What do you think of Caitlin Clark?

[Gonzo]

Just as Angel is double parked in Iowa fans' brains as well.

Probably. I don't do a lot of social media, I do LinkedIn and my wife does FB. I see CC related posts because Iowa grad, she sees CC related posts for same reason I'd assume. Neither of us see AR related posts, but I don't doubt Iowa fans show up there just as much.

 

[MuskieCy]

Also the “Pat themselves on the back move”, which is what the Caitlin Clark thing is.

Blow up person through a concerted campaign based on trends that have been analyzed by d & m and financial forecasters (Women’s Sports sphere looks relatively untapped with room for growth!), find best option to push, push to the point of absurdity, manufacture outrage and drama to milk the last few cents out of it, profit, start digging in on the next growth play.

Women’s sports was great before the media made their play on it. It was raw, it was real. Women’s soccer and women’s golf especially are great watches for a variety of reasons. Now it feels fake and manufactured.

I agree.
Jessica and Nelly Korda



Sandra Gal



Atthaya Thitijul

 

[Cycsk]

I could make a good case for any of these because all make huge "breakout" steps last year.

Does ESPN have any criteria? For instance, is it about the gap from where you were to where you are now? Or is it more about the height you reached?

Interesting collection of previous winners. Ranges from Tom Brady to Eileen Gu (a Chinese skier).

Best Breakthrough Athlete ESPY Award - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Exactly! Having to find an "Iowa" connection to everything and thinking "oh since there's an Iowa connection all Iowans should like them" is annoying.

WHO in general LOVES the Iowa connection. It's friggin exhausting. When I moved back to Iowa from the east coast I always found it pretty cringe.

 

[CYdTracked]

Caught an interesting conversation yesterday on Miller and Condon about Iowa women's basketball. They discussed how Iowa did not really improve on their roster through the transfer portal. Miller was asking Condon why they couldn't land any big names when they have a generational talent like Clark you could hitch to and go after a title. Condon's response was he thinks that despite that some players probably didn't want to play in her shadow as the transfer portal is full of a lot of "me first" players looking for better opportunities. It's not stopping LSU from landing players though and Condon says Iowa was one of the first schools to contact Morrow and she did not reciprocate interest. The SWARM collective allotted NIL money to go after players too so money was there to use that in recruiting as well so his thinking is must be something with her personality or players just not wanting to play with her because of all the attention she gets. Miller thinks Clark comes back for a 5th year while Condon thinks she' go to the WNBA after this season.

They got into the season prospects briefly and how Iowa women have already sold out their home games but the roster on paper they may not be as good as they were last year. If you think about it after this season they lose Marshall and Martin so they are going to need to make a big splash in the portal along with adding a solid freshman class if they are going to have enough talent around Clark to make another run if she returns. Miller pointed out this coming year if they end up with a 2 or 3 seed it could be tough to get back to the Final 4 as you could essentially wind up playing a team like LSU in the elite 8. I find it interesting that the ISU women seem to be bringing in more talent through the portal and freshman class than Iowa lately despite the success and popularity Iowa is having with Clark.

 

[isufbcurt]

Caught an interesting conversation yesterday on Miller and Condon about Iowa women's basketball. They discussed how Iowa did not really improve on their roster through the transfer portal. Miller was asking Condon why they couldn't land any big names when they have a generational talent like Clark you could hitch to and go after a title. Condon's response was he thinks that despite that some players probably didn't want to play in her shadow as the transfer portal is full of a lot of "me first" players looking for better opportunities. It's not stopping LSU from landing players though and Condon says Iowa was one of the first schools to contact Morrow and she did not reciprocate interest. The SWARM collective allotted NIL money to go after players too so money was there to use that in recruiting as well so his thinking is must be something with her personality or players just not wanting to play with her because of all the attention she gets. Miller thinks Clark comes back for a 5th year while Condon thinks she' go to the WNBA after this season.

They got into the season prospects briefly and how Iowa women have already sold out their home games but the roster on paper they may not be as good as they were last year. If you think about it after this season they lose Marshall and Martin so they are going to need to make a big splash in the portal along with adding a solid freshman class if they are going to have enough talent around Clark to make another run if she returns. Miller pointed out this coming year if they end up with a 2 or 3 seed it could be tough to get back to the Final 4 as you could essentially wind up playing a team like LSU in the elite 8. I find it interesting that the ISU women seem to be bringing in more talent through the portal and freshman class than Iowa lately despite the success and popularity Iowa is having with Clark.

Why isn't she on any of these USA teams like Reese and HVL? Honestly I think others don't like her and don't want to play with her? Iowa will be a 1 woman show this year which will make it hard for them to do what they did last year.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Caught an interesting conversation yesterday on Miller and Condon about Iowa women's basketball. They discussed how Iowa did not really improve on their roster through the transfer portal. Miller was asking Condon why they couldn't land any big names when they have a generational talent like Clark you could hitch to and go after a title. Condon's response was he thinks that despite that some players probably didn't want to play in her shadow as the transfer portal is full of a lot of "me first" players looking for better opportunities. It's not stopping LSU from landing players though and Condon says Iowa was one of the first schools to contact Morrow and she did not reciprocate interest. The SWARM collective allotted NIL money to go after players too so money was there to use that in recruiting as well so his thinking is must be something with her personality or players just not wanting to play with her because of all the attention she gets. Miller thinks Clark comes back for a 5th year while Condon thinks she' go to the WNBA after this season.

They got into the season prospects briefly and how Iowa women have already sold out their home games but the roster on paper they may not be as good as they were last year. If you think about it after this season they lose Marshall and Martin so they are going to need to make a big splash in the portal along with adding a solid freshman class if they are going to have enough talent around Clark to make another run if she returns. Miller pointed out this coming year if they end up with a 2 or 3 seed it could be tough to get back to the Final 4 as you could essentially wind up playing a team like LSU in the elite 8. I find it interesting that the ISU women seem to be bringing in more talent through the portal and freshman class than Iowa lately despite the success and popularity Iowa is having with Clark.

Missing from their discussion (or per your summary) would be how Bludar just has not been very active in the portal. She's been said to be deeply loyal to her gals and hasn't had a lot of turnover either in or out. The loyalty worked both ways with two seniors opting to come back for 2023 for 5th years and Czinano doing the same this past season. I've said before in WBB threads that the extra year thing (or a big class like we had in 2020) can disrupt the usual HS recruiting flow. Until they had the one gal transfer out they didn't have any openings at all with them honoring their scholarship to the injured Jones gal who will never be able to play Div 1 hoops. Still curious they did not get a big somewhere but they will still be pretty good.

Will be interesting to see the post-Clark recruiting. I don't think what they have is sustainable for a non-blue blood. Still, would love to have the Cyclones have had a run to the final game and than deal with the "they can't do it gain" talk. I could live with that. They have a highly regarded post for 2024 (beyond that I am not sure) and would seem to have the inside track on Maddyn Greenway**. We've definitely been more active and better in the portal than Iowa but have also had the other side of that coin hit us to. Not every year is big splash. We had a big hit for 2020 and looks like the same for 2023 but look pretty "full" for 2024. If our 2023 class eats up the starting spots for a few years that will obviously impact how the next few classes will be but not won't be a bad thing if the team is successful.


** The whole Clark experience and PR for Iowa might actually help with that. Proved you don't HAVE to go to South Carolina, UConn, Stanford etc. Still, I was surprised Clark didn't go to ND and probably smirked at her comment to take Iowa to the Final Four.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Why isn't she on any of these USA teams like Reese and HVL? Honestly I think others don't like her and don't want to play with her? Iowa will be a 1 woman show this year which will make it hard for them to do what they did last year.

I second this. Their roster is worse on paper heading into the upcoming season. I am not a women's basketball aficionado by any means, but it just seems like there is a gaping hole at Czinano's position. They also lost another starter in Warnock who is probably more easily replaceable but I just don't see them being nearly as deep without any real idea who they're bringing in as freshwomen. Another run like they had seems improbable, no matter how good Clark is.

I think you are on to something with others don't like playing with her. I too have wondered why Iowa hasn't been able to land any big fish in the portal. I thought they would be a really attractive landing spot for an elite level player or two looking to make a run at a title. Odd too that she isn't playing on some of these national teams like you refer to, you would think she would want to represent her country as the best player in the women's game and vice versa, but there must be some behind the scenes stuff about her compatibility with other great players that we don't know about and/or the media won't acknowledge.

 

[iahawks]

Caught an interesting conversation yesterday on Miller and Condon about Iowa women's basketball. They discussed how Iowa did not really improve on their roster through the transfer portal. Miller was asking Condon why they couldn't land any big names when they have a generational talent like Clark you could hitch to and go after a title. Condon's response was he thinks that despite that some players probably didn't want to play in her shadow as the transfer portal is full of a lot of "me first" players looking for better opportunities. It's not stopping LSU from landing players though and Condon says Iowa was one of the first schools to contact Morrow and she did not reciprocate interest. The SWARM collective allotted NIL money to go after players too so money was there to use that in recruiting as well so his thinking is must be something with her personality or players just not wanting to play with her because of all the attention she gets. Miller thinks Clark comes back for a 5th year while Condon thinks she' go to the WNBA after this season.

They got into the season prospects briefly and how Iowa women have already sold out their home games but the roster on paper they may not be as good as they were last year. If you think about it after this season they lose Marshall and Martin so they are going to need to make a big splash in the portal along with adding a solid freshman class if they are going to have enough talent around Clark to make another run if she returns. Miller pointed out this coming year if they end up with a 2 or 3 seed it could be tough to get back to the Final 4 as you could essentially wind up playing a team like LSU in the elite 8. I find it interesting that the ISU women seem to be bringing in more talent through the portal and freshman class than Iowa lately despite the success and popularity Iowa is having with Clark.

I think a lot of it comes down to NIL too. LSU has way more boosters and money to spend than Iowa does on Women's basketball.

 

[CYdTracked]

Missing from their discussion (or per your summary) would be how Bludar just has not been very active in the portal. She's been said to be deeply loyal to her gals and hasn't had a lot of turnover either in or out. The loyalty worked both ways with two seniors opting to come back for 2023 for 5th years and Czinano doing the same this past season. I've said before in WBB threads that the extra year thing (or a big class like we had in 2020) can disrupt the usual HS recruiting flow. Until they had the one gal transfer out they didn't have any openings at all with them honoring their scholarship to the injured Jones gal who will never be able to play Div 1 hoops. Still curious they did not get a big somewhere but they will still be pretty good.

Will be interesting to see the post-Clark recruiting. I don't think what they have is sustainable for a non-blue blood. Still, would love to have the Cyclones have had a run to the final game and than deal with the "they can't do it gain" talk. I could live with that. They have a highly regarded post for 2024 (beyond that I am not sure) and would seem to have the inside track on Maddyn Greenway**. We've definitely been more active and better in the portal than Iowa but have also had the other side of that coin hit us to. Not every year is big splash. We had a big hit for 2020 and looks like the same for 2023 but look pretty "full" for 2024. If our 2023 class eats up the starting spots for a few years that will obviously impact how the next few classes will be but not won't be a bad thing if the team is successful.


** The whole Clark experience and PR for Iowa might actually help with that. Proved you don't HAVE to go to South Carolina, UConn, Stanford etc. Still, I was surprised Clark didn't go to ND and probably smirked at her comment to take Iowa to the Final Four.

Condon claims they were actively recruiting in the portal but just came away empty. That's where Miller was asking why they couldn't throw some NIL money along with the chance to play with Clark and that kind of led to the debate on how maybe some players just don't want to play with her for 1 reason or another. I think Clark is incredibly talented but I don't care for some of her antics at times. For being the best player on the court she sure complains to the refs a lot and has some body language that probably rubs some people the wrong way at times.

Will be interesting to see how teams adjust playing against her this upcoming season. It was frustrating to watch teams in the tournament not try to exploit her on defense more as Iowa hides her with the zone they play so she doesn't get into foul trouble. LSU and SC played very differently, Iowa was giving that SC girl wide open 3s that she was passing on at first until they got too far behind not to take a few of those shots. If Iowa is going to sag back on any player you gotta give them the green light to shoot a few regardless as if you make a couple then Clark has to come up and guard closer on the perimeter. If she sags off and stays around the FT line where she basically will let anyone go past her if they get past 15 feet then you attack her and force her to commit or let the player have a clear path to the hoop. LSU went at her got her in foul trouble. Defensively against her I dunno if any team has really figured out how to stop her. If you pressure her she is good at finding her teammates when you double her so guess you just stick your best defender on her and not give her chances to find open teammates and let her be a 1 player show?

 

[BoxsterCy]

I think a lot of it comes down to NIL too. LSU has way more boosters and money to spend than Iowa does on Women's basketball.

Plus it's Kim Freakin' Mulkey, not just NIL. Pretty short list of the times schools from the state of Iowa have come out on top of her in recruiting or scoreboard. She's a ruthless force to be reckoned with.

 

[CYdTracked]

I think a lot of it comes down to NIL too. LSU has way more boosters and money to spend than Iowa does on Women's basketball.

LSU does have more money and Mulkey is never going to be labeled as a coach that doesn't pull all the strings she can to go after players. But Condon was inferring that the Swarm collective had allotted a fair amount of money for Iowa Women to use to go after players in the portal this year so that should have helped land at least someone decent you'd thing. With Czinano and Warnock gone you'd think they would have gone hard at every top post player in the portal with a big role for someone to fill and they came up empty. Heck even Fennelly was able to land 6-5 Natabou from the portal to go with a recruiting class that also has some good post player prospects.

 

[ScottyP]

I find it interesting how Swarm bragged up how much they paid to get Cade McNamara but then cry poor when missing out on basketball transfers. Fran was complaining that MVC was offering more for transfers.

 

[iahawks]

I find it interesting how Swarm bragged up how much they paid to get Cade McNamara but then cry poor when missing out on basketball transfers. Fran was complaining that MVC was offering more for transfers.

Honestly, I would rather a large chunk of the collective go to football and I think most fans feel that way. Iowa will never have a large enough collective to have enough support to fund everything, so they have to pick their battles.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I second this. Their roster is worse on paper heading into the upcoming season. I am not a women's basketball aficionado by any means, but it just seems like there is a gaping hole at Czinano's position. They also lost another starter in Warnock who is probably more easily replaceable but I just don't see them being nearly as deep without any real idea who they're bringing in as freshwomen. Another run like they had seems improbable, no matter how good Clark is.

I think you are on to something with others don't like playing with her. I too have wondered why Iowa hasn't been able to land any big fish in the portal. I thought they would be a really attractive landing spot for an elite level player or two looking to make a run at a title. Odd too that she isn't playing on some of these national teams like you refer to, you would think she would want to represent her country as the best player in the women's game and vice versa, but there must be some behind the scenes stuff about her compatibility with other great players that we don't know about and/or the media won't acknowledge.

The Czinano loss is HUGE. She was lethal around the basket and that in and out game created a ton of open looks for Marshall and the guards. I can actually see Iowa being a bit of a disappointment this year.

 

[NWICY]

The Czinano loss is HUGE. She was lethal around the basket and that in and out game created a ton of open looks for Marshall and the guards. I can actually see Iowa being a bit of a disappointment this year.

I hope.

 

[Gonzo]

The Czinano loss is HUGE. She was lethal around the basket and that in and out game created a ton of open looks for Marshall and the guards. I can actually see Iowa being a bit of a disappointment this year.

Don't count out Stuelke, she could step in and be pretty effective taking over that role.

 

[BCClone]

The Czinano loss is HUGE. She was lethal around the basket and that in and out game created a ton of open looks for Marshall and the guards. I can actually see Iowa being a bit of a disappointment this year.

There replacements were definitely not the same. Accuracy, footwork and they don’t have her hip check that she does to knock CCs defenders off to clear her.

 

[Three4Cy]

Don't count out Stuelke, she could step in and be pretty effective taking over that role.

Stuelke is going to have to become physically stronger. Bluder called her a finesse player, whereas Czinano was more physical.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Don't count out Stuelke, she could step in and be pretty effective taking over that role.

Hopefully, for Iowa, she is shooting hundreds of free throws a day this summer as she was dreadful from the line last year. She came on as quite the rebounder. Saw her early and, not being one who follows Iowa HS ball, was left wondering what all the buzz was about her. Could see some of that answered later when she became their 6th player. Think she has a lot of upside. She's athletic and a bit raw on offensive but she sure can rebound.

I am not in the camp that thinks the Hawks will be woeful at post. If the posts can run than the ball from Clark will find them, at least on the break. For all of Czinano's offensive prowess in the paint she was not a good rebounder or defender. Will be interesting for Hawk fans to see if O'Grady can take a step forward and if Goodman can regain some of the post-injury promise she seemed to show as a freshman.