Lisa Bluder on Caitlin Clark's effect on Iowa: 'She got everyone in the locker room to believe'
Sunday represented the final game in the storied college career of Iowa star Caitlin Clark after the Hawkeyes fell to South Carolina in the women’s national championship game.
It was a heartbreaking loss for Iowa as they’ve now lost in the national championship game in two consecutive seasons. But there’s no question that Clark played a monumental role in the Hawkeyes’ recent unprecedented success. Which Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder spoke about following the team’s loss in the title game
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“I really think that when she came in as a freshman and she said we’re going to the Final Four, and a lot of people laughed at her, and maybe even laughed at her for coming to Iowa quite honestly,” Bluder said. “But she believed, we believed, and she got everybody else in that locker room to believe. And that is not an easy thing to do.”
Clark was a five-star prospect out of Dowling Catholic High School in Iowa, having her choice to attend just about any college program in the nation. But she chose to stay in her home state of Iowa and shift the culture of their basketball program. Making an instant impact as a true freshman and eventually delivering the Hawkeyes three Big Ten Tournament titles (taking home three tournament Most Outstanding player awards as well), two of the programs three total Final Four appearances, and their only two national championship appearances.
“So her just belief in everybody around her, it just grew and grew. You can say the same thing about this year quite honestly. I don’t know if I answered your question completely Nancy, but I think that she has done amazing things to grow our game and doing it the right way,” Bluder said.
There’s no question that Clark will always be regarded as an Iowa legend after breaking a laundry list of records, stacking up numerous individual awards, and helping take the program to new heights. But she’s taken the game of women’s basketball as a whole to new heights as well. Serving as one of the most impactful players the sport has ever seen who helped bring an unprecedented amount of much needed attention to the women’s game.
“She has raised the excitement of our sport, there’s no doubt,” Bluder said. “Just because she does things in a different way than anybody else can do. Plus she has all the intangibles, she’s a great student, she’s a great role model, she does everything. She loves being that role model.”
Clark will look to continue paving the way and serving as a trailblazer for women’s sports, as she now takes her talents from Iowa City to the WNBA level in her transition to the pros.