Caitlin Clark Leads Iowa to the Final Four: Dreams Come True

Caitlin Clark announced her commitment to Iowa on November 12, 2019. Soon after, she told anyone that would listen that her goal was to take Iowa to the Final Four. But the dream actually began before Clark started saying it publicly.

"I can remember sitting in her living room and her saying I want to go to a Final Four," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said after the Elite Eight game. "And I'm saying, We can do it together. And she believed me."

Clark's goal seemed outlandish when she first started saying it. Women's college basketball was, and usually still is, dominated by a select few elite programs. The best Iowa team in recent memory got beaten by 32 points in the Elite Eight. The program hadn't made a Final Four in Clark's lifetime.

In the 1,230 days since Clark's commitment and Iowa's Elite Eight game, she has evolved from one of the top recruits in her high school class to one of the faces of women’s basketball. And Iowa has risen to levels not seen in well over a generation.

But Iowa’s rise wasn’t just about Caitlin. With all respect to The Wheel of Time and Robert Jordan: It’s never been just about Caitlin.

It was about a Post that the big teams didn’t want. That Post was the understudy to the best player in program history. Instead of dwelling on replacing greatness, she worked and became the closest thing to it.

It was about a Scorer that everyone overlooked. That Scorer had production unmatched in college basketball, yet no one seemed to notice. And despite the lack of recognition, she kept on producing anyway. Through injury after injury.

It was about a Leader that shined when she had to and was happy to let her friends take the headlines when she didn’t. That Leader talked in all the huddles, comforted her teammates when they were down, and accepted every assignment asked of her.

It was about a Shooter whose shot abandoned her. That Shooter took the toughest defensive matchups to play her part. She kept on shooting despite what anyone said. And in the biggest games of the team’s season, the Shooter caught fire and became the scoring threat the team was missing.

It was about an Athlete that the program had never seen before. That Athlete never backed down from a challenge. Never saw a rebound she didn’t think she could get to. Never saw a transition basket she didn’t think she could finish.

It was about a Transfer that was the star of her old team. That Transfer came to Iowa to play in the biggest games, but without minutes guaranteed to her. Throughout the season, she stabilized the ballhandling, found her role in the rotation, and made what impact she could.

It was about a Hustler who earned her role through sheer determination. That Hustler dived when she needed to even if it would hurt. She contested every 50/50 ball. And she drove to the basket no matter what defender stood in her way.

It was about a Center whose role was reduced from last year to this year. That Center didn’t play in many of the team’s biggest games. Then in the Sweet Sixteen the Center was called upon to play big minutes. She filled her role admirably in the biggest moment of her career.

It was about an Assistant who finally got the national credit she deserved for the contributions she made to the team. That Assistant coached the season with a heavy heart, but never let it take away the joy that she had. The friendliness that she shared with others. Her influence made each member of the team better, no matter how big or small their role.

It was about the Reserves and Staff that played their part. The Reserves and Staff didn't always get their big moments in the games or in the press after. But they showed up and did their jobs every single day. In practice. In preparation. In supporting their teammates when things were lowest.

And it was about the Coach that brought the group together. That Coach made each member of the team feel like family. She convinced them that there was no dream they could not reach. No goal they could not achieve. And on the greatest day of her professional life, that Coach was happier that her family had reached its dream than she was for herself.

On Sunday, March 26th at 10:31p.m. Central Time, Iowa defeated Louisville to advance to that Final Four Caitlin Clark said she would reach. And what a journey it was.

Sometimes the distance between a dream forming and it being realized is quick. Other times, it’s years in the making. For Bluder and Clark, it started in Clark’s living room in 2019. For the rest of their found family, it came in the NCAA Tournament two years ago.

“I really think it started at the end of Caitlin’s freshman year when we beat Kentucky to go to the Sweet Sixteen,” Coach Bluder said of when the team beyond Caitlin started to think they could make a Final Four. “That Bubble really brought us together.”

"I mean, about the only people that believed were me and [Bluder] when I first committed to her," Clark said. "It was getting the locker room to believe and then everybody in the locker room believed and the rest is kind of history."

Like all great journeys, though, this one didn't come without setbacks and disappointment. It was those setbacks and disappointments that helped Iowa get to its destination.

Heading into the NCAA Tournament last season, Iowa looked like a team that was already capable of fulfilling its destiny and making a run to the Final Four. The Hawkeyes had beaten a very good Michigan team in front of a sold-out crowd to win a share of their first Big Ten regular season title. Then they ran through the Big Ten Tournament and won that too, by an average margin of 12 points per game. The Hawkeyes were a 2-seed on Selection Sunday, and one of the hottest teams in the country.

Then they faced a Creighton team that was all wrong for them. The Bluejays spaced the floor and had shooters everywhere. They played physical defense, especially against Clark. And they had former Iowa transfer Lauren Jensen, who hit a three-pointer that delivered Creighton a 64-62 stunner in Iowa City in one of the biggest upsets in recent women’s tourney history.

In the aftermath of that defeat, Iowa could’ve fallen apart as a team. They didn’t. Instead they worked harder.

Clark put on eight pounds of muscle in the off-season to deal with physical defenses. The players and coaches worked to be more adaptable throughout the season. Those changes didn't stick right away. Nothing that is difficult ever does. But by the end of the year, the changes made all the difference.

On January 2, 2023 Iowa was 11-4 overall. The Hawks had slid to #16 in the AP Poll. It's fair to say the team wasn't where it expected to be, having started as a preseason #4 in the AP Poll.

A big part of that was Iowa's defense. In Iowa's loss to Kansas State, the Wildcats ran the same 5-out offense that Creighton did a season ago. They challenged Iowa to guard them in space and Iowa couldn't get the stops necessary late to pull out a road win. Likewise with Illinois' talented backcourt, who made tough shots over Iowa's perimeter defense to steal a game early in conference play.

But Iowa's offense also faced its challenges early. UConn and NC State did something few teams have done the last few seasons: shut down Monika Czinano. Both teams did so by frequently doubling Czinano, clogging passing lanes, and forcing Iowa's shooters to beat them.

Against UConn, Kate Martin was on fire, but Clark, Gabbie Marshall, McKenna Warnock, Sydney Affolter, and Hannah Stuelke combined to shoot 7/30 from three. Against NC State, Clark scored 45, but everyone else was cold and Iowa couldn't keep pace with the Wolfpack.

The Athletic is one of the few national media outlets that has dedicated women's basketball coverage throughout the season. On January 19, 2023 — with Iowa sitting at 15-4 (7-1) — The Athletic media members held a roundtable to discuss whether Iowa was a true Final Four contender. The universal answer was "no."

"Iowa’s offense remains potent, but unless its defense improves, it’s hard to think that they will be in Dallas come late March," said Ben Pickman.

"Caitlin Clark is, well, Caitlin Clark. All-world. But the rest of the team hasn’t really lived up to its potential. So no, Iowa is not," said Dorothy Gentry.

And perhaps most pointedly of all, "ESPN wishes it were (for the #CaitlinFactor) … but sadly, no," said Chantel Jennings.

For a Hawkeye team that had just needed overtime to finish a road win at middling-at-best Michigan State, the media's distrust may have been premature, but it had some early evidence on its side.

Luckily, Iowa had its own plans for the rest of the season. Iowa's very next game was a trip to Columbus, where they knocked off #2-ranked (and previously unbeaten) Ohio State 83-72. Eight days later, the Hawkeyes trounced #8 Maryland 96-82 in Iowa City.

From January 7 through February 18, Iowa went 11-1 with the only loss on the road at #2 Indiana. Suddenly, Bluder's Bunch looked like one of the best teams in the country again.

Iowa's resurgence started with the lessons it learned from its early season losses. Ohio State had a very good offense, but had one fatal flaw in January: it only had two healthy players that could shoot well from the perimeter: guard Taylor Mikesell and forward Rebeka Mikulasikova.

Iowa exploited that weakness with a triangle-and-two defense, where two of its players guarded Mikesell and Mikulasikova in a man-to-man defense, while the other three played zone. Martin played tight defense on Mikesell on the perimeter all night and forced her to shoot 5/16 in the game.

But Marshall found a way to become the true star. At that point, Marshall was in the biggest shooting slump of her life. Her season FG% was just 30%, and that included an uncharacteristic 24% from deep. She needed to find a different way to make an impact for her team. She did that defensively.

Marshall is Iowa's shortest starter at 5'9", while Mikulasikova is listed at 6'4". Despite the glaring height difference, Marshall completely took Mikulasikova out of the game — first figuratively, then literally. Mikulasikova only attempted 4 field goals for the game, and was benched in the second half due to ineffectiveness.

The story was similar against Maryland. The Terps are one of the most athletic teams in the country, but their shooting was inconsistent. In the first half of the Maryland game, Iowa's perimeter defense--led by Marshall and Martin--forced Maryland into jumper after jumper by taking away driving lanes. Maryland missed most of those shots, and Iowa pushed transition offense and jumped out to a big lead it never relinquished.

Also key to that run was the emergence of Stuelke as a difference-making sub. Stuelke has athleticism not scene at Iowa before, and when she stays in control, she is an absolute force. In a game against Northwestern in January, Stuelke had 17 points and 9 rebounds in 14 minutes. In that tough loss at Indiana, Stuelke was a perfect 5-5 from the floor while competing against one of the best posts in the country in Mackenzie Holmes.

But just as Iowa seemed to have figured things out, adversity struck again. In Iowa's February 21 game at Maryland, Maryland caught fire from three. Worse, it deployed a box-and-1 defense that brought frequent doubles for Clark and Czinano. Iowa had no answer for the buzzsaw as the Terrapins destroyed Iowa 95-68.

In the aftermath of that loss, it was fair to question if Maryland had finally found the secret to stopping Iowa. Teams had stopped Czinano before. Teams had even somewhat contained Clark before, too. But no team had ever contained both of them. Would teams start copying Maryland's box-and-one-defense and slow the Hawkeyes down enough to beat them?

Again Iowa answered adversity with a big victory. To close the regular season, #2 Indiana and College GameDay came to Iowa City. At that point, the Hoosiers had only one loss, and that came when one of their star players Grace Berger was out with injury. When fully healthy, Indiana hadn't been beaten all year.

Clark responded to the Maryland debacle by having one of the best games of her season: 34 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and scoring all over the floor to adjust to an inconsistent day behind the arc.

Fortunately, Martin stepped up and became the perimeter scoring threat that Iowa had been missing with 19 points. And Czinano finally fought through the doubles to chip in 9 in the fourth quarter.

Despite all that, Iowa trailed 85-83 with 1.5 seconds left. That's when #22 delivered her signature moment.

Iowa's 105-72 dismantling of Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game put the nation on notice again that the Hawks were a serious threat in the NCAA Tournament. What's easy to forget is that Iowa faced some battles to get to that moment.

Purdue led Iowa in the third quarter of their Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal game, and still had the game within 5 points early in the fourth. But Iowa learned from its early losses, continued to play tough on both ends, and put together a decisive run in the middle of the quarter that put the game away.

The next night, Iowa and Maryland went toe-to-toe in a very high-level semifinal game that Iowa won 89-84. After a season full of of tough shooting performances, Marshall went supernova, going 7-13 from three, hitting a dagger every time the Terps got close.

Even the NCAA Tournament games before the Elite Eight haven't been easy. Iowa's second round game against Georgia looked a whole lot like the Creighton game last year. Iowa was up just 68-66 with 45 seconds left.

This time, though, Jensen wasn't around to break Iowa's hearts. The dagger shot came from Clark. Marshall and Martin helped finish things off by securing two key stops in the final seconds.

Against Colorado in the Sweet Sixteen, Iowa trailed at halftime. Iowa regained control with a decisive run in the third quarter that swung momentum. That run started with perimeter defense, forcing Colorado into long, contested jumpers that the Buffaloes missed.

Then Clark got to work in transition, finding Czinano, Warnock, Martin, and even Addison O'Grady for key looks that helped Iowa build its lead.

Iowa won those games because of experience. Because the players and coaches have lost tough games before and learned how to adjust. Because each player stepped up when she needed to do so.

"Honestly I just think that it's our confidence in each other. I think we've had those experiences," Warnock said. "It's been 90 games that we've all started together and just our ability to be able to know every move that the other person is going to do. I just think our ability to just respond in all those different situations. Since we had those experiences, I think that that really led us up for success this year and when you don't have those experiences, you can't learn."

All those tough victories set the stage for a do-or-die game against Louisville in the Elite Eight.

Caitlin Clark’s game in the Elite Eight against Louisville is the most dominant performance I’ve seen in a basketball game. Basketball has seen elite scorers that hit big shots no matter how difficult. It has seen elite passers that run a game completely without even needing to score. And it has seen defenders who can force big steals at exactly the right moment to swing a game.

Against Louisville, Clark did each of those things simultaneously. Louisville tried guarding her with smaller, quicker guards. The Cardinals tried guarding her with a post. They tried to bring double-teams against her. In the third quarter, they even tried the box-and-one that Maryland utilized so well.

None of it worked. Most of it didn't even register as an inconvenience.

"I also think, I mean, they come out in a box and one to start the third quarter, a defense we haven't seen in a couple games and nobody is flustered," Clark said. "Gabbie steps up after missing I think four threes in the first half, three of which rimmed in and out and went off the backboard. So I think that speaks to Gabbie's confidence. She makes 'em -- two huge threes for us, and then I make a three, and he has to use a timeout, and it's really like what do you do from there because it felt like that was their last resort defensively."

Clark scored or assisted on Iowa’s first 30 points. She scored or assisted on 70 points in total in the game — 20 points higher than the previous tournament record. Louisville did a great job of making shots keeping the game close for the first 22 minutes, but in the third quarter Clark and Iowa’s offense turned into an avalanche.

From the opening whistle, Clark decided that she was going to the Final Four — and did as much as one human being could possibly due to make that happen. But as great as she is, it wasn’t just about Clark. She’ll be the first to tell you it’s never been just about her.

"I mean, 12 assists, that's my teammates making shots right there," Clark said after the game. "McKenna was huge in the first half. They were kind of helping off of her, doubling on to me, and she made some big shots for us. And then I thought Gabbie was tremendous in the second half, and then Mon came up big too for us. So a total team effort."

Czinano attempted 2 baskets the entire game. The one aspect of Louisville's defense that worked was keeping the ball out of her hands. Earlier in the season, Iowa wouldn't have won a game where Czinano only shot twice.

It did so against Louisville because everyone was ready to step up. The Hawks had survived the struggle, learned to adjust, and were ready for their moment. It took all of them.

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