With Caitlin Clark running the show, Iowa’s range is limitless

DALLAS — Lisa Bluder remembers going to Caitlin Clark’s high school basketball games and hearing kids yell, “overrated” at her from the stands.

Back in those days, playing for Dowling Catholic in West Des Moines, Iowa, Clark had to do it all on her own. It was hard, but it earned her all kinds of accolades, from Gatorade Player of the Year to being tabbed a five-star recruit, to breaking and holding several state basketball scoring records.

When Clark arrived at Iowa as a freshman, Bluder had to figure out how to balance letting Clark be Clark, while also teaching her how to play within a system.

“Her freshman year, I definitely had some times I was pulling my hair out,” said Bluder, Iowa’s head coach for more than two decades. “There’s no doubt about it. She had to learn how to play with other players that were good players.”

Bluder made the comments on Thursday, a day ahead of her program’s first appearance at the Final Four since 1993.

“It wasn’t all controlling what she did because, I think, when you try to stifle somebody like that, you’re ruining a little bit of the type of player they are,” Bluder said. “What she does on her own is special. I think if you were trying to tell her exactly what a good shot is, [that’s not fair] because what a good shot for her is totally different than what a good shot for somebody else is. She has a little separate set of rules, quite honestly, than other people because she can do things other people can’t do.”

One of those things she does so well is launching and making logo 3s on the regular. The list of players who can score at will from a distance like that is tiny, and it’s populated by people like Steph Curry, who has made the most 3-pointers in NBA history.

Clark, who was named Naismith Player of the Year this week, poses a problem for opponents that is similar to those facing Curry: if a defender tries to shut her down from that range, she’ll just blow past them and pull up from mid-range or drive in for a layup.

It’s a luxury for her teammates, too.

“When you have to guard somebody about 94 feet of the court, then, you know, there’s gonna be more openings for other players,” Iowa guard Kate Martin said.

Clark said she usually attempts those shots against tougher defenses to space them out. So there is no better time to blast off a few of those shots than Friday, when Iowa faces No. 1 overall seed South Carolina in the Final Four.

The Gamecocks, who are defending national champions and appear intent on becoming the fourth program ever to successfully defend their title, have the most dominant and imposing defense in the country. This season, they held opponents to the fewest points (50.4) and lowest field-goal percentage (31.2%) while allowing only three teams to score 70 points. They also have yet to allow a player to score more than 25 points in a game this season. In fact, the last player to score 30 points against this team was UConn’s Paige Bueckers on Feb. 8 2021. Maryland’s Diamond Miller did come close, though, scoring 24 in the Elite Eight.

That won’t faze Clark, who is averaging 27.3 points per game and has had 12 30-point games this season. Plus, she’s fresh off becoming the only player to record a 40-point triple-double in an NCAA Tournament game — women’s or men’s — when she had 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds against Louisville in the Elite Eight.

On Thursday, Clark said couldn’t recall when she first started bombing 3s from deep, but she described the mechanics of her 3-point attempts, which don’t change no matter how far she backs up.

“When I’m in the gym working on my game and getting shots up, I’m shooting shots from back there,” she said. “It’s not like I get in the game and [start] launching, and they somehow go in. Though sometimes, it might seem like that.

“I think it all just stems from the confidence of the work I’ve put in.”

Monika Czinano, who is the team’s second-leading scorer averaging 17.2 PPG, remembers when she first realized Clark could do that. They’d be scrimmaging in the summer and slowly Clark would move further and further back. Her shots kept going in.

“I’ve seen her in the gym, and I’ve walked in [and been like]‘Oh, she’s shooting at the logo, she must be having fun,” Czinano said. “No, she’s on the gun shooting from there.”

South Carolina limits opponents to 26.4% shooting from behind the arc. Iowa shoots 37.9% from there, led by Clark, who shoots 39% off nine attempts per game. She’s hit 10 3-pointers from 30 feet or more in her career, including six this season.

Three of Clark’s teammates who play meaningful minutes — Gabbie Marshall, McKenna Warnock and Martin — shoot better than 37% from deep. But the Gamecocks will only have to worry about Clark shooting from near half-court.

No other Hawkeye would ever dare attempt that anyway.

“No,” senior guard Kate Martin said. “We know our range.”

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.

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