Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes have been drawing massive attention this season for obvious reasons. Clark is a sensational player that elicits immense praise and attention from the media who are dedicated to showcasing her skill to the masses. Just this week, there was chatter over a significant offer for Clark to join the Big 3 basketball league, founded by rapper and entrepreneur Ice Cube. Iowa's tournament games are doing monster TV numbers and a possible 2023 National Championship rematch with LSU in the Elite Eight is sure to set major records.
It could be easy for the Hawkeyes to lose focus on their goal of winning a national championship and get complacent in the newfound fame and adulation in the sports word. But, per Clark, Iowa is staying focused on the main goal.
Fox Carolina News reporter Carmine Gemei asked Clark how she and the team manage the massive attention that they've been getting.
“Yeah, I think it's something that we've kind of embraced over the course of the last two years,” she responded, “If you want to be able to play at the highest level and have this spotlight on us, it's just something that kind of comes along with it. But, at the same time, we just have fun with it. I think that's not anything we've ever lost is like the fun and the joy that we have playing this game and going on road trips together and every little event in between. Like, we make it fun; like we enjoy it together. But, at the same time, like, I think that's what brings us so much success is like, we don't want this to end. We want one more practice. We want one more game. And that allows us to play our best basketball.”
Iowa is surely still in the hunt to win big come the end of the NCAA tournament. The decimated Holy Cross 91-65 in the opening round last week and survived a competitive matchup against West Virginia on Monday evening. Next up, they face a skilled Colorado team that is determined to knock Clark and the Hawkeyes off their game as they pull off a massive upset.
Colorado's interesting gameplan for Caitlin Clark
Colorado is determined to play spoiler to Iowa and they look to play mind games to knock Clark and Iowa off their game. In comments obtained by the Denver Post, Tameiya Sadler spoke about their approach to their big-time matchup.
“Caitlin’s very emotional, so for us, it’s like, we can’t feed into her emotions that she’s going to play with. Because she’s going to fall, she’s going to throw up her hands, she’s going to talk to the refs. But at the end of the day, we can’t focus on that. We have to focus on us.”
Sandler indicated that they can also try to use her emotions against her.
“It’d be hard to get into her head, But we’re going to try it. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to give her our best fight, for sure, give her anything that we have to throw her off her game and get this one.”
Regardless of the outcome, the basketball world will be lined up to watch the matchup. Iowa's opening-round win over Holy Cross drew 4.9 million viewers on ABC last Saturday afternoon and Monday's win over West Virginia drew 3.2 million views on ESPN.
Iowa and Colorado are set to face off on Saturday at 3:30 PM EST. The game will be broadcast on ABC.
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