IOWA CITY -- Iowa opened the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a 91-65 win over Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon in a game in which the Crusaders were able to keep things close for a quarter before Iowa steadily pulled away over the remaining three quarters. While the Crusaders exited the NCAA Tournament with a lopsided loss, the Holy Cross players and coaches were still thrilled to have had front row seats to the mania that is Iowa basketball and The Caitlin Clark Experience right now.

On Selection Sunday, no one was happier than Kaitlyn Flanagan and her teammates at Holy Cross. The Crusaders weren’t happy that they were selected for the NCAA Tournament. That part was guaranteed to them by winning the Patriot League Tournament. No, the Crusaders were celebrating because their First Four NCAA Tournament game would take place in Iowa City.

“When we saw that we were coming here, we freaked out because we have seen what Iowa has done for women’s basketball,” Flanagan said on Wednesday. You can truly feel the energy in Iowa City and the respect the fans have for the sport.”

Women’s basketball has experienced incredible growth in the past couple seasons, and Iowa has been at the center of it.

“As a women’s basketball player I think Carver-Hawkeye Arena is the hub of college basketball in general,” Holy Cross guard Bronaugh Power-Cassidy said.

The major reason that Iowa has become the center of the women’s college basketball universe is, of course, Caitlin Clark. Despite still being in college, Clark has become a living legend.

"Caitlin Clark is arguably one of the best players to ever play basketball," Holy Cross guard Cara McCormack said. Holy Cross spoke about her with reverence, though that reverence did not extend to the court, as the Crusaders defended Clark and Iowa with a physicality and intensity that resulted in 19 fouls being whistled against Holy Cross.

“We actually, last night, went to the men's NIT game, so we could really experience what it's like to sit in the stands," Holy Cross coach Maureen Magarity said Wednesday. "And we could see from afar, far across the way in the Arena, Caitlin Clark was watching the game, so that was pretty cool. We're just taking it all in right now.”

Magarity's children are big Clark fans, and she let them enjoy the moment as well: “I probably shouldn't say this, but we did go to the bookstore yesterday, so there was one shirt we were really looking for that was about to be sold out, so we might have had to buy that. What a great experience.”

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Holy Cross has played major conference opponents before. This year, the Crusaders played at Boston College and at Villanova. Last year, they also made the NCAA Tournament and traveled to Maryland for their first round game.

While those were certainly good matchups for Holy Cross to be able to see the quality of big school opponents, the environment didn’t quite match what they experienced at Carver. The announced attendance for the Boston College game was 537. For Villanova, the attendance was 1,345. The crowd at Maryland was larger, but still just 4,415. Iowa had an announced attendance of 14,324 fans on Saturday, the full capacity of Carver for an NCAA Tournament.

"That arena was crazy," Flanigan said after the game. "It was filling up and we're like, okay, it's a lot of people, but it was a little dark and we couldn't see them all. And then you hear them."

When asked how the crowd compared to Maryland's crowd, Flanagan said it was no content: "it was a lot crazier of an atmosphere [at Iowa]. They have such a strong fan base here, and they love that team."

Before and after the game, Holy Cross actually thought the better comparison for the CHA experience was a kids game they played earlier in the season.

“I know we actually had a kids' game earlier this year, and it was, I think, 12:00, packed stadium, and I remember the first basket I thought my eardrums were going to burst,” Power-Cassidy said.

“It was like 3,000 kids,” Allen added.

“But they were all just screaming at the top of their lungs,” Power-Cassidy responded.

3,000 screaming kids could certainly give anyone pause. But it didn’t match the experience of an Iowa game. Nothing around the country truly does these days.

Caitlin Clark is a rare athlete that has already become a superstar while still in college. One unique aspect of the NCAA Tournament is that players from Holy Cross with no real aspirations of playing pro basketball nevertheless get to play against the sport’s biggest star.

“She's a celebrity. I think she's the face of college basketball right now,” Power-Cassidy said.

“Yeah, there is that kind of moment,” Power-Cassidy said when asked before the game if getting to play with Clark would give her pause. “But I think once you're between the four lines, you're kind of like, okay, there's 94 feet, there's two baskets… I think we just want to be present in the moment and realize the stage we're on."

Clark thought the Holy Cross players accomplished that on Saturday. "I think it's all competing," she said. "I thought they competed really hard. I've got to give them a lot of credit."

The Holy Cross defenders, primarily Flanagan and Simone Foreman, did about as well as anyone has this season in slowing down Clark. Clark finished with 27 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds Saturday, but shot just 8-of-19 from the floor and had six turnovers in Iowa's 91-65 victory. She was visibly frustrated at several points during the game.

"I am proud of how Simone and Kaitlyn guarded Caitlin," McCormack said.

Women’s basketball has seen greater parity in recent seasons. Still, the NCAA Tournament experience isn’t quite like the men’s tournament just yet. On the first full day of the Tournament on Friday, only one lower seed advanced: 11-seed Middle Tennessee State took down 6-seed Louisville.

For smaller schools like Holy Cross, the players and coaches know their chances of pulling an upset are likely remote. They make certain to also embrace the experience that the NCAA Tournament offers.

Janelle Allen’s brother is Iowa defensive lineman Brian Allen. Early in the Crusaders’ trip, Brian gave them a tour of Kinnick Stadium.

“He kind of showed us a little bit of the ins and outs, the locker room, showed us the field, some of their meeting rooms,” Janelle Allen said. “It was definitely a really cool experience.”

“I think the pink locker room was probably my favorite part of the tour. I thought it was incredible,” Power-Cassidy said.

Postgame, Flanigan thought the team's experience in Iowa City had lived up to the pre-tournament expectations. "Oh my gosh yes. Exceeded them."

Coach Magarity went further. "What a great host Iowa has been. Everybody's just been so gracious. It's been an amazing experience. It's really made this truly a once in a lifetime memory. I'll forever be really grateful."

Iowa and its fans have created something special in Iowa City over the last few seasons. The players and coaches of Holy Cross were happy to share in that experience this week.