I had just a semester in the Iowa Writers Workshop graduate program back in the prior century but enough for me to be an Iowa alum, and call Caitlin Clark's team my own. I've been watching all season, learning the other members of the team as well as the amazing CC. They sold out games everywhere they went and during the NCAA tournament kept breaking TV viewing records. Their Final Four victory over UConn had the biggest audience on ESPN, not only of any women's game, but of any basketball game, period.
Caitlin Clark was the chief reason. A deep three point shooter in the mold of Steph Curry (Clark made "logo three" part of the language), she also has Curry's ethics and solid, smiling demeanor. That she's a role model is a very good thing. But she was also surrounded by good teammates, like the tenacious Gabbie Marshall, a great defensive player who could also reliably hit the three.
Iowa played in the championship game two years in a row, and this year met the undefeated South Carolina team, possessed of a much deeper bench. Iowa won the first quarter and lost the other three. It can be argued that it wasn't quite a fair fight, since the four best teams in the tourney were Iowa, South Carolina, Louisiana and UConn. To get to the title game, Iowa had to play two of them. South Carolina played none.
For all that Clark and Iowa and other breakout stars for other teams did this year to rocket attention to their sport, the upcoming WNBA draft tells a different story about college womens basketball. While the NBA has 30 teams, drafting deep into college teams and recruiting high school players and even younger prospects, the WNBA has 12 teams, fewer than half as many. So while Caitlin Clark will almost certainly be chosen with the first draft pick, her excellent teammate, fifth year senior Gabbie Marshall expects never to play another competitive basketball game in her life. She plans to get some more education and a professional job in the health field.
Also on Sunday, the Golden State Warriors defeated a Utah Jazz team of mostly young prospects. Houston had already lost its game, meaning that the Warriors had clinched the 10th spot and a play-in opportunity. They lost to a Luka-less Dallas by 2 points on Friday, but the Los Angeles Lakers also won one and lost one, so the Dubs are still a game and a half back of the ninth place Lakers, a less vulnerable play-in spot. They will very likely need to defeat the Lakers on Tuesday to have a chance to move up. After that, the Warriors play Portland, New Orleans and Utah, while the Lakers have only Memphis and New Orleans. New Orleans is the wild card in both scenarios.
The Lakers were playing well but are now facing injury issues with their two stars, Le Bron James and Anthony Davis. As of Sunday, it's not clear whether either will play against the Warriors.
