Hawkeyes earn their place in the spotlight

Iowa’s women’s basketball team will make history tonight, returning to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 30 years and for the very first time under longtime head coach Lisa Bluder. The eyes of Iowans already captivated by the team’s success will be on American Airlines Center in Dallas for the scheduled 8 p.m. tipoff against South Carolina.

It will be a tall order for the Hawkeyes. South Carolina is 36-0 and the defending national champions. The gamecocks are favored by double-digits.

But can anyone who has followed this magical season really count Iowa out?

Of course, the Hawkeyes have Caitlin Clark, a junior guard from West Des Moines, who is the most electrifying player in college basketball, in the men’s or women’s game. When she’s not dropping stunning three point shots from seemingly another ZIP code, she’s zipping draw dropping passes to teammates such as Monika Cziano, Gabbie Marshall, McKenna Warnock and others.

In the Hawks’ win over Louisville in the Elite Eight, Clark finished with 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, the first 40-point triple-double in NCAA tournament history.

“What makes Caitlin’s 40-point triple-double so special is the fact so many player(s) never had one, not me, Michael Jordan, or Larry Bird!” tweeted Los Angeles Laker great Earvin Magic Johnson, among many pro athletes and celebrities who marveled at Clark’s performance.

But what really makes Iowa so special is teamwork. The chemistry of this team is obvious to anyone who watches Iowa. They genuinely enjoy playing basketball together. It’s fun to watch them having fun slicing up opponents. It’s must-see basketball played at a very high level.

And while the Hawkeyes have brought themselves historic success and joy to Iowans, they’ve also helped make a strong case that women’s college basketball is no second-class sport. Game attendance and television ratings jumped sharply during this tournament. Of course Clark’s greatest show on hardwood has contributed, with 2.5 million viewers watching Iowa vs. Louisville on ESPN. But it’s also been a tournament filled with compelling storylines, amazing upsets of top-seeded teams and games going down to the wire up and down the bracket.

It's been the sort of basketball showcase that begs the question as to why a top-quality coach such as Bluder makes so much less than her counterparts in the men’s game, and some men who coach women’s teams. Also, why do the top women’s basketball players graduate to a pro league, the WNBA, that pays a tiny fraction of the tens of millions of dollars paid annually to the top NBA players?

But those are issues for another day. Tonight, the Hawkeyes have earned their place in the national spotlight. Win or lose, they’ve given us the gift of witnessing one of the greatest basketball teams to ever wear an Iowa uniform. Go Hawks!

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