Caitlin Clark altered the atmosphere, and Iowa kept its dream alive
Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes are headed back to the national title game after beating Connecticut. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Don’t think for a second that it came down to one play. It came down to one player — as always, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who for all of the events and people that circled around her again elevated this Final Four to a higher pitch than you thought possible. There were a lot of inflection points in Iowa’s progress to the championship game, including a referee’s whistle, but the real crescendo was Clark.
There will never be any resolving the eternal argument of whether an official should ignore a late foul — and Connecticut most certainly did foul Iowa in the final nine seconds of the semifinal, as all the morning-after replays from fresh angles showed. What they also showed was that never has there been a player who can alter the atmosphere and very air in an arena, indeed in an entire sport, the way Clark does.
“My teammates ride my emotions whether I like it or not, whether it’s positive or whether it’s negative,” Clark said Saturday as she pivoted from that close call to preparing to meet undefeated South Carolina. “That’s something I’ve had to learn: They’re going to feel what I feel. I’m their emotional leader. It’s something I’ve embraced, and it’s a powerful tool, like you saw.”
Such a powerful tool that 14.2 million tuned in to Clark’s collision with dynastic U-Conn., with a peak of 17 million, the most-watched women’s college basketball game on record. Clark’s sway led to a second-half explosion of 45 points for the Hawkeyes against the Huskies’ mauling defense, after trailing by 12 and being held to a season-low 26 in the first half. It was the timeliness of Clark’s actions, as always, that mattered most, both to her team and the audience. She has a way of hitting head-clutching shots at times when it just feels … bigger.
Against U-Conn., she had seven of her team’s first nine points in the fourth quarter, while also flinging leading passes under the basket to her consort Hannah Stuelke, until the noise in the arena was like a wind machine.
Even in those final nine seconds, when U-Conn. had cut its deficit to one point, it was Clark who initiated the action with confidence: Her quick feet cut off ballhandler Nika Mühl’s dribble and U-Conn. backtracked, leading to the screen that went wrong. Watch it again — the Hawkeyes defended it perfectly. They switched off like clockwork and, when the whistle blew, they had pinned Paige Bueckers to the sideline without a clear look. “We were there to contest,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said.
It’s Clark who has emotionally driven this entire event, with its massive explosion in audience, which has built by million over million, weekly. And her personal ambition and circumstance set the table for the ideal matchup in the championship game. NCAA Division I’s all-time leading scorer will be in the final game of her collegiate career, seeking yet another dynastic upset. Recall, the last time anybody beat the top-ranked Gamecocks (37-0), it was Iowa in last year’s semifinals, when Clark dropped a record 41 points on them.
“It’s a monumental game for our game,” South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley said. “We’re very fortunate to be a part of it. We get to witness firsthand the legacy of Caitlin Clark. You watch her. You prep for her. You can’t help but to really love how she dissects the game. You love how she executes. I mean, it’s simple. Her game is simple and yet powerful. How do you defend fundamental basketball? You can’t. She’s going to win every time.”
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Part of the allure of this Final Four is that the teams, led by Clark and Iowa (34-4), have bred such passionate audiences with four years of sweat, exposure, chemistry and team building.
Clark and her best friend and fellow guard Kate Martin will start their 139th game together. The Hawkeyes have a familiarity, affection and aesthetically pleasing collaboration that the one-and-done talents in the men’s game rarely show anymore. Clark can lead her teammates with a look of the eyes and a flick of the ball.
“We always kind of know where we’re going to be,” Martin remarked earlier in the week. “We kind of just give each other a look. You don’t have to say anything; you just know on a certain action or a dribble what you’re going to do.” You can see that not just in the play between Clark and Martin, but now between Clark and budding post player Stuelke, who had a game-high 23 points against U-Conn. in part thanks to those leading passes.
It’s also the case on Iowa’s coaching staff. Bluder has spent virtually her entire career with her assistants Jan Jansen and Jenni Fitzgerald to build the Hawkeyes’ program. “They coached when 50 people showed up to the game and nobody wanted to support them and what they were doing,” Clark remarked. They’ve been together so long that it’s a running joke. When Bluder’s husband came by the office to give her flowers for their anniversary, one of the assistants yelled down the hall: “Hey, what about me? I’ve been with you 25 years, too!”
Yet for all that togetherness, the focus inevitably will turn to Clark.
South Carolina will no doubt take a page from U-Conn. and defend Clark closely, hoping to do what the Huskies couldn’t and frustrate her. Ruin Clark’s composure, and the rest of the Hawkeyes’ solidarity might just come apart, too. “A lot of people have eyes upon her,” Bluder said. “And everybody wants to see her have that reaction. And she’s not giving it to people.”
Then there is the fact that Clark has more than just a trophy on the line. She has a legacy. Underneath all the collective action Sunday, there will be a vital secondary question: Can Clark, the most uniquely powerful player in the history of the women’s game, ratify her personal standing as a true greatest-ever once and for all with a championship ring? “To me, for it to come down to 40 minutes and for me to validate myself within 40 minutes, I don’t think that’s a fair assessment,” Clark protested. Her real impact, she asserts, has been the building of those new audiences.
Nevertheless, it matters, as Staley can attest. Staley, too, was one of the greatest guards ever: She reached three Final Fours with Virginia from 1990 to 1992, losing in all of them. “I had a great career, but it’s always, ‘Did you win a championship?’ ” Staley said. She continued:
“If Caitlin wins the championship, she’s pretty damn good. Yeah, like, she’s a GOAT. I mean, she’s really damn good regardless. But winning the championship would seal the deal. I hope to the dear Lord she doesn’t.”
Caitlin Clark changed the momentum of Friday’s semifinal game in the second half. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
