Caitlin Clark leaves Iowa her way, battling to the end with her head held high

CLEVELAND — You’ve seen a thousand athletes after a thousand title-game losses, finding it difficult and even distasteful to answer reporters’ questions during their first raw moments of reality.

But for Caitlin Clark, to borrow from Coach Eric Taylor on the “Friday Night Lights” television series, it was clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose. Even though she lost.

Clark not only spoke to reporters with clarity late Sunday afternoon, she did so expressing appreciation for her last four years, being proud of everything that happened because of her and her teammates and coaches.

“For me, just the emotions will probably hit me over the next couple days,” Clark said. “I don't have much time to sit around and sulk and be upset. I don't think that's what I'm about, either.

“Yeah, I'm sad we lost this game, but I'm also so proud of myself, I'm so proud of my teammates, I'm so proud of this program.“

There was less than zero shame for the Hawkeyes in losing 87-75 to one of the best women’s college basketball teams in the sport’s history. It wasn’t as if Iowa got steamrollered by South Carolina in the national-title game in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The Hawkeyes pulled within 80-75 with 4:12 left after trailing by 14 points less than four minutes earlier. But the fabulous Gamecocks were the fabulous Gamecocks after that, worthy champions who weathered a heck of an early Iowa storm.

The Hawkeyes blasted to a 20-9 lead in the first 4:26. Clark had 18 first-quarter points. Cleveland was Believeland. In the second through fourth periods, however, South Carolina eclipsed Iowa like it shaded everyone else in America in the 37 other games it played.

“They're a really good team,” Clark said. “We knew they were going to go on runs. By no means, when we started off as hot as we did, did we think we'd be able to hold that lead. That's just what teams do.

"To me, I'm just proud of our resiliency. We go into the fourth quarter, I think we cut it to five. And we just weren't able to come up with a few stops and a few baskets.

“That speaks to our team. That's the story it's been all year long. My whole entire career, we never give up. We just keep fighting.“

If Iowa’s roster had featured the Gamecocks’ 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso to join blossoming star Hannah Stuelke on its front line, well, it’s fun to pretend.

Clark, however, had no problem in the postgame focusing on what is real, and what is real is also almost impossible to believe. The 10 NCAA tournament wins and two title-game berths, and the six Big Ten tourney wins and two championships is a heck of a two-year package.

We’ll not again see anything in our midst remotely comparable to the barrages of baskets and dazzling assists Clark showed us. The 65 wins in these last two years is a statistic that will never shut up.

Yet, Clark knows all her insane stats took a back seat on the ride on this meteor enjoyed by her school, her state, and most people who enjoy the great game of basketball. It was how the Hawkeyes made people feel that mattered most.

“I think this group has gone about it in the right way in every single thing that we've done in every phase of our life,” Clark said. “I think that's what you can be the most proud of.

“Maybe we weren't always the most skilled. Maybe we weren't always the tallest. Maybe we weren't always the fastest, but we just believed. We knew we could be in these moments.

“I think more than anything people will probably remember our two Final Fours and things like that. But people aren't going to remember every single win or every single loss. I think they're just going to remember the moments that they shared at one of our games or watching on TV, or how excited their young daughter or son got about watching women's basketball. I think that's pretty cool.”

Take it from someone who has been several hundred miles from Iowa for the last 12 days. Every time I identified myself as being from the state, in a convenience store or hotel lobby or a deli, the other person wanted to talk about Clark and the Hawkeyes.

Someone and something positive and exciting and joyous was Iowa’s. How could you possibly ask for more from an athlete?

“I think one of the best decisions of my life was committing to Coach (Lisa) Bluder and committing to the University of Iowa,” said Clark. “Whether it was how the fans supported me, whether it was being able to represent the state where I grew up.”

The sun will briefly be blotted out by the moon on Monday, but things were already a little less bright in Iowa Sunday afternoon. The greatest of all stars in Hawkeye history wore an Iowa jersey for the final time.

We’ve never had another rocket ride like this one. Few have.

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