Clark has been a megastar at Iowa, but has just been “Caitlin” to her teammate besties

IOWA CITY — For its 25 wins and 92.7 points per game and its flare and its spirit, the thing that has struck me the most about this season’s Iowa women’s basketball team is this:

There’s never been a whiff of condescension toward her mortal teammates from the player Hawkeyes Coach Lisa Bluder calls a “megastar,” Caitlin Clark. There’s never been a whiff of resentment from those teammates, especially those who have been indispensable in helping Clark pile up her crazy numbers.

It makes for a Senior Day ceremony Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena that will be the essence of bittersweet after No. 6 Iowa tries to overcome No. 2 Ohio State in its final game before the start of the postseason.

It isn’t just Clark that 15,000 Hawkeye fans will shower with gratitude after the contest. It’s starting guard Molly Davis, who has fit in so well and come on strong this season. It’s center Sharon Goodman, who fought through injury and personal loss in her career here.

And it’s the two “old” besties of Clark’s and two big fan favorites of the last five seasons, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. Martin has played in 153 games and started 129. Marshall is at 156 and 127.

Martin has been a rock. This season she accepted a role with more scoring responsibility with aplomb, and has delivered 13 points per game to go with her smart, steady play.

Marshall has 235 career 3-pointers and 219 steals, quite a combination. She played 39 minutes in Iowa’s unforgettable 77-73 national-semifinal win over No. 1 South Carolina last year without scoring, and still had a great game because her defense was so vital.

Clark has owned center stage since she got here. Martin and Marshall never felt overlooked. Both used their COVID-19 waivers to play supporting roles for one more season. Without them, the Hawkeyes aren’t a top-10 team even with Clark.

“I don’t think I could have passed up on another opportunity to play here and be surrounded by these coaches and these girls every single day,” Marshall said.

“I’m super-glad I came back,” said Martin. “I’m glad Caitlin kind of forced me to come back.

“Whenever Caitlin’s light shines, it shines on all of us, impacting our entire team, our entire program, our entire state, the entire country. That’s really cool.

“We want what’s best for Caitlin and always had her best interests in mind. So we want her to get nominated for all the awards and win them all. We truly, genuinely are very happy for her.”

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Clark always has praised teammates in interviews, and kept them close to her instead of going off alone on some star trip. You can earn teammates’ respect with performance and work habits, but you can only win their hearts by being someone they care about.

“Obviously,” Clark said, “the light shines really bright on me. But it does (on) everybody else and that puts a lot of pressure on them, too. They never shied away from the moment. They always had my back. They’ve always been very supportive of myself.

“I think that just speaks to the culture Coach (Lisa) Bluder’s built here.

“Nobody gets jealous. You just celebrate one another.”

Bluder said “I think that culture was established before she got here, and I think that made it easier to handle it. One of our values is everyone matters. And we’ve tried to live that every single day by the way we treat our athletes, by the amount of respect we give them, the time we give them.”

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Martin wants to play pro basketball somewhere after college, then wants to coach.

“What Coach Bluder’s instilled in us is bringing up strong female leaders,” Martin said. “That’s what I want to do in the same exact way as she’s done for us.”

When told what Martin said, Bluder’s response was “I think Kate’s going to be such a good coach. … She embraces our values like no other. She’s a special kid. I’d love to have her on my staff.”

Parting is such sweet sorrow, but this isn’t the end. There’s the Big Ten tournament, and then the NCAAs with first-week games in Iowa City.

These Hawkeyes have made so much good noise. They won’t go quietly in the weeks to come.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com