The Hyball is a weekly basketball column.

Successful poet Drake once mused people would rather hear about what was or what will be than what is.

But that was in 2011, long before we knew about this era of Iowa women's basketball.

Now? I want to freeze time in this exact spot. Want this team to be the avatar for how all challenges are faced for the rest of my life. Want to soak in, savor, and, hell, sun this squad. They play indoors in the winter -- there is always room for more Vitamin D. Plus, then the sun could dry off the soak.

For what they've built, they deserve it all. A team of Sully Sullenbergers taking a perpetually earned victory lap. Each new game, a celebration. Each new nugget of information about them, to be cherished.

Which is what made you, me, and everyone else the luckiest damn devils to see that ESPN's Wright Thompson did a super profile on the Caitlin Clark era earlier this week. I read the whole thing Thursday and lost my mind, in the best possible way. Felt like I wrote down everything.

And I, uh, kinda did.

My Substack currently features 49 of the most amazing parts (yep, just 49), because there was no way it was getting narrowed down any further. The release of this piece reminded me of when Big Sean dropped the legendary "Control" in 2013. The mixture of "stop everything you are doing" combined with the moment in time it captured.

In what was considered the song's gold medal verse, new-ish rapper Kendrick Lamar stole most of the headlines by name dropping nearly every young artist in the game he was coming after, and though he got overshadowed on his own song, Big Sean's opening verse was wildly underrated and downright impeccable. In that way, he was the Kate Martin of the operation; one might be the best, but how good are they both together? (At the time, I compared him to Scottie Pippen.)

Here's what I wrote five months after two young MCs lassoed the world up with their lyrical onslaught:

Thompson's feature was the exact same feeling. And it's not just because he's an excellent crafter of words and also has a cool, gravelly voice. It's because sometimes a writer can only be as strong as their subject. And what a subject he chose. Fewer deserving of a movie script's worth of printed words.

We stand today at a joint nexus. Iowa is about to enter a tournament so unruly, the word that follows the month its played in is defined as "the state of being mentally ill, especially severely."

We speak of the Madness, friends.

But the other nexus is Clark herself. The nexus between Iowa City and the WNBA. The scariest aspect of this tournament run is knowing nothing will ever be the same again once it's over. We will lose the most special athlete to ever grace this university. This isn't like last year. This is the last year.

But that is, hopefully, April's problem.

The piece does a wonderful job using history to shape the now -- but also fully emphasizing the specialness of now. How these women know they are making history in real time. So, you know, enjoy it, but don't take it for granted, but don't let it weigh on you, but don't, don't, don't (/voices fade out as they fly away).

Not sure how I possibly made it this long without pull quoting it a single time. That stops here.

Seeing her start to get that at such a young age gives me hope she'll find a happiness I'm not sure her counterpart, Michael Jordan, has quite yet. Her perspective is the antithesis of David Roth's line about MJ following The Last Dance.

You want to feel satiated -- but not stuck. It's a near impossible balance to achieve, and only the sagest can get there.

Which is why, obviously, this all funnels back to Kate Martin. She's like Yoda crossed with R2-D2; experience, levity, and bulletproof longevity. A Jedi in mind, body, and soul.

That's the key -- right there. The records were (and are) nice. The 22 on Carver's court should never be scraped off, but the feeling. That's everything. What we came for and what she plays for.

When Caitlin Clark suits up for your basketball team, you walk taller, scream louder, and believe all things are possible. Thompson's piece talks about her catching super-mega fire in a team scrimmage, as her teammates reacted like 50 lightning bolts hit both baskets at the same time. Martin got caught "just watching her."

That moment of greatness in a practice was like a badge of honor the whole roster wore together. My points are your points.

Certain players cause the air to shift when they walk into a gym. With Clark, it's like flat out different air all together. Like some form of super oxygen being piped in from another planet, where all creatures exist in a heightened state. None of us will ever make it there, so the least she could do is tell us or show us what it's like.

So read the piece. Read every word. Wright Thompson captures it all. I teared up three times reading before crying at the end. Cannot imagine the feeling of reading it again once this team's run is done.

But for now? The stage is well set.

It's time to take off the reading glasses and strap on your dancing shoes.

Bobby Loesch is a weekly contributor to Go Iowa Awesome. Find him on Twitter @bobbystompy, Instagram @bobbystompy, or email at bobbyloesch@gmail.com.