Caitlin Clark lives up to Lisa Bluder’s prediction in legendary fashion
By John Bohnenkamp
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The first sentence of the final chapter of Caitlin Clark’s career at Iowa was written when she was a freshman.
Clark’s jersey number 22 was retired at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday after Iowa’s 76-67 win over USC, an honor that former coach Lisa Bluder predicted a long time ago.
During the ceremony, Bluder told of one time when Clark was shooting baskets inside the arena as a freshman.
“You took a pause for a second, and you looked up there, and you looked at those jerseys,” Bluder said, directing her words toward Clark. “I went over to you, put my arm around your shoulder, and said, ‘Caitlin, someday your name’s going to be up there. Your jersey is going to be up there.”
Then Clark set about making those predictions come true with a historic four-year run with the Hawkeyes, when she became college basketball’s all-time leading scorer while leading Iowa to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA national championship game.
Sunday’s ceremony brought back a feeling to Clark that she had remembered from all of the game days in her career.
“I feel like I already have those butterflies in your stomach when you walk in here,” Clark said during a pre-game press conference. “Not so much for a basketball game now, but obviously just to be around everybody and to enjoy this environment. I don’t have to go and compete for 40 minutes, even though I wish maybe I could. I think it will definitely be a little bit more emotional that I don’t have to compete.”
Like so many of her games in her senior season, this day featured so many various faces in the crowd, from Bluder to teammates Monika Czinano, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall, to former talk-show host David Letterman.
Everybody drew a cheer from the sellout crowd of 14,998, but the biggest ovation belonged to Clark, who sat in the media section with family members and boyfriend Connor McCaffery.
“I’m sure it wasn’t cheap to get in,” Clark joked during the ceremony.
It was a day for memories, revved up by the Hawkeyes’ masterful upset of the Trojans before the ceremony.
That triumph was a perfect example of what Clark talked about before the game.
“The winning came because of the great culture that we had,” she said. “And for me, I hope that’s the thing that always stays intact, and I know it will, because of the great coaching staff we have and the type of players that they are here.We had players that were selfless. We had players that didn’t care how many points you were going to score. They’re going to do whatever they could for your teammates. They were going to hold their teammates accountable. And I think that’s a lost art in college these days, and you don’t always see that.”
Iowa coach Jan Jensen had her own memory, when she told about seeing Clark for the first time as a freshman at West Des Moines Dowling High School.
“Our staff, we made a pact that we were going to do everything we could to be the last one standing,” Jensen said. “And we are so thankful that we were the last one standing. Caitlin, she’s truly generational. She changed the world.”
Bluder had her own perspective.
“The positive image that you’ve brought to this basketball program, this university, this state, and women’s basketball nationally, is unmeasurable,” Bluder said. “I’ve spent my entire career trying to empower young women. That’s what it’s all about. But you’ve done more than that in the last four years, more than anyone can imagine.”
Clark has been preparing for her second season with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever — new Fever coach Stephanie White was also in attendance at Sunday’s game — and her every move, it seems, makes headlines.
Jensen called Clark “an A-lister” on Friday, and Clark understands the attention that always follows her.
“I feel like one of my greatest skills is I really don’t care,” Clark said. “I don’t care — I believe in myself. I’m confident in myself. I’m confident in my teammates. I try to instill that in them. I’m confident in the coaching staff on whatever team I was on, whether that was here, whether that’s with the Fever now, and you just rely on those people. Nobody gets to step inside of your locker room. Everybody thinks they know everything and have an answer, but that’s just not reality.”