The Caitlin Clark Effect means many things. It means energizing Iowa fans -- and college basketball fans around the nation -- in unprecedented fashion and setting multiple attendance and TV ratings records. (Not to mention season ticket sales records.) It means catapulting Iowa women's basketball to heights never seen before, like the National Championship Game. And it also means enabling Iowa to land recruits at high levels rarely seen before. The most recent example of the recruiting impact came Tuesday night, as Iowa picked up a commitment from Class of 2025 blue-chip recruit Journey Houston.
Houston, a 5'11" guard, is rated a 5-star prospect by ESPN and ranked 19th overall in the Class of 2025. That's very heady recruiting territory for the Iowa program. In fact, she's the highest-rated recruit to join Iowa since -- you guessed it -- Caitlin Clark.
Like Clark, Iowa did have a few advantages in its recruitment of Houston. One, she's an in-state recruit, playing her high school ball at Davenport North. Two, she's a member of the powerhouse All-Iowa Attack AAU team. Caitlin Clark is the most famous All-Iowa Attack alumnus, but the Iowa squad that made the Final Four last season included six other All-Iowa Attack alumni as well -- Hannah Stuelke, Taylor McCabe, Sydney Affolter, Shateah Wetering, Kylie Feuerbach, and Jada Gyamfi.
Houston’s offer list was smaller than most top recruits. Her only known offers at the time of her commitment were from Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, and DePaul. Still, those schools are among the most elite programs in the Midwest.
In the past ten seasons, DePaul has made seven NCAA Tournaments and two Sweet Sixteens. The NCAA Tournament was cancelled in 2020, but DePaul would have made it that year too. The Blue Demons were 28-5 overall, and won the Big East regular season and conference tournament titles.
Iowa State was the #9 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, made the Sweet Sixteen that season, and has been a Top 25 team for much of the past 5 years.
Michigan has made five consecutive NCAA Tournaments (omitting 2020), and made the Sweet Sixteen in 2021 and the Elite Eight in 2022. The Wolverines have also started recruiting well lately, with the crown jewel of their recent classes being Olivia Olson, the #8 overall recruit in the class of 2024 from Minnesota.
Houston has lit up scoreboards in her two seasons at Davenport North. She averaged 20.9 ppg and 10.6 rpg as a freshman and 18.8 ppg and 9.4 rpg as a sophomore. Led by Houston, the Wildcats went from a 12-10 record in 2021-22 to a 21-3 record last season.
Houston’s connection to Iowa’s staff started long before she was an elite recruit. Her sister Jinaya Houston committed to Iowa as part of its 2017 class. Jinaya ultimately left basketball before playing for Iowa, but because of Jinaya’s recruitment, Journey has known the Iowa staff for much of her life. That connection certainly gave Iowa a leg up in her recruitment.
The Hawkeyes were one of the first to offer Houston, back in the summer of 2021. Their steady recruitment paid off with tonight's big commitment.
