Caitlin Clark is playing basketball in Minneapolis in consecutive weeks. How lucky can we be that the phenom who has become an American household name is back in town for the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament after playing last Wednesday night at a sold-out Williams Arena against the Golden Gophers?
Well, darn lucky if you care about seeing the player recognized by many as the GOAT in the women’s college game and recognize the legacy of the Iowa native whose popularity transcends her sport. The Iowa Hawkeyes’ scoring machine is a record setter and trailblazer whose status and achievements enhance Women’s History Month which just happens to be in March.
Iowa is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will play at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Target Center against the winner of Thursday’s Penn State and Wisconsin game. Clark has led the Hawkeyes to the last two Big Ten Tournament titles.
Over 109,000 fans are expected to watch the five-day tournament that for the first time in 31 years is sold out. The demand for tickets is no coincidence with Clark making her final tournament appearance before turning pro later in the year.
Clark’s appearances in Minneapolis are a reminder this town and state could have lined up in adoration at Williams Arena for our own phenom, Paige Bueckers. Clark, a Des Moines area native, came out of high school at Dowling Catholic in 2020 and headed for the University of Iowa. A five-star prospect, she said no to Notre Dame and other out of state schools.
Bueckers was the No. 1 national recruit in the high school class of 2020, ranked ahead of Clark and everyone else. She came out of Hopkins High School and said no to the hometown Gophers and seemingly never looked back in choosing the blue-blood Connecticut Huskies whose 11 national championships are the most ever in women’s hoops. In Bueckers’ freshman season of 2020-2021 she was the most honored female college basketball player in the country, winning five national Player of the Year awards including the Wooden and Naismith.
The purpose in this space isn’t to criticize Bueckers for not choosing her home state school as Clark did. But she is part of a long line of superb basketball and football players whose college destinations were elsewhere Basketball’s Khalid El-Amin, Cole Aldrich, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Suggs, Matthew Hurt, Gary Trent and the Jones brothers turned down Minnesota. Football can count prep superstars who left the state, too, including Joe Alt, Michael Floyd, Seantrel Henderson, Frank Ragnow, Jaxon Howard, James Laurinaitis, Larry Fitzgerald Jr., Steve Walsh and others.
Talent born, raised and nurtured in the state has too often moved on. A number of factors figure into decision making, but how refreshing if a Minnesota prep phenom said something like this while committing to the Gophers: “You know what? I owe the people in this state something. Think about the support I received that made me who I am.
“That support goes beyond my parents and coaches. I am thankful that communities in the state, including mine, invest in the facilities and programs to help young people reach their potential. I know it takes a lot of time, perseverance, and money to build and maintain the kind of culture we have in our state. I am choosing to be a Gopher because I can grow my career and education at the U, and say thank you Minnesota for making me who I am.”
Kids and their parents are going to make decisions based on what they think is best. This happens all over the country, of course, not just with uber talented Minnesota preps being wooed by a who’s who of college programs. But it’s admirable when home state loyalty plays a prominent role in making a college choice. (See last fall’s decision by Esko’s Koi Perich to play football for the Gophers and the buzz it has created).
Loyalty was important to Clark who also counted Iowa State among her final college choices. At Iowa her dynamic skills have brought national attention unlike any other player in the history of the women’s college game. Is there anyone on American soil who doesn’t know that Sunday she surpassed Pistol Pete Maravich as college basketball’s all-time leading scorer? “She is a pistol in pigtails,” Fox’s Gus Johnson raved on national TV Sunday.
Iowans would have loved Clark even if she chose Notre Dame, UConn or some other destination away from the cornfields. Be assured, though, there is more affection in their hearts because Caitlin stayed home. In an August 2019 story in the Des Moines Register Clark was still undecided about her college choice but said, “…Just staying home and playing in your home state would be a big deal.”
Bueckers grew up a Lindsay Whalen fan, knowing about the former point guard’s accomplishments lifting both the hometown Gophers and Lynx to national glory. Bueckers had a Whalen poster in her bedroom growing up but said no to Whalen after she became the Gophers head coach in 2018.
Who knows what kind of impact Bueckers in a Gopher uniform might have had on the program? She had a pop culture following even in high school, with fans coming to watch her play from not just Minnesota but elsewhere.
Almost assuredly her commitment and presence with the Gophers would have attracted talented teammates. Whalen, who was fired after the 2022-23 season, would likely still be leading the program.
Both Bueckers and Clark are 22-year-old guards who can carry their teams. Clark has shooting range and accuracy never seen before by a woman in the college game. Bueckers can score but throughout her career at Hopkins and UConn she has often preferred to set up others with timely playmaking.
Bueckers once told Sports Headliners that she has a “God-given ability that I know what I am doing, and I see…plays two steps ahead.”
The two superstars have played collegiately in different conferences but met in 2021 in a Sweet 16 tournament game. The Huskies defeated the Hawkeyes, 92-72, as Clark was held to 21 points, about six points below her average. Bueckers had 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for UConn.
Their basketball journeys over the years, including being teammates on the US Under-19 national team, have allowed them to become friends. Despite their extraordinary skills and similarities, neither Clark nor Bueckers has won a NCAA championship yet but their teams have been and remain contenders as top 10 teams in March of 2024.
Bueckers was in Minneapolis two years ago this month playing for the NCAA Tournament title. The Huskies lost the title game to South Carolina, 64-49, after a stellar performance by Bueckers led UConn to a double overtime semifinal win over North Carolina State. In a game for the ages, she scored 27 points including 15 in overtime.
Brian Cosgriff, her high school coach, offered this praise after the semifinal classic: “You could see how Paige was like we’re not going to lose this game. Get on my back. I am going to do what I’ve always done. I am going to carry this team to victory. And that’s what she does.”
Playing in her hometown, Bueckers reminded us how special she could have been for the Gophers. As if we didn’t know.
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