Clark’s Iowa career ends in defeat, but no regrets

CLEVELAND — There were mostly smiles from Caitlin Clark after Sunday’s national championship game, an 87-75 loss to South Carolina that ended her Iowa career. She admitted the finality of this part of her journey would hit her in the next 48 hours or so, but for the moment, still sitting in her black and gold Iowa uniform, her overwhelming emotion was gratitude.

Clark opted to stay in her home state for college, even though Iowa had been to only one Final Four: in 1993, nine years before Clark was born. She believed she could help lead the Hawkeyes back there, and she did — twice. The Hawkeyes lost their NCAA finals to two SEC powerhouses: South Carolina this year and LSU last year.

But Sunday, Clark was thinking more about the entirety of her college career.

“Whether it’s the way the fans have supported me, the way I’ve been able to represent my state where I grew up, my family being at every single game — there’s not a regret in my mind of how things went,” Clark said. “I’ll be able to sleep every night even though I never won a national championship.

“I don’t sit and sulk about the things that never happened. My mom always taught me, ‘Keep your head high, be proud of everything that you’ve accomplished.’ And, you know, I think I’m so hungry for a lot more, too.”

Clark is the overwhelming favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever on April 15. She was asked if knowing that she will start another season in about five weeks made the conclusion of her college career any easier.

“I think it helps,” Clark said. “What better way to train and prepare for my next step in life than playing in the Final Four? I’ll be able to play my first WNBA game here soon.

“These moments are going to make me ready for the next chapter on my life, but also [I want to] enjoy this one, too.”

Iowa did just about everything the past two seasons except win the NCAA title. Last year, the Hawkeyes upset 36-0 South Carolina in the semifinals. This year, they beat defending national champion LSU in the Elite Eight and 11-time NCAA champion UConn in the Final Four.

“It’s really hard to win these things. I think I probably know that better than most people by now,” Clark said. “To be so close twice, it definitely hurts. But at the same time, we were right there. We battled. We took down some really great teams to get back to this point.”

Clark had 30 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists Sunday. She started out hot in the first quarter with 18 points, but South Carolina’s defense got better after that.

“I thought they pressured the ball really well,” Clark said. “When you get up to this point in the tournament, everybody’s defense is good.

“I don’t think there was anything we didn’t do that we could have to really help ourselves. It would have been nice to make a few more shots. I thought they contested well on stuff. You could say rebound [better], but we were trying our best. That’s all you can really ask.”

Clark did all that coach Lisa Bluder and the Iowa staff could have asked of her these past four seasons. She leaves as not just the best player in Iowa history, but one of the best in NCAA history.

“She moved needles, she did things that no one was doing other than Steph Curry, shooting from where she shot, but never losing her sense of fun and flair,” said longtime Iowa assistant coach Jan Jensen, who made countless drives from Iowa City to Clark’s hometown of West Des Moines to watch her play during the recruiting process. “I wish we could have helped her get us to the title … But most people can respect her greatness. Maybe they won’t call her ‘GOAT’ … But she’ll always be our GOAT.”

Her list of NCAA records is prodigious. She finished with more points — 3,951 — than any men’s or women’s player ever in Division I. She is the only D-I women’s player to have more than 3,000 points and 1,000 assists in her career, totaling 1,144 assists. She also had 990 rebounds.

Her 28.42 points per game and 548 3-pointers are both D-I career records, and this year’s 201 3-pointers and 1,234 points are D-I single-season records.

“Whether it’s the way the fans have supported me, the way I’ve been able to represent my state where I grew up, my family being at every single game — there’s not a regret in my mind of how things went. I’ll be able to sleep every night even though I never won a national championship.”

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark

“Those things are so hard to accomplish,” Clark said. “That was never something I was chasing in my career [or] anything I ever set out to do. I have to give Coach Bluder a lot of credit because she’s allowed me to be myself.

“Whether it’s the shots I take, the fire I play with … She’s allowed me to be me, and I don’t know if there’s many coaches across the country that I could have committed to that would have allowed me to do that. I wouldn’t have had this type of career.”

Clark said the surge in popularity of women’s basketball has been exciting for her to witness and be a part of, and that will continue in the WNBA.

“This team came along at a really good time, whether it was social media, whether it was NIL, whether it was our games being nationally televised,” Clark said of the Hawkeyes. “No matter what sport it is, give them the same opportunities, believe in them the same, invest in them the same, and things are really going to thrive.

“You see it with other sports, and I’m a big fan of other sports. I try to support as much as I can, and I think that’s the biggest thing: Continue to invest your time, money and resources there, and continue to show up for those people and give them the opportunities.”

Clark also hopes that the crowd that flocked to see her Iowa teams keeps coming to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which was sold out for every game this season.

“When I reflect back on my [Iowa] career, I know I gave it every single thing I had,” Clark said. “Basically, everybody believed there’s no way Iowa was making the Final Four once. But to do it twice? That’s pretty incredible.”