Caitlin Clark, who might some day become the Michael Jordan of women’s basketball has left the building. Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen has stepped in to try and replace her at point guard. Legendary Iowa Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder has retired. Long-time assistant Jan Jensen now takes the reins.
Yes, it’s a major season of change in Iowa City, on several levels, but strong fan interest remains.
The Hawkeyes don’t begin their season until Nov. 6 against NIU, but they have already sold out the entire season at 15,400 seat Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“It meant a lot,” forward Hannah Stuelke said of the sell out, in an interview with RG.org. “It just showed how much Iowa supports women’s basketball, even now that Caitlin’s gone, they’re still coming.
“They’re still going to show up, they’re still going to do everything that they can to support us.”
Stuelke will be one of this team’s veteran leaders, as they adjust to life after Cait. While Clark is now gone to the WNBA, where she just won the Rookie of the Year award, she will never actually leave CHA in spirit. Her number is already retired there.
“I think they have a really good approach on that, and it’s not used in any inappropriate way,” Jensen said of Clark always having a presence, of some sort, within the program.
“And they’re just really ready to read that next chapter and kind of write the next book…I feel like their mindset is that was part of it, but this is here, and we kind of we got next. It’s the new the new opportunity.”
“We got next,” indeed that is the new mantra for this season.
Now the Hawks, who went to back-to-back national title games, are not the overwhelming, dominant favorite.
“I think everybody always wants to be the New York Yankees, right?” Jensen continued.
“Like it was kind of fun to be that the last couple years, in some ways, the favorite with those mature teams, but it’s also fun to be the underdog.
She then elaborated on that idea, and in doing so perfectly the story arc of what is the common motif in all American sports.
“I think a lot of America always cheers, typically, for the underdog,” she continued.
“It’s kind of like, everybody’s with you to get really, really good, and you get too good, then everybody’s with you, not anymore.
“They want the underdog.
“So I think they’ve done a beautiful job of just really embracing that we’re next. There’s new roles, few more shots right, few more big defensive assignments that they may now get. And I love to see them leaning in and being ready to hopefully surprise some people, but certainly just lean into being as good as they can possibly be. And I couldn’t be happier with their mindset.
No matter where they finish this season, they can take solace in the fact that no college basketball program, and individual star player, have done more to grow the game than Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
“I think this is the time for women’s basketball right now,” Olsen said.
“Caitlin Clark got it at the college level, and now she’s bringing it to the WNBA level, and things are just growing at a rapid pace. So I’m excited to see where it is at the end of the college season.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.