Despite Hawkeyes national championship loss, there’s no denying a new era for women’s basketball

IOWA CITY — Win or lose, it was a foregone conclusion before the game even began Sunday: the magic happening in NCAA women’s basketball this year thanks to Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes has launched women’s basketball into a new stratosphere.

With a new legacy solidified after a second eye-catching season, the star point guard didn’t just shatter a new ceiling for women — she incited a new generation of fans to demand a larger building.

As Clark shot her last shots on the court before going pro, the Hawkeyes weren’t just aiming for a historic win — they were setting the stage for fans who said they’ll stick around to support women’s basketball thanks to what they’ve seen this year.

That’s a momentum not even the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks can stop.

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History in the making

When Moscow grandmother Kim Nelson attended Friday’s watch party at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the Hawkeye win and wild finish against UConn was an emotional moment.

“Grandma’s crying,” her 8-year-old grandson, Maverick, texted to his mother at its conclusion.

“But how could you not be emotional about it? It’s experiencing history,” said Nelson, 50. “I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”

Win or lose, she vowed to cry again at the end of Sunday’s championship — Iowa’s second in a row — because of the representation the team has given Iowa. And she promised Maverick that, while he isn’t crying now, that it’s something he’ll recount to his children someday, too.

Nelson has been a fan for the last four years, but more seriously in the last two. The Hawkeyes’ competitiveness and ability to outshine other teams this year made her a more serious fan, even before Caitlin started breaking serious records.

“They’re representing everyone (in Iowa),” Nelson said.

While she and her husband have been season ticket holders for other sports in the past, this year’s plays under Head Coach Lisa Bluder have made them women’s basketball fans for life. For them, the new injection of respect for the sport has “astronomical” meaning.

For ages, she said Hawkeye football has been the focus of Iowa sports. In March Madness in most years, it’s mostly been about the men’s teams.

But for fans raising boys like her family, their next season tickets will be for women’s basketball.

“It’s about lifting people up. It doesn’t matter what gender, color, race, any of that,” she said. “For this to happen two years in a row, it gives me chills whether they win or lose.”

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No ‘I’ in Iowa’s foundation

Val Bonnett, a Hawkeye grad and retired doctor from Pella, said Clark’s legacy is inseparable from the strides the team has made as they set records in viewership, sell out home games and even away games at other arenas.

As each player appeared before the tipoff, one by one, the crowd dotted with Clark’s “22” jerseys roared almost equally for most of the players — a telltale sign that the momentum filling every section allotted for the watch party was bigger than any one player.

But outside a multitude of eye-popping numbers, one thing that stands out to Bonnett is the new culture this team has embraced. Under Bluder’s leadership, she said Clark’s departure to the WNBA Draft doesn’t spell the end for Iowa’s newfound recognition.

“In every single interview, all of these girls say how much they care about their teammates. There’s no ‘I’ in team for Iowa,” she said. “I think that Lisa and the other coaches are setting a foundation that they’re going to see success with for a long time.”

Nearby, another spectator with her two children concurred.

“It seems like they’re more of a family than a team,” said Katie Rourke of Iowa City. “I think (Clark) has started something.”

Thanks to Clark, the arrival of a new era for college women’s basketball is not even a question, for Bonnett.

“Caitlin could be the face of that. Not only is she ridiculously talented, but she has a presence,” Bonnett said. “You want your kids to follow in her footsteps. There are other people that play basketball that you don’t want your kids to behave like.”

She hopes others, with the right amount of capital, will capitalize on the velocity to Clark has generated by creating a new professional team somewhere in Iowa.

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Bringing down the curtains

As the first quarter got well underway, former Iowa Spirit Squad members Oz Agbese and Nate Volk talked about the new energy they sensed in women’s basketball.

In Agbese’s junior year of college roughly a decade ago, the black curtains partitioning off much of the arena were installed to funnel fans down for the women’s basketball games. The curtains were only pulled up for men’s wrestling and men’s basketball when larger crowds inundated the stands.

Over the last two years, they watched for the first time in their lives as the curtains came down for women’s basketball as the Hawkeyes sold out home games and even arenas at away games.

“Seeing that is so incredible, because I remember when we couldn’t get over 9,000 fans. Now you’re talking about 56,000 people coming to watch an exhibition game,” said Agbese, 33. “That’s insanity.”

With the stars aligning on pent-up excitement, once in a generation players, better social media treatment and better marketing, he said it will “absolutely” translate to better parity for the WNBA as Clark goes pro.

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The future of the sport

The future of women’s basketball as stars like Clark exit will be up to the marketing strategy of the WNBA and NCAA, Agbese believes, as they decide whether to double down on the JuJu Watkinses, Hannah Hidalgos and Hannah Stuelkes left in the sport.

A few rows away, parents Nate and Emily Berkhoudt held their young daughters on their laps as the second quarter unfolded the peak of Iowa’s temporary lead. Nate, with 7-month-old Annie, directed his daughter’s attention to important points in the game as he explained something she wouldn’t understand today.

Though Clark brought them out as new fans in a relatively new community for the Iowa City residents, what’s more is the community Clark has brought out among a perhaps unlikely conglomerate.

“It’s wonderful to give them the opportunity to see where they can go, and there’s no limit to the opportunities they have ahead of them,” Emily said. “Seeing the community embrace that and really stand strong behind women is awesome.”

“All the things they’re doing to bridge the gap between men’s and women’s is pretty cool to see,” Nate concurred. “Hopefully this moment continues.”

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Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.