomination designation, selection
• allotment allocation, giving
• post responsibility, position
• exercise event
• homework responsibility, duty
• apportionment allocation, collect
• naming participle, designation
• office work, position
• responsibility duty
• consignment transfer, selecting or setting apart
• delegation selection, entrustment
• giving transfer, selecting or setting apart
• selection distribution, selecting or setting apart
• attribution give, selecting or setting apart
• ascription give, attribution

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What is another word for Assignment ?

Synonyms for assignment əˈsaɪn mənt as·sign·ment, this thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word assignment ., princeton's wordnet rate these synonyms: 0.0 / 0 votes.

assignment, duty assignment noun

a duty that you are assigned to perform (especially in the armed forces)

"hazardous duty"

Synonyms: appointment , assigning , duty assignment , assignment , designation , grant , naming

assignment noun

the instrument by which a claim or right or interest or property is transferred from one person to another

Synonyms: appointment , assigning , duty assignment , designation , grant , naming

assignment, assigning noun

the act of distributing something to designated places or persons

"the first task is the assignment of an address to each datum"

grant, assignment noun

(law) a transfer of property by deed of conveyance

Synonyms: duty assignment , appointment , subsidisation , assigning , designation , naming , assignment , grant , concession , subsidization

an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor)

appointment, assignment, designation, naming noun

the act of putting a person into a non-elective position

"the appointment had to be approved by the whole committee"

Synonyms: duty assignment , appellation , appointment , date , appellative , assigning , designation , appointee , identification , assignment , naming , grant , fitting , engagement , denomination

Matched Categories

• Legal Document
• Transferred Property
• Undertaking

Editors Contribution Rate these synonyms: 0.0 / 0 votes

duty, homework, job, responsibility, task, chore, schoolwork

1. a piece of work that needs to be done regularly 2. something assigned to be read or studied

1. his first newspaper assignment was writing obituaries 2. have you found essay writer to write an assignment for tomorrow?

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pieces of work

because a assignment/task is an piece of work.

we need to finish our work: we need to finish our assignment.

Dictionary of English Synonymes Rate these synonyms: 0.0 / 0 votes

Synonyms: appointment , allotment , apportionment

Synonyms: ( Law. ) transfer , conveyance

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words Rate these synonyms: 0.0 / 0 votes

Synonyms: transfer , conveyance , apportionment , appointment , allotment , allocation , emplacement , determination specification , adducing

PPDB, the paraphrase database Rate these paraphrases: 0.0 / 0 votes

List of paraphrases for "assignment":

allocation , developmental , assignments , assigning , divestiture , transfer , cession , mapping , development , allocations , posting , mission , relinquishment , conveyance , stations , attribution , mappings , allotment , allocating , assign , surrender , placement , subpoena , task , earmarking , award , transfers , appointment , disposal , dispatch , postings

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Song lyrics by assignment -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by assignment on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce Assignment?

How to say assignment in sign language, words popularity by usage frequency, how to use assignment in a sentence.

Dr. Viktor E Frankl :

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.

Mother Annie Langston :

I feel that a different type of assignment or report could have been chosen.

Herbie Ziskend :

She took that assignment, traveled the country, met with providers and Americans, and convened lawmakers, and worked to get this into the final bill.

Bill Dudley :

The Federal Reserve has to slow the economy down and generate some slack in the labor market, the Federal Reserve's a very difficult assignment to pull off.

Barkoff Lamy :

Dr. Bright has not been given any details about his new assignment or what his new job would entail ; nonetheless, under his doctor's direction, he has been on sick leave due to hypertension caused by this current situation.

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Are we missing a good synonym for Assignment ?

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• assignation noun
• assigned adj
• assignee noun
• assigning noun
• Assignment noun
• assignments
• assignmnets
• assignor noun

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Definition of assignment noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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• 2 [ uncountable ] the act of giving something to someone; the act of giving someone a particular task his assignment to other duties in the same company

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Meaning of assignment in English

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• It was a jammy assignment - more of a holiday really.
• He took this award-winning photograph while on assignment in the Middle East .
• His two-year assignment to the Mexico office starts in September .
• She first visited Norway on assignment for the winter Olympics ten years ago.
• He fell in love with the area after being there on assignment for National Geographic in the 1950s.
• act as something
• all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
• be at work idiom
• be in work idiom
• housekeeping
• in the line of duty idiom
• undertaking

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assignment | American Dictionary

Assignment | business english, examples of assignment, collocations with assignment.

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Translations of assignment

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bits and bobs

small things or jobs of different types

Shoots, blooms and blossom: talking about plants

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• on assignment
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Definition of 'assignment'

Video: pronunciation of assignment

assignment in British English

Assignment in american english, examples of 'assignment' in a sentence assignment, cobuild collocations assignment, trends of assignment.

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• assigned randomly
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• on assignment

adjective as in busy

Strongest matches

• unavailable

Strong matches

• persevering

Weak matches

• already taken
• having a full plate
• having enough on one's plate
• having fish to fry
• having many irons in the fire
• in a meeting
• in conference
• in someone else's possession
• in the field
• in the laboratory
• industrious
• up to one's ears
• with a customer

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Related words.

Words related to on assignment are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word on assignment . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

adjective as in engaged, at work

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On this page you'll find 44 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to on assignment, such as: active, unavailable, working, buried, employed, and engaged.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

Understanding Assignments

What this handout is about.

The first step in any successful college writing venture is reading the assignment. While this sounds like a simple task, it can be a tough one. This handout will help you unravel your assignment and begin to craft an effective response. Much of the following advice will involve translating typical assignment terms and practices into meaningful clues to the type of writing your instructor expects. See our short video for more tips.

Basic beginnings

Regardless of the assignment, department, or instructor, adopting these two habits will serve you well :

• Read the assignment carefully as soon as you receive it. Do not put this task off—reading the assignment at the beginning will save you time, stress, and problems later. An assignment can look pretty straightforward at first, particularly if the instructor has provided lots of information. That does not mean it will not take time and effort to complete; you may even have to learn a new skill to complete the assignment.
• Ask the instructor about anything you do not understand. Do not hesitate to approach your instructor. Instructors would prefer to set you straight before you hand the paper in. That’s also when you will find their feedback most useful.

Assignment formats

Many assignments follow a basic format. Assignments often begin with an overview of the topic, include a central verb or verbs that describe the task, and offer some additional suggestions, questions, or prompts to get you started.

An Overview of Some Kind

The instructor might set the stage with some general discussion of the subject of the assignment, introduce the topic, or remind you of something pertinent that you have discussed in class. For example:

“Throughout history, gerbils have played a key role in politics,” or “In the last few weeks of class, we have focused on the evening wear of the housefly …”

The Task of the Assignment

Pay attention; this part tells you what to do when you write the paper. Look for the key verb or verbs in the sentence. Words like analyze, summarize, or compare direct you to think about your topic in a certain way. Also pay attention to words such as how, what, when, where, and why; these words guide your attention toward specific information. (See the section in this handout titled “Key Terms” for more information.)

“Analyze the effect that gerbils had on the Russian Revolution”, or “Suggest an interpretation of housefly undergarments that differs from Darwin’s.”

Additional Material to Think about

Here you will find some questions to use as springboards as you begin to think about the topic. Instructors usually include these questions as suggestions rather than requirements. Do not feel compelled to answer every question unless the instructor asks you to do so. Pay attention to the order of the questions. Sometimes they suggest the thinking process your instructor imagines you will need to follow to begin thinking about the topic.

“You may wish to consider the differing views held by Communist gerbils vs. Monarchist gerbils, or Can there be such a thing as ‘the housefly garment industry’ or is it just a home-based craft?”

These are the instructor’s comments about writing expectations:

“Be concise”, “Write effectively”, or “Argue furiously.”

Technical Details

These instructions usually indicate format rules or guidelines.

“Your paper must be typed in Palatino font on gray paper and must not exceed 600 pages. It is due on the anniversary of Mao Tse-tung’s death.”

The assignment’s parts may not appear in exactly this order, and each part may be very long or really short. Nonetheless, being aware of this standard pattern can help you understand what your instructor wants you to do.

Interpreting the assignment

Ask yourself a few basic questions as you read and jot down the answers on the assignment sheet:

Why did your instructor ask you to do this particular task?

Who is your audience.

• What kind of evidence do you need to support your ideas?

What kind of writing style is acceptable?

• What are the absolute rules of the paper?

Try to look at the question from the point of view of the instructor. Recognize that your instructor has a reason for giving you this assignment and for giving it to you at a particular point in the semester. In every assignment, the instructor has a challenge for you. This challenge could be anything from demonstrating an ability to think clearly to demonstrating an ability to use the library. See the assignment not as a vague suggestion of what to do but as an opportunity to show that you can handle the course material as directed. Paper assignments give you more than a topic to discuss—they ask you to do something with the topic. Keep reminding yourself of that. Be careful to avoid the other extreme as well: do not read more into the assignment than what is there.

Of course, your instructor has given you an assignment so that he or she will be able to assess your understanding of the course material and give you an appropriate grade. But there is more to it than that. Your instructor has tried to design a learning experience of some kind. Your instructor wants you to think about something in a particular way for a particular reason. If you read the course description at the beginning of your syllabus, review the assigned readings, and consider the assignment itself, you may begin to see the plan, purpose, or approach to the subject matter that your instructor has created for you. If you still aren’t sure of the assignment’s goals, try asking the instructor. For help with this, see our handout on getting feedback .

Given your instructor’s efforts, it helps to answer the question: What is my purpose in completing this assignment? Is it to gather research from a variety of outside sources and present a coherent picture? Is it to take material I have been learning in class and apply it to a new situation? Is it to prove a point one way or another? Key words from the assignment can help you figure this out. Look for key terms in the form of active verbs that tell you what to do.

Key Terms: Finding Those Active Verbs

Here are some common key words and definitions to help you think about assignment terms:

Information words Ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why.

• define —give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning
• describe —provide details about the subject by answering question words (such as who, what, when, where, how, and why); you might also give details related to the five senses (what you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell)
• explain —give reasons why or examples of how something happened
• illustrate —give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject
• summarize —briefly list the important ideas you learned about the subject
• trace —outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form
• research —gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you have found

Relation words Ask you to demonstrate how things are connected.

• compare —show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different)
• contrast —show how two or more things are dissimilar
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation
• cause —show how one event or series of events made something else happen
• relate —show or describe the connections between things

Interpretation words Ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Do not see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation.

• assess —summarize your opinion of the subject and measure it against something
• prove, justify —give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth
• evaluate, respond —state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons
• support —give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe)
• synthesize —put two or more things together that have not been put together in class or in your readings before; do not just summarize one and then the other and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together that runs all the way through the paper
• analyze —determine how individual parts create or relate to the whole, figure out how something works, what it might mean, or why it is important
• argue —take a side and defend it with evidence against the other side

More Clues to Your Purpose As you read the assignment, think about what the teacher does in class:

• What kinds of textbooks or coursepack did your instructor choose for the course—ones that provide background information, explain theories or perspectives, or argue a point of view?
• In lecture, does your instructor ask your opinion, try to prove her point of view, or use keywords that show up again in the assignment?
• What kinds of assignments are typical in this discipline? Social science classes often expect more research. Humanities classes thrive on interpretation and analysis.
• How do the assignments, readings, and lectures work together in the course? Instructors spend time designing courses, sometimes even arguing with their peers about the most effective course materials. Figuring out the overall design to the course will help you understand what each assignment is meant to achieve.

Now, what about your reader? Most undergraduates think of their audience as the instructor. True, your instructor is a good person to keep in mind as you write. But for the purposes of a good paper, think of your audience as someone like your roommate: smart enough to understand a clear, logical argument, but not someone who already knows exactly what is going on in your particular paper. Remember, even if the instructor knows everything there is to know about your paper topic, he or she still has to read your paper and assess your understanding. In other words, teach the material to your reader.

Aiming a paper at your audience happens in two ways: you make decisions about the tone and the level of information you want to convey.

• Tone means the “voice” of your paper. Should you be chatty, formal, or objective? Usually you will find some happy medium—you do not want to alienate your reader by sounding condescending or superior, but you do not want to, um, like, totally wig on the man, you know? Eschew ostentatious erudition: some students think the way to sound academic is to use big words. Be careful—you can sound ridiculous, especially if you use the wrong big words.
• The level of information you use depends on who you think your audience is. If you imagine your audience as your instructor and she already knows everything you have to say, you may find yourself leaving out key information that can cause your argument to be unconvincing and illogical. But you do not have to explain every single word or issue. If you are telling your roommate what happened on your favorite science fiction TV show last night, you do not say, “First a dark-haired white man of average height, wearing a suit and carrying a flashlight, walked into the room. Then a purple alien with fifteen arms and at least three eyes turned around. Then the man smiled slightly. In the background, you could hear a clock ticking. The room was fairly dark and had at least two windows that I saw.” You also do not say, “This guy found some aliens. The end.” Find some balance of useful details that support your main point.

You’ll find a much more detailed discussion of these concepts in our handout on audience .

The Grim Truth

With a few exceptions (including some lab and ethnography reports), you are probably being asked to make an argument. You must convince your audience. It is easy to forget this aim when you are researching and writing; as you become involved in your subject matter, you may become enmeshed in the details and focus on learning or simply telling the information you have found. You need to do more than just repeat what you have read. Your writing should have a point, and you should be able to say it in a sentence. Sometimes instructors call this sentence a “thesis” or a “claim.”

So, if your instructor tells you to write about some aspect of oral hygiene, you do not want to just list: “First, you brush your teeth with a soft brush and some peanut butter. Then, you floss with unwaxed, bologna-flavored string. Finally, gargle with bourbon.” Instead, you could say, “Of all the oral cleaning methods, sandblasting removes the most plaque. Therefore it should be recommended by the American Dental Association.” Or, “From an aesthetic perspective, moldy teeth can be quite charming. However, their joys are short-lived.”

Convincing the reader of your argument is the goal of academic writing. It doesn’t have to say “argument” anywhere in the assignment for you to need one. Look at the assignment and think about what kind of argument you could make about it instead of just seeing it as a checklist of information you have to present. For help with understanding the role of argument in academic writing, see our handout on argument .

What kind of evidence do you need?

There are many kinds of evidence, and what type of evidence will work for your assignment can depend on several factors–the discipline, the parameters of the assignment, and your instructor’s preference. Should you use statistics? Historical examples? Do you need to conduct your own experiment? Can you rely on personal experience? See our handout on evidence for suggestions on how to use evidence appropriately.

Make sure you are clear about this part of the assignment, because your use of evidence will be crucial in writing a successful paper. You are not just learning how to argue; you are learning how to argue with specific types of materials and ideas. Ask your instructor what counts as acceptable evidence. You can also ask a librarian for help. No matter what kind of evidence you use, be sure to cite it correctly—see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial .

You cannot always tell from the assignment just what sort of writing style your instructor expects. The instructor may be really laid back in class but still expect you to sound formal in writing. Or the instructor may be fairly formal in class and ask you to write a reflection paper where you need to use “I” and speak from your own experience.

Try to avoid false associations of a particular field with a style (“art historians like wacky creativity,” or “political scientists are boring and just give facts”) and look instead to the types of readings you have been given in class. No one expects you to write like Plato—just use the readings as a guide for what is standard or preferable to your instructor. When in doubt, ask your instructor about the level of formality she or he expects.

No matter what field you are writing for or what facts you are including, if you do not write so that your reader can understand your main idea, you have wasted your time. So make clarity your main goal. For specific help with style, see our handout on style .

Technical details about the assignment

The technical information you are given in an assignment always seems like the easy part. This section can actually give you lots of little hints about approaching the task. Find out if elements such as page length and citation format (see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial ) are negotiable. Some professors do not have strong preferences as long as you are consistent and fully answer the assignment. Some professors are very specific and will deduct big points for deviations.

Usually, the page length tells you something important: The instructor thinks the size of the paper is appropriate to the assignment’s parameters. In plain English, your instructor is telling you how many pages it should take for you to answer the question as fully as you are expected to. So if an assignment is two pages long, you cannot pad your paper with examples or reword your main idea several times. Hit your one point early, defend it with the clearest example, and finish quickly. If an assignment is ten pages long, you can be more complex in your main points and examples—and if you can only produce five pages for that assignment, you need to see someone for help—as soon as possible.

Tricks that don’t work

Your instructors are not fooled when you:

• spend more time on the cover page than the essay —graphics, cool binders, and cute titles are no replacement for a well-written paper.
• use huge fonts, wide margins, or extra spacing to pad the page length —these tricks are immediately obvious to the eye. Most instructors use the same word processor you do. They know what’s possible. Such tactics are especially damning when the instructor has a stack of 60 papers to grade and yours is the only one that low-flying airplane pilots could read.
• use a paper from another class that covered “sort of similar” material . Again, the instructor has a particular task for you to fulfill in the assignment that usually relates to course material and lectures. Your other paper may not cover this material, and turning in the same paper for more than one course may constitute an Honor Code violation . Ask the instructor—it can’t hurt.
• get all wacky and “creative” before you answer the question . Showing that you are able to think beyond the boundaries of a simple assignment can be good, but you must do what the assignment calls for first. Again, check with your instructor. A humorous tone can be refreshing for someone grading a stack of papers, but it will not get you a good grade if you have not fulfilled the task.

Critical reading of assignments leads to skills in other types of reading and writing. If you get good at figuring out what the real goals of assignments are, you are going to be better at understanding the goals of all of your classes and fields of study.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Synonyms of assigns

• as in tasks
• as in allots
• as in cedes
• as in appoints
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Thesaurus Definition of assigns

Synonyms & Similar Words

• commissions
• distributes
• administers
• contributes
• shares (out)
• parcels (out)
• metes (out)
• redistributes
• reallocates
• reapportions

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• deprives (of)
• appropriates
• confiscates
• relinquishes
• disposes of
• passes (down)
• expropriates
• constitutes
• inaugurates
• consecrates
• singles (out)

Thesaurus Entries Near assigns

assignments

Cite this Entry

“Assigns.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/assigns. Accessed 6 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on assigns

Nglish: Translation of assigns for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assigns for Arabic Speakers

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Leistikow's 5 thoughts ahead of Iowa women's basketball vs UConn matchup in Final Four

CLEVELAND − Pour one out for … poor UConn?

It seems odd to think about a women’s basketball juggernaut that has been to 23 Final Fours, including 15 of the last 16, being able to play the underdog card against a program like Iowa, which traditionally hasn’t been accustomed to reaching the season's final weekend.

But unfortunate circumstances on UConn’s side have contributed to that mentality. Due to season-ending injuries to five expected contributors, Geno Auriemma’s team is down to seven viable players for the NCAA Tournament and used only six in UConn's round-of-32 and Sweet 16 victories.

“I know a lot of people are counting us out,” UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards said Thursday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the site of Friday night’s showdown against Iowa (8:30 p.m. CT, ESPN).

Added point guard Nika Muhl, despite her team being the Vegas favorite in the Portland 3 Regional: “Nobody expected us to be here.”

Iowa is aware of the Huskies’ plight, but it also isn’t fooled into thinking that it is facing some plucky upstart opponent.

The Huskies have a 33-5 record and their remaining top six includes five five-star recruits in Edwards, Paige Bueckers, Ashlynn Shade, KK Arnold and Ice Brady and a three-star in Muhl, who is the storied program’s all-time leader in assists.

They have won 13 straight games. They are outscoring opponents by an average of 23.1 points.

They are the New York Yankees of women’s basketball.

Yet Iowa (33-4) finds itself as a 2½-point favorite Friday. Behind national player of the year Caitlin Clark, the Hawkeyes believe they are equipped to beat UConn. And with such a tight turnaround from Monday night’s riveting win against defending national champion LSU , they have been focusing more on mental energy than physical exertion.

Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen thought the players did a good job focusing on "The Purple Team” instead of getting caught up in all the hype about LSU in Albany. They are trying to mimic that approach now by looking beyond the “UConn” name and just see five opponents in jerseys.

“Sometimes tradition can just give you 10 points real fast,” Jensen said. “We’ve got to get our head game (right). I think it’s all about our mind.”

The Huskies’ likely reliance on only six players could become a factor. Iowa’s Sydney Affolter, for example, said she will be aggressive in trying to draw contact and get UConn’s limited roster into foul trouble.

UConn committed only 11 fouls in its 53-45 win over Duke in the Sweet 16, but managed to survive top-seeded USC in the Elite Eight, 80-73, despite committing 21 fouls (three players ended up with four fouls and two with three, but nobody got to the disqualifying five).

“You can certainly look at that, but they’re here,” Jensen said. “They’re not all of a sudden now going to be real tired. They’re not all of a sudden going to be in foul trouble. … But I feel like the real key is doing what we do. And knowing that if we do what we do, it's been pretty good for us.”

Iowa vs. UConn will be a battle of similar styles

Along with Jensen, Jenni Fitzgerald has been with head coach Lisa Bluder throughout their 24 years at Iowa and even before that at Drake. Fitzgerald, now a special assistant to Bluder, has always been considered a scouting-report guru for the Hawkeyes.

So, it’s probably good fortune that Fitzgerald has long had the UConn scout for Iowa. She had it last year when the two teams faced in Portland, and that’s how it works. The same coach sticks with the opponent scout over time, just like Raina Harmon had LSU last year and last week .

Well, Fitzgerald found herself watching a lot more UConn clips this past summer – trying to see if there were things Iowa could, uh, borrow. The Hawkeyes’ read-and-react offense is similar to what Auriemma runs.

“I don't do that to every team,” Fitzgerald said. “It was more like there was some similarities. So, I thought, I'm going to watch them because I think there's some things that we can use in our own system. So, it's just ironic, here we are playing them in the semis.”

Regarding UConn, Fitzgerald obviously isn’t going to give away Iowa’s game plan. But she shared what she is seeing, and that’s basically another version of Iowa.

Each team has a superstar guard – Iowa has Clark, UConn has Bueckers. Unless you’re a recent arrival on planet Earth, you’ve likely heard about that matchup by now.

Each team plays four guards and relies on one athletic center – Iowa has 6-foot-2 Hannah Stuelke, UConn has 6-3 Edwards.

“It's going to be an evenly matched game,” Fitzgerald said. “If both of us are playing really well, we're both going to have to get back in transition. We’re going to have to (defend) all sorts of different cuts and reads. And then being able to slow down Paige.”

Perhaps the biggest defensive assignment of Gabbie Marshall’s career

Marshall’s season has been compelling. Her shot suffered for much of the year, but it’s been heating up of late. She is a clear fan favorite, and now her legend as a defensive master is growing. That is refreshing to see, and it matches the appreciation Marshall has from her coaches.

“I feel like the fan base started really realizing what she does on the other side of the ball,” Jensen said.

Marshall, a fifth-year senior, gets to come to her home state of Ohio for the final game (or games) of her career (Friday will mark her school-record 165th game). The Cincinnati native played all 40 minutes against LSU while marking star Flau’jae Johnson when Iowa wasn’t in zone defense, and she’ll need to bring her brand of unlimited energy versus Bueckers.

Bueckers is averaging 27.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in the postseason. For the whole season, the 6-foot guard is making 53.4% of her shots, including 41.8% of her 3-pointers.

“I’ve been describing her game as smooth,” Marshall said. “She’s always so calm and kind of letting the game come to her. She reads what the defense gives her pretty well, and she’ll find a counter move to whatever they’re throwing at her. It’s more about limiting her touches or making her shots more difficult.”

Iowa plans to mix up defensive looks against UConn, but Marshall will get the first crack at Bueckers.

Marshall ranks No. 3 in Iowa history with 255 3-pointers. She can be a sneaky-huge weapon on offense, too, despite a season average of 6.1 points per game. But she knows that defense will define her success Friday.

“The best way to stop a great player is not letting her get the ball in the first place,” she said. “It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m going to try my best.

“My shot may not always be on, but (defense) is something that I will always give my 100% to every single game.”

How badly does Caitlin Clark want this one?

A very relevant question, considering UConn was her dream school and Huskies legend Maya Moore was her favorite player while growing up in West Des Moines. Wright Thompson's massive piece on Clark at ESPN.com delved into the sting that she felt when Auriemma was one of the only coaches in the country who didn’t recruit her.

“I loved UConn. I think they're the coolest place on Earth, and I wanted to say I got recruited by them,” Clark said in the ESPN article. “They called my AAU coach a few times, but they never talked to my family and never talked to me.”

To be fair, it’s not like Auriemma snubbed Clark completely. He committed to Bueckers in the Class of 2020, and there viably wasn’t room for two generational point guards. And Bueckers is unbelievable and, like Clark, playing some of the best basketball of her life.

But knowing Clark, there has to be a part of her that will tap into a deep channel of motivation that the most renowned program in women’s basketball chose someone else over her. Bueckers, a Minnesota native, and Clark have known each other for a long time from the AAU and Team USA days.

"She's just a competitor. She wants to win," Bueckers said of Clark. "She has just intangibles of the game. She knows how to play, a great IQ. I think the biggest thing about her is she competes and she's just a winner, she wants to win at all costs. So I know going into that, it will be a great matchup."

Clark, of course, provided her typical diplomatic thought on the Bueckers matchup.

"It's not Paige versus Caitlin," Clark said. "It takes the entire team to win a basketball game. Both of us are going to do everything we can."

Hawkeyes must navigate external factors

Bluder mentioned the other day that the team had agreed to stay off social media during the NCAA Tournament. It’s not a ban or even a soft ban, but more of a team-wide commitment to not get caught up in outside noise.

Iowa junior Kylie Feuerbach explained the benefits of staying off social media, even though for young adults it is often like “oxygen,” as Auriemma said.  

“There will be times when I delete Instagram, and then my finger will go back to click on it,” Feuerbach said. “It’s like muscle memory. You want to click on it. When it’s gone, you don’t really realize how much you go on it. So, it is refreshing to an extent.”

At the same time, you’ll see Iowa players posting occasional things on social media or simply pressing the “like” button.

“Obviously, we’ll go on there here or there, but we’ve been pretty good about it,” Feuerbach said. “We’ve always been good about staying off there when we need to.”

Bringing it back to the beginning of this column, everything is more about the mental side of the matchup for Iowa.

UConn may be down to six or seven players, but it’s a team full of five-stars vs. a team with one in Clark.

Bueckers was the No. 1 overall prospect by ESPN in 2020, Clark was No. 4. Edwards was the No. 23 prospect in 2020. Brady was No. 5 in 2022. In the Class of 2023, Arnold was No. 5 and Shade No. 15. No wonder UConn wins, year after year.

For Iowa? Affolter, Marshall and Kate Martin were not top-100 prospects. Stuelke was No. 45 in the Class of 2022. Add Clark, and the Hawkeyes have a chance. Heck, they're favored.

Who would have believed that three years ago?

Plucky favorite Iowa vs. mighty underdog UConn.

“That’s the point we’re at, is studying the film and knowing the personnel,” Feuerbach said. “Right now, there’s so much going on that you have to stay mentally strong. Physically, we know we can do it.”

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 29 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 (free for subscribers) at  HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts .  Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter .

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Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Zaheer Kachwala and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and Krishna Chandra ELuri

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An agenda-setting and market-moving journalist, Foo Yun Chee is a 20-year veteran at Reuters. Her stories on high profile mergers have pushed up the European telecoms index, lifted companies' shares and helped investors decide on their move. Her knowledge and experience of European antitrust laws and developments helped her broke stories on Microsoft, Google, Amazon, numerous market-moving mergers and antitrust investigations. She has previously reported on Greek politics and companies, when Greece's entry into the eurozone meant it punched above its weight on the international stage, as well as Dutch corporate giants and the quirks of Dutch society and culture that never fail to charm readers.

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