Iowa’s Ava Jones retiring from college basketball

Iowa women’s basketball forward Ava Jones, who was seriously injured by an impaired driver in 2022, will take a medical disqualification and retire from playing in college, Hawkeyes coach Jan Jensen announced Friday.

The decision came after consultation with team doctors and athletic trainers. Jones will remain on scholarship and keep working toward her degree. Her scholarship doesn’t count against the limit of 15 active players.

Jones was with the Hawkeyes last season but was never medically cleared to play.

“I would like to start by saying how grateful I am to have been part of the Iowa women’s basketball program,” Jones wrote in a message on social media. “It is with great sadness to announce that I am medically retiring from college basketball. My coaches, doctors, teammates and trainers have been amazing since the accident. While I will no longer be a member of the women’s basketball program, I will still be on scholarship, receive a world-class education and forever be a Hawkeye.

“I’d like to thank my family for the never-ending support and I am excited for the next chapter of my life.”

Jones’ father, Trey Jones, was killed while she and her mother, Amy Jones, were injured July 5, 2022, when an impaired driver hit them when he veered onto a sidewalk in Louisville, Kentucky, where Ava was competing in an AAU basketball tournament. The Jones family is from Nickerson, Kansas.

Ava Jones suffered a traumatic brain injury, torn ligaments in both knees and a shoulder injury. Amy Jones suffered a brain injury and 21 broken bones. Trey Jones died in the hospital after the crash.

The driver, Michael Hurley, was indicted by a grand jury and charged with one count of murder, two counts of first-degree assault, one count of assault in the fourth degree and one count of operating a motor vehicle under the influence. According to the police report, Hurley said he had taken the opioid hydrocodone before driving. He was on probation for drug-related charges at the time of the crash.

The 6-foot-2 Jones, who was ranked 83rd by ESPN HoopGurlz for the class of 2023, originally committed to Arizona State but then decommitted after coach Charli Turner Thorne retired. Jones reopened her recruitment and announced her commitment to Iowa on July 3, 2022, two days before the crash. Iowa immediately announced after the crash that she would remain on scholarship regardless of whether she was able to play.

“We wish Ava the best on the road to recovery and fully support the decision she made to step away from the game,” Jensen said. “She worked tirelessly to get to this point, but she made the best decision for herself and her well-being.”

The countdown is on: The women’s college basketball season tips off in 100 days, and after a whirlwind offseason, ESPN has you covered with an early guide to the 2024-25 campaign.

Change is the operative word to describe the upcoming season. Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink are all off to the WNBA. Legendary coaches retired. Schools shuffled league affiliations amid a major wave of conference realignment, giving new looks to the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. (Pac-12, you will be missed.)

And the transfer portal and coaching carousel were in full force once more. Among the major moves: Coach Kenny Brooks and All-American Georgia Amoore left Virginia Tech to revitalize Kentucky, while Kiki Iriafen (Stanford) and Talia von Oelhoffen (Oregon State) are teaming up with JuJu Watkins at USC, automatically catapulting the Trojans into the national title conversation.

One thing that hasn’t changed? Defending national champion South Carolina is the team to beat. The Gamecocks haven’t lost since March 31, 2023, when Clark and Aliyah Boston were college foes and not Indiana Fever teammates. South Carolina seems like a Final Four lock, but the battle over who else might join the Gamecocks in Tampa — as well as which stars capture the attention of basketball fans and which rising sophomores continue to build on incredible freshman campaigns — are the storylines to watch once play tips in November.

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Storylines | Nonconference mat

Which teams are the biggest challengers? Is this the season the injury bug stops plaguing UConn? The last time the Huskies went into the NCAA tournament feeling confident about their overall health was 2021, Paige Bueckers’ freshman season, when they lost in the national semifinals to Arizona. Injuries to Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, among several others, have kept the Huskies from being their best the past three seasons. Even so, UConn never stops being a Final Four threat. LSU has a big hole to fill without Angel Reese but still is loaded with talent. Texas and USC also project as early favorites to be Final Four teams. — Voepel