IOWA CITY – If the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team going to be as successful as last season, their post players are going to need to fill some big shoes after the departure of Monika Czinano, and guard Caitlin Clark is busy building chemistry with players stepping into that important role.

University of Iowa Basketball Media Conference

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Iowa City, Iowa, USA

Coach Lisa Bluder

Women’s Basketball Press Conference

LISA BLUDER: Good morning. Thanks for being here, but these kids have classes, so that becomes the priority over you guys getting your sleep.

Here we go again. Whether we want to or not, it’s time to turn the page and go on to another season after last year’s historic season. What a way to begin this season. Right now we’re starting ranked in the top 6 in the country and considered the Big Ten favorite, although this conference is loaded, and there’s going to be a lot of surprises along the way.

We start this season with every single game sold out in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. We start this season in a week and a half with about 50,000 people joining us in Kinnick for the Crossover, and as you all know, we start the season without 40 percent of our starting lineup. But we also start the season with the nation’s best player in Caitlin Clark.

Caitlin won every award possible last year. I’m so proud of her for that, but I’m almost more proud that she was an Academic All-American. She was the CSC Academic All-American of the Year last year, and it’s no surprise that she’s been named as the preseason Big Player of the Year, as well.

But a pleasant surprise is that we have Gabbie Marshall back, somebody that we weren’t expecting to have back a year ago, and so that’s really nice. She’s returning for her fifth season of eligibility.

Gabbie has been voted a team captain this year. She’s considered one of our best defensive players. She led the team again last year in steals. She’s a knock-down 3-point shooter. You saw her make seven 3s in the semifinal of the Big Ten championship last year when we defeated Maryland. Without her we probably wouldn’t have been there.

We’re glad to have Gabbie back.

Another pleasant surprise is Kate Martin, who returns for her sixth year of eligibility after missing her first with the ACL. So glad to have Kate back.

But Kate is honestly one of the strongest leaders I’ve ever been around. She’s a culture builder. She’s playing like a pro right now. She really is. She’s knocking down 3s. She’s physically defending hard, rebounding. I think you’re going to see Kate just jump off the stat sheet this year.

How do we fill the void of Monika and McKenna? That’s what everybody wants to know, right? I think there’s a number of options. Addie O’Grady played some of her best basketball in the NCAA Tournament last year. At 6’4″, she gives us a greater defensive presence in the middle, but I’m also going to beg you — I’m going to ask you, I might even beg you to not compare her to Monika, just like four years ago I sat here and I begged you not to compare Monika to Megan.

Monika came of her own. Give Addie time to come of her own. Addie is a good basketball player. She’s a darned good basketball player, just like Megan was, just like Monika was. But comparisons don’t do anybody any good, so just give her a little bit of time.

Other good options in the post include Sharon Goodman, A.J. Ediger. What do we do with the power forward position? I think that one is obvious. I think everyone saw last year how good, how athletic, how fast Hannah Stuelke was.

But this year I think over the summer she became a better basketball player, and that’s what we needed for her to become, and I think now she understands the game better. Her shot is better.

I think that we can use Hannah at the power forward, or if we want to go fast, we can also use her at the center position.

This team has depth. Molly Davis returns for her fifth year, and Molly is playing very well right now. She looks so much more confident than last year, knocking down 3s, passing, getting to the rim.

She’s a player that we have to find more time for on the court. Molly can really play the 1, 2, or 3. So we need to accomplish that.

We have shooters with Taylor McCabe coming back in her second season. We have depth with Sydney Affolter, and Kylie Feuerbach is also back after sitting out with a knee injury last year.

We’re also hoping for an injury-free year for Jada Gyamfi, but we have lots of depth we feel like and lots of options for us to go to.

We have a tremendous schedule. Five teams in the Big Ten are now ranked in the top 25. Three of them are in the top 10. Our nonconference schedule includes facing No. 9 Virginia Tech, a team that was in the Final Four last year on a neutral court in Charlotte.

We also will be hosting Kansas State. They’re ranked 25th in the country right now. And last year they gave us a one-point loss at their place, but they do return their center, their 6’6″ center, so that’s going to be a battle.

Thanksgiving gives us three games in Florida. We have the potential to play Florida Gulf Coast, who is always a great team. We have the potential to play North Carolina, ranked in the top 20, and also the potential of a rematch against Kansas State.

I think another game to mark on everybody’s calendars would be our game in Des Moines on a neutral court against Cleveland State who went 30-5 last year. They are a really good basketball team.

We’ll be playing at Iowa State, at UNI, hosting Drake. But 11 of the games on our schedule are against teams in the top 25 in the country right now. So we have a very, very challenging schedule once again.

But I know that Carver-Hawkeye Arena will be as tough a place for anybody to come into and play with every game being sold out.

Of course we’re looking forward to in a week and a half going out into Kinnick and having the opportunity to play outdoors for the first time ever and playing in front of hopefully 50,000. That’s my personal goal, and hopefully we’ll get to that.

I think it could be a lot of fun for everybody involved to be a part of an attendance-breaking record.

We lost a lot to graduation, but we also have a lot to be really, really excited about.

I will open it up for questions.

Q. Megan and Monika were very much down on the block, not a lot of dribbling type of post player. Addie O’Grady is a little different, she can play a little further out. Do you see the offense changing a little bit at all with their versatility down there?

LISA BLUDER: Not a lot, quite honestly. I agree with you. I think that Addie is a little bit different player, but Megan and Monika both came out to the high post and both went to the short corner and were able to shoot those shots pretty well, too. I do think that was a strength of Addie’s, though.

Q. What is your pregame ritual before every game?

LISA BLUDER: I’m not superstitious, thankfully, because wow, being in this business this long and being superstitious, that would be pretty bad.

But the only thing that I do is I follow kind of a rigid routine because it’s more because I want to be on time for everything more than anything superstitious. The only thing that I do, maybe — I don’t know if you’d call this superstitious or ritual — is I like to pray with assistant coaches before every game, with Jan Jensen and Jenny Fitzgerald. So that is the one thing.

Q. The ticket sales speak for themselves, but just in terms of your popularity, attention, you name it, things are unparalleled right now. How are the coaches and players handling all this?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I think you’re right. If you start thinking about the big picture, it can get a little overwhelming for anybody. These are 18-, 19-year-old young women.

So I think us as adults, we have to kind of keep it in perspective a little bit, and I think they kind of — your emotions rub off on them, there’s no doubt. I think as a coach you have to lead in that way, and to us, we’re trying to enjoy it.

You’ve heard me say this before. I’ve stole this quote from Billy Jean King many a times and, in fact, I’m reading the book right now, Pressure is a Privilege. So I think we have to remember that, that we’re in this situation of facing pressure because we’ve done well. Let’s enjoy that. Let’s rejoice about that.

Try to enjoy it and not think about the overall picture, but just enjoy every single day. It sounds so simplistic, but I think that’s the way we have to handle it.

Q. Addie had a good European trip for you. Has she separated herself from the other post candidates as far as being a starter at the 5?

LISA BLUDER: If I had to name a starting five right now, she would be there. But I wouldn’t say there’s a huge separation between the three of them. And even you could put Hannah in there, too. They’re very much — Addie is probably winning because of experience and height, but she did have a very good foreign tour, and I thought she played very well in the NCAA Tournament.

We needed her there. That’s why she’s ahead of the group right now. But quite honestly, there’s not a huge lead right there.

Q. You mentioned Kylie Feuerbach in your opening statement. Seems like it’s been so long since we’ve seen her on the court. Is she 100 percent right now, ready to go?

LISA BLUDER: I would say so. In practice — for one thing she’s elected not to wear a brace this year, which in the past we’ve had our players that are coming off ACLs wear braces. She’s elected not to, and I think mentally that’s helped her and maybe us to forget about it. She is playing very well. She had a great practice yesterday, actually, a really good practice.

Q. When you look at a team like this that finished the way it did, the popularity that’s ensuing, there could be added, as you’ve talked about, added pressure, scrutiny, more social media interactions in a negative way. Have you had any discussions with your players that now comes because you’re having more people, more attention, that that could be a negative, whereas in the past you’ve had such a close-knit community that’s been more supportive when things got sideways a little bit?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah. Remember, things — we started the season last year, I think, ranked fourth, so we’re down from last year. So less pressure already, right?

You know, and we had some losses early last year, and we bounced back from them really well. I think in athletics you always go back to your past and use your past experiences in how you got through those.

But talking with the team, we’ve talked about the pressure, we’ve talked about pressure is a privilege, and we’ve also talked about, will you quit looking at social media. You can look at — I’ve told this to my team. You can look at 200 things on social media. 199 can be great, and there’s one that really stinks, and you’ll remember the one. So don’t read any of the 200.

I know they need to be on social media to brand themselves, especially in this day of NIL. I understand that. But let’s just not go down the hole of — rabbit hole of reading all the stuff from anonymous people.

Q. How will you as a staff manage the whole Caitlin hoopla as far as it goes with the rest of the team? She gets so much attention. Keeping the locker room right. I’m sure you probably have real mature girls playing for you, but are you mindful of that kind of thing?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, Caitlin who? (Laughter).

No, I agree. I think there would be a possibility of having turmoil in your locker room with a superstar, but I think it helps us because we have dealt with a superstar before. We had Megan Gustafson on this team. She was the national Player of the Year. Certainly Caitlin’s popularity has exceeded that, there’s no doubt.

I think it speaks volumes that Gabbie and Kate elected to come back and wanted to play with her. That shows you what kind of teammate she is. That shows you what kind of person she is.

I think the players all respect her so much because they see her. She’s working hard. They see her the first one in the gym, the last one to leave. She’s putting in her time. They understand that she can do some special things.

I think that eliminates the jealousy because she is a good teammate, and I think that helps quite a bit. But we will talk about it, yeah. Caitlin has a little bit more attention, but when her light shines, it shines on everybody in that locker room, so let’s all enjoy it.

Q. I think in your opening statement you said you were a little bit surprised that Gabbie elected to come back. Why were you surprised that she elected to come back for a fifth season?

LISA BLUDER: You know, it was later in the year that she made that decision, and so she could have — she graduated, she could have went on.

I think anybody that graduates and decides to come back, I just really think that’s amazing, that they want to be a part of this team and a part of this program again, and I love that. I really admire that.

Q. Your guards off the bench, you’ve got a lot of options with Molly, with Sydney, with Kylie coming back from injury and you mentioned Taylor McCabe. How do you kind of balance trying to put the right lineup on the floor? All four of those players probably deserve minutes.

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, you’re right, we have a lot of people that deserve minutes, and there’s only so many minutes to go around. There’s an exercise where you put — you have each of your players — you ask them how many minutes you think they deserve and you add up all those minutes and it’s way over 200. And it’s kind of a realistic approach to showing, demonstrating that, listen, you’re not going to get the minutes that you think you deserve or you probably should deserve.

It’s just when you’re playing on a really good basketball team with a lot of depth, that’s one of those things that’s really — you’re giving up of yourself to be a part of this basketball team, and it’s something that we have to manage as coaches.

We have to really do a good job. That falls on us to do a really good job with that.

Q. I think it was during Beth Goetz’s introductory press conference, she was talking about you being the one who came with the idea of Crossover at Kinnick. Were you the brain child behind that? Where did that notion come from?

LISA BLUDER: You know, it really started when we came back from the trip and then we had a celebration in the Pentacrest. There was 9,000 people. I was like, 9,000 people are coming to a celebration that there’s no game or anything? Obviously we all know and it’s in the back of your mind that wrestling did this not so long ago very successfully, so it can be done.

I’m just really fortunate that I work at a university — and when I went to our athletics director, Beth Goetz, that she said yes without blinking and that all of our administration took on so much added work. This is an away football weekend, and it’s going to be treated like a football weekend almost.

A lot of extra work for our staff here at Iowa, and they didn’t blink, and I am so blessed that I work at a university like that.

Q. Why did you want it?

LISA BLUDER: Why not? How much fun? You’re going to play exhibitions again. And first of all, all the money we make is going to go to the children’s hospital. Why not give my women an experience that not many people around the country get to do? We’re going to be the first women’s basketball game televised in the country.

I think it brings national attention to not only our program but to the University of Iowa.

Why wouldn’t we try to do this?

Q. After Caitlin was National Player of the Year last year, what are the things you think she wants to accomplish this year?

LISA BLUDER: What does Caitlin want to get better in? You know, she’s never satisfied, but that’s the beauty of basketball. You never play a perfect game. There’s always things that you can work on. I think she understands that.

She’s constantly working to get better. It’s not like she’s sitting back and enjoying this time of her being the National Player of the Year. She wants to get it again. She’s wired that way, where she just always wants to do better.

I don’t know if I answered your question for you or not, but —

Q. I know she’s got the ball in her hands a lot, but you were looking to maybe take advantage of the mismatches at times because of her height. Is that something you feel like you can do?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, like last year I tried that and it didn’t go so well. But now in practice she’s trying to do it herself a little bit, so maybe it’s coming back to her. But that is an area where I think she could — but at the next level, and I’m not preparing her for the next level because that’s not my job, especially, number one. But she won’t be able to do that at the next level, either. But she’s trying it now, and she knows she can get to the free-throw line that way, too.

Q. When do you expect a decision from her about next year?

LISA BLUDER: What is it, 48 hours? Is that when she has, 48 hours after our last game or after the Final Four? I forget what the rule is. I don’t know what the rule is. I’m not worried about it. If she comes back, obviously, I’d be thrilled if she comes back.

I want her to come back. Everybody wants her to come back.

But it’s her choice. If she chooses to go on, we have a really good recruiting class coming in. I feel very confident.

Yes, anybody would want Caitlin Clark — to coach Caitlin Clark another year, obviously.

Q. Clark has gone through just an unprecedented summer, great tournaments, won every award there is. Are you concerned at all about there being some sort of fatigue in that sort of a lead-up to a season?

LISA BLUDER: Hmm, interesting question. I could see her being more disappointed if she doesn’t match what she did last year. I could see her being that.

I don’t see a fatigue. I don’t see I’m satisfied with what I’ve achieved so I’m just going to rest on my laurels. I don’t see that at all in her.

For her, she loves the game so much. She’s passionate about playing. I do not see that.

But also, and maybe this is a different way to look at it, we had our foreign trip this year, and so we had 10 extra practices. So I started practice a lot later this year than I usually do, and I was trying to avoid some of that team fatigue, not just for Caitlin but for everybody. Because we do have more of a veteran team really, and we had those 10 extra practices. So I started our September practices a little bit later to avoid what you’re talking about.

Q. With basketball in general, teams are hanging banners. This is a once-in-a-lifetime season you had for most teams. How do you keep the team as a whole not feeling like if things go south in a game, look what we did last year. We’re going to go in the Hall of Fame. Just as a team, what do you see here that lets you feel that having the goal of National Championship or bust is not unattainable because you went there last year?

LISA BLUDER: You know, I never try to compare teams to teams. I just want this team to be the best team they can be. Whether that’s winning a National Championship, making it to the Sweet 16. I don’t know what this team’s best capabilities are.

Of course we set high goals, but I’m not like if we don’t get back to the Final Four, it’s a terrible year. I don’t believe that. I think so much more is put into a basketball season.

You guys all judge it on wins, right, and certainly the fans judge it on wins; but as coaches, we love wins, but we also look at a lot of other things.

Do our kids graduate? Are our kids great human beings? Do they grow as women while they’re here? Are we mentoring these women so they become the next generation of great female leaders? That speaks to me. That’s what gets me up in the morning.

If I had to get up in the morning and think, Golly, are we going to make it back to the Final Four this year, that would be tough to get out of bed. But when I get up in the morning and think, Wow, I have an opportunity to make an impact on 14 young women, that gets me excited.

Q. Where is Ava Jones in her recovery? What is her role on the team going to be this year? Any update what she’s going through?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, Ava is really in a lot of therapy right now. She’s had some surgeries. She’s continuing to have surgeries. She has some planned surgeries. Unfortunately she’s not going to play this year. I think we all know that.

But she is a part of this team. She’s a scholarship member of this team. She’s at practice when she can be. But we schedule a lot of her therapy sessions during practice just so she can make sure she’s in classes. She’s doing well academically.

It’s a situation that’s a tragedy, and we’re going to try to support her as much as we can to get her better.

Will she ever become a basketball player? Who knows. That doesn’t matter to me. Getting her as healed as we can is our responsibility now.

Q. We’ve seen the Caitlin Clark effect on the road. Like in the Big Ten, for instance, an average of 3,500 fans around the Big Ten, in some cases a lot more. And we’ve seen her around young girls, whatever. How do you balance taking it to a higher level, being the standard bearer, elevating the sport and elevating women’s athletics, but also balance that with I’m just a player, I’m just going to go out and play, I don’t want to have that kind of responsibility? How do you balance it? How does she balance that?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I think my women understand I always want them being a basketball player, being a student and being a role model. There is a balance there that they have to try to achieve. But when you’re playing basketball, you play basketball. Don’t worry about — I tell my team all the time, be where your feet are. Don’t worry about any other thing. When you step on that court, you are the best basketball player you can be. Just like when they go into chemistry class, don’t worry about basketball, worry about chemistry. So be where your feet are.

I don’t want her to — I think she understands she’s the face of basketball. She can’t help but understand that.

But I don’t think she’s so consumed with it that it takes away from her game. I think she’s still going to play with passion. She’s going to play with emotion. Sometimes as we know, that emotion is good, and sometimes that emotion isn’t good. We know that, right? We all have some damn-it tee shirts on, you know, in our closets. But I don’t ever want — somebody told me don’t say whoa to a racehorse. I’m never going to do that to her.

Q. You mentioned Hannah Stuelke over the summer. Where have you seen her improve?

LISA BLUDER: Three-point shooting, free-throw shooting. Her shot in general has been — and just her confidence, the way she carries herself on the floor. I want her to put her shoulders back and know that she owns it.

University of Iowa Basketball Media Conference

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Iowa City, Iowa, USA

Caitlin Clark

Women’s Basketball Press Conference

1. What is one lesson you have learned in your time at Iowa that you will plan to use in the future?

CAITLIN CLARK: One lesson I’ve learned? I’ve learned a lot. I think first and foremost, like going into my senior year, the thing I think about is time goes so fast, and being able to soak in every single second. I think that’s how I’m viewing this my senior year. I’m kind of treating it like my last. I don’t know what I’m going to do going forward, and I don’t want to have any regrets in that regard.

But I feel like I was just a freshman, and so I think the biggest thing is to just enjoy every single second. Because a lot of these moments are going to be some of the best moments of my life, and I get to share that with my best friends.

And Coach Bluder always said be where your feet are, so truly being able to live by that, whether I’m in class, whether I’m doing something outside of school in basketball, or if I’m here at practice or at a game, be 100 percent invested in that and give it your all. Because it goes so fast, and these are the moments you’re going to want to remember forever.

1. You built up a ton of chemistry with Monika from just a passing connection. How is that connection with Addie O’Grady, Hannah Stuelke and any of the others?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think it’s definitely a work in progress. I don’t think it can really be put into words how different it is to have a post and a guard combo that get three years to play with each other. If you watched me and Monika our first year, there was quite a few miscues and she wouldn’t always slide to where I wanted her. She would get hit in the face with the ball, she wouldn’t know if it’s coming. I think it’s just a work in progress.

I think the biggest thing for me that I’m trying to live by is just instilling confidence in them. They understand how great Monika was, but they don’t need to be Monika. That’s something we always talk about is they’re going to be different. They shouldn’t be expected to be Monika. They can do things that Monika couldn’t and they can’t do some things that Monika could. They’re just different.

But they bring a lot of really good things to this team, and I think that’s the biggest thing for myself as a point guard is you just have to continue to give them the ball. If they make a mistake, if they turn it over, whatever it is, take the blame, but continue to give them the ball. Because we need our posts to be really successful, and I honestly think all three of our posts, Sharon, A.J., and Addie have been really good. And Hannah plays there at times. So they’re competing every day in practice and that’s all you would want.

1. The last three years have shown that even if it’s the same roster, same people, each season is kind of its own story, own identity. Along those lines, how important is it for this team to establish its own identity for this season even though some of the same players are back? Is that challenge obviously more difficult coming off of what you guys did last year?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I mean, I think that the biggest thing is getting the group to understand we don’t have to be exactly who we were last year. That’s not going to be a smart thing to think that we’re going to accomplish because that’s not how we’re going to be most successful.

This is a new team, new players that are going to have new roles. Even Kate and Gabbie, they’re going to have to move into more prominent roles scoring the basketball just because we lose McKenna and Monika.

Like you said, you can’t expect it to be similar to last year. You don’t want it to be. You want it to be different. You want it to be different for this group. Every journey is different.

I think the biggest thing I’ve understood playing three years is there’s always ups and downs. There’s always hard losses. There’s always great wins. But that’s basketball. That’s a competitive sport.

Somebody who’s a senior now really needs to be a leader and help those younger kids understand, because when you’re younger, you can think the world is ending when you lose a tough game or things like that.

But really I would say last year, some of those hard losses we had at the beginning of the year, whether it’s K-State or NC State, those are honestly the reason that we were a whole lot better and had hard conversations and grew as a team.

I think the biggest thing is getting this team to understand that we need to be different. We’re going to be different. We don’t have to be anything that we were last year, but we can still be a really, really successful basketball team.

1. Did your foreign trip help you get a head start on what you just touched on?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, absolutely. I think more than anything it was good to spend time with each other. We spend a lot of time with each other anyway outside of basketball, but when you get to travel and do new things and experience new cultures together, that’s really good. Obviously our competition wasn’t tremendous, but you still get to go out there and work on things and see if it works.

We’ve put in a lot of different stuff this year that we think is going to help us play with a confident attitude; what your role was last year, it’s going to be different this year. That’s just how it has to be. Things are going to change, they have to change for us to be successful.

1. Were you effectively trying to persuade Kate and Gabbie to come back for another year? And just in general, what are their impacts to this program?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I would say I definitely tried to persuade them. Obviously they’re two of my best friends. Gabbie to me was a little bit more of a lock to come back. Kate, not so much. But Kate was probably just trying to be dramatic and wanted me to beg her so she felt better about herself.

I’m kidding.

But yeah, I think the biggest thing is Kate is a really, really good leader, and is somebody that you want on your team no matter what sport it is, no matter what age group it is, no matter male or female, she will just lead. That’s the type of person she is. She attracts people to follow her.

One of the best teammates I’ve ever been around.

Then obviously Gabbie, one of the best shooters, but I don’t think she gets enough credit for her defense. I told her she needs to be Defensive Player of the Year, and then she’s not like, Nah, Caitlin, that’s for you. It’s your last one to get. And I just started laughing. So we joke about that now.

But no, she’s one of our — she takes the challenge of guarding the best player every single game. And you know, the South Carolina game, for example, she doesn’t score a single point, maybe shoots the ball one, two, three times — I don’t even remember exactly — but she defended every single possession, and I think she played 38 minutes. That’s just the type of player and teammate that Gabbie is. She’s going to give her all. She’s not going to hang her head if she doesn’t get her opportunities on offense, but she’s going to give everything she has on defense.

At the same time I think that needs to change this year. We have to find ways to get Gabbie the ball and get her shots because she’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen as we all saw at the end of the season.

Kate, too, I think they both are going to have to take a step forward on offense and take a little bit more of a prominent role because we lose two people that gave us a lot on that side of the ball.

1. I want to ask about the Crossover in a couple weeks, a game that doesn’t even count on the record but you have 50,000 people coming to that game. How excited are you to be a part of that?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I’m super excited. Obviously a super historic event that probably will only happen once. I think we’re around close to 50,000 tickets, which is tremendous, and hopefully we have a late push to get that up even higher.

But yeah, I’ve been checking the weather, 30-day forecasts. Are those something you should trust? I don’t know. But it looks good.

No, I think on Sunday is when I’ll start really watching the weather, but I’m excited.

Then obviously all the proceeds are going to the children’s hospital, which is super cool, too, so it’s for a really great cause.

But at the same time, it’s an opportunity for us to get better. Like this is our scrimmage. We get to go out there and compete and work on things. I’m going to plan on shooting two air balls just because of the wind.

But yeah, it’s incredible. I’m super excited. I think just watching Nebraska volleyball and what they were able to do. Obviously ours is going to be a little bit on a smaller level, but still, we’re going to be able to break the women’s basketball record for most people at a game.

Shout-out to Coach Bluder. She was kind of the mind behind that, and obviously Beth has supported us and wanted us to accomplish something great like that.

I’m super excited, yeah. It can’t come fast enough.

1. How do you envision your role changing, if at all, this year for this team with maybe a little bit less size, more scoring?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think honestly just trying to be the same player that I was last year. A lot of the stuff that I’ve worked on in the offseason with Tania has been good. I think working more in the half court. Obviously we kind of know I thrive in transition offense. That’s where I like to score, that’s where I like to get the ball, and that’s hard for the defense to guard you and pick you up there.

But in the half court just coming off a screen, setting up screens, I think I understand people are going to be physical, they’re going to face guard me. And I wasn’t always comfortable at times last year coming off a screen and being able to shoot the ball right away. So I think those are some of the biggest things at that I’ve worked on.

But also I think just being a leader. Losing Monika and McKenna, those are two huge voices we had on our team, and Kate can’t do everything for us all the time. So being able to lead, to speak up, be a voice for the younger people, somebody that younger girls can lean on, because I’ve been through it.

I think that’s the biggest area that I can grow in and continue to just lead and help this team get better in that area because I don’t want Kate to have to do everything. So I think me and Gabbie can definitely step up and use our voice a little bit more.

1. How have you been able to process all the off court things that have happened to you last in the several months?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think — first of all, I feel like it was just April, so it’s weird that I’m sitting here at this podium. But I think I’ve just tried to enjoy every single thing and every opportunity that I’ve had because they’re very unique. I don’t know if I’ll be able to have a lot of those opportunities for the rest of my life.

Yeah, I think that’s just the biggest thing is just soaking it in. It kind of takes you back for a second because I feel like I was just that young girl that was playing basketball, and I still feel like a very normal individual. But I can’t really, especially in the state of Iowa, go out in public without being recognized.

It’s always only really good things, and it’s cool to see people rally behind this team, whether it’s just in our state, but across the country. I’ll be traveling and people will even recognize me for who I am, and it’s cool to see the amount of attention you brought to women’s basketball and our team brought to women’s basketball.

Going into this year I hope to continue to do that and show people, like, this is something you should continue to watch. And not only watch Iowa women’s basketball. There’s tremendous basketball all across the country. It’s been that way for a while, but I’m glad they’re just catching on. Yeah, I hope they stay.

1. You’re probably going to downplay this, but I’m going to try anyway. You’re about 800 points away from Kelsey Plum’s all-time scoring record in a career. Is that something you think about at all?

CAITLIN CLARK: I mean, I knew I was probably going to have a chance to break it, but it’s not something I’m going to be, like, actively seeking out. Obviously I’m sure our coaches will tell me if I’m at a game where I get close to that number, which would probably be one of our regular season games or in conference tournament. But I think if I just continue to be the player I am and do the things I’ve always done, that will come.

Yeah, it’s not anything — like, I’ll live just as happy a life if I never break Kelsey Plum’s record. But I loved Kelsey Plum growing up. She obviously took Washington, which was a team very similar to Iowa who was really good. Had a great coach in Mike Neighbors. Had really great players and really hadn’t been to the Final Four. And took a program that wasn’t — hadn’t always been there, and they did it.

So she was somebody that I kind of idolized, so it’s cool to kind of be in that position. She’s somebody I even watch still in the WNBA as she plays for the Aces, has had a really successful career, and one of my favorite players.

So it’s not something I’m counting down the numbers to at all, and if I never get there, that’ll be fine. But I know it’s a possibility for me this year.

1. Coach Bluder said even with all the awards over the offseason and into the season for that matter, going into this coming year that you’ve stayed motivated. Is that something that’s just intrinsic, is it something you have to work on?

CAITLIN CLARK: No, I think it’s just kind of how I am. I hate not being in the gym. If I am not there one day, it kills me. I think it’s been like really great this summer. We had our foreign trip, so we had quite a few practices, but once we got back, we didn’t have as many practices.

And it was really a time where I could get better individually and ask Tania to work out a lot and work on things that I wanted to get better at, individual things that the coaches thought I could get better at. And you don’t always get a ton of that time when you’re trying build a new team and use practice hours and things like that.

I think that was the biggest thing for myself is I’m somebody that I love being in the gym. It’s just kind of second nature to me. It’s a calming thing. It’s something that I’m just comfortable doing, but that’s also where my confidence stems from. The time I put in in the gym, the hours working on my game, it just kind of builds my confidence up.

And when I step on the court to play a game, it’s like I know I can go out there and make those shots because that’s the time I spend in the gym.

Yeah, I think it’s been a really unique summer for me getting extra time to work on individual things that I want to get better at, maybe more so than any other summer that I’ve had here.

1. With the off-the-chart popularity that you have and the team has, this program’s sold-out season, playing in a football stadium, that’s going to bring on added pressure, expectations, scrutiny. How do you think you and the team will balance that if you, God forbid, lose two games in a row or something like that, on social media and what have you?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to be much different from years previous. Obviously our expectations were very lofty last year, and we had a group that had played three years together, and it was like, all right, this is our final time around. To me that’s about the most pressure you can get.

I understand we’re going to be playing in front of a ton of fans. There’s more eyes on us, more than ever. But there might be a few learning experiences for this team. There’s people that are going to play that haven’t really got those minutes or been in end-of-game situations.

So like I said earlier, I think the biggest thing is being a voice in the locker room to help them understand our season is not made or broken by one win or loss. When I was a freshman, I probably thought it was. But I think understanding now that’s not really how it goes.

Yeah, I think Coach Bluder always said pressure is a privilege, and that’s something that you welcome. I wouldn’t want it any other way. The girls in the locker room wouldn’t want it any other way. We want to be ranked in the top 10. We want a sold-out arena. We want fans on the road booing us. That’s what a competitor wants.

You welcome it. You enjoy it. At the end of the day, you understand like this is special. Don’t be afraid of it. Don’t run away from it. Just enjoy it and soak it in, because no other Iowa women’s basketball team in history has had an opportunity to be in an environment like this.

So I’m just going to try to enjoy it, and if we lose a game we should have won, I know our world is not going to be broken. It’s just you come back the next day and get better and hopefully lead this team to a lot of success at the end of the year.

1. Do you have a pregame ritual, and if so, what is it?

CAITLIN CLARK: Not really. I mean, we all kind of just do the same routine. We eat four hours before a game, come back two hours before, and then kind of just get ready and go. I don’t really do anything crazy, no.

1. Did you watch the Nebraska volleyball game?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I did.

1. What was going through your mind when you watched that unfold?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, well, I was like, first of all, this counts towards their actual record. I’m not sure I would sign up for a basketball game if it counted for my actual record outside.

But no, I thought it was incredible. I’ve always been a fan of Nebraska volleyball. I think what they do is incredible. I think they sell out basically every game. They’re always ranked in the top 5. But they’re also playing Nebraska-Omaha, so it was just a win for the state of Nebraska. My mom actually graduated from there, so I have a lot of family from there.

Yeah, I think it’s cool. It shows how excited people are about women’s sports in general. It doesn’t only have to be basketball, doesn’t only have to be volleyball, softball, whatever it is. It’s just super cool.

I can’t imagine those girls’ feelings when they walked out of the tunnel to 90,000 or whatever it was, 90,000 plus people screaming for them. I just know that had to be one of the coolest feelings.

I know me and Coach Raina were texting during the whole thing. We’re, like, Man, this is so cool. But Scotty McCreery was performing after, so we’re like, We’ve got to bring somebody to Kinnick. We have to get it done. Breaking news, we haven’t.

But no, so it was just super cool and I’m a fan of women’s sports, so it was fun to watch.

1. Who would you want to perform?

CAITLIN CLARK: Oh, geez. There would be a lot of people. Taylor Swift, yeah. I don’t think that’s on her bucket list right now. I don’t know. A lot of people. I would sign up for anything. Travis Scott, that would probably be an insane show. There would be a lot of people.

1. I know you said you expect two airballs during the game outside. How are you and the rest of the team preparing to play in Kinnick?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, there’s nothing you can really do to prepare for it. I guess the depth perception will be kind of weird, I’m guessing. But honestly, when you play in some of those arenas — like I don’t know. I think back to my freshman year when we played inside of the Alamodome or whatever it is in San Antonio. The depth perception was really weird, but once you get in the flow of the game, it’s not something you’re thinking about all the time.

Then obviously you can’t really factor in for outside. I’m not going to go and work out at a park. I’m just not going to do that. But we are going to take a shootaround in the morning before. So it will be nice to get out there and be able to shoot around and kind of see the environment, so when we go out and scrimmage, we’re not going to be completely blind. We’re going to have some sort of feel for the court and what it’s like.

Yeah, the depth perception when you first walk in an arena can be a little different, but once the game stars flowing, it’s not really something that you think about too much.

1. Talk about your individual legacy; I know you’ve been an advocate for women’s sports basically since you started playing. How important is it for you just to be the face of trying to push women’s college basketball forward and being a part of a team that really has elevated women’s college basketball?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think it’s really cool, and it’s something that I enjoy. It’s not anything I shy away from.

If I have to be the face of women’s basketball or women’s college basketball, I think that’s a really good thing. I think that’s cool. I think it’s something that’s only going to help the game grow more. It’s not anything that I feel comes with a lot of pressure.

I think it’s just this has come because of the way you’ve played basketball and the way you’ve carried yourself, so just continue to be you. I think that’s the coolest thing.

Coach Bluder has allowed me to thrive and be who I am. That’s one of the reasons I came to Iowa is because, one, the offense we run is perfectly set to the type of player that I am, and she doesn’t handcuff me to running a play every single time down the floor or being somebody that I’m not. She lets all five girls that are on the court at one time just be them.

I think that’s been the biggest thing for me to be successful is I’ve just been myself, whether that’s playing with emotion or shooting shots that maybe some people don’t love, or I don’t know, celebrating on the bench. Coach Bluder just allows us to be ourselves, and that’s I think another reason why people are attracted to supporting our team is because they can see the emotion and passion and love that we have for one another, and that’s a really fun thing to support.

1. What does Kate Martin mean to you as a friend?

CAITLIN CLARK: Oh, Kate is awesome. I’m going to try to figure out a way to get her back for her seventh year if I come back because I don’t want to have to come back if she’s not here.

But like I said, I’m going to treat this like it is my last year. But Kate is just an incredible individual. She’s somebody that will always reach out to you if you have something going on, and honestly, if you never tell her you have something going on, she’s going to figure it out herself because she just has that leadership instinct inside of her.

She’s probably the best leader I’ve ever been around in my entire life, maybe will be the best leader I’ve ever been around for my entire life.

She has every single person’s back on this team, no matter if she’s your best friend off the court, no matter if you don’t really talk off the court. She’s going to have your back every single day.

The thing about Kate is she’s competitively wired just like I am, so me and Kate can get into it, but that’s what I love about her is like we’ll butt heads a little bit and compete when we scrimmage, but at the end of the day, we’re going to go in the locker room and joke with each other and have fun. That’s the type of teammate that she is, and how much fun she is to play with is because she’s just as competitive as I am.

There was this clip going around where when I would get feisty, Kate would be the first one to be there and have my back, which was really funny. But no, she’s tremendous, and I’m lucky enough to have convinced her to come back for her last year, and I will work on finding a way to get her back for another year if I’m here, too.

1. What will be your decision-making process as to whether or not you decide to come back for year five or you’ll be the first pick in the WNBA draft?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I guess the biggest thing for myself is just I’m going to go based off of my gut at the end of the day. I think that’s the biggest thing I should trust is I’m going to know when I need to know if I want to stay or if I want to go, and I think it was very similar to my college decision. It feels weird, I feel like I’m in like the recruiting process in a way again, but to a lower extent.

But I feel like it’s not something that that I think about every single day. It’s not something that I let weigh on me. It’s like I’m focused on helping this team be the best team they can be, and when I know that decision, all of you will know.

I think the biggest thing is I’m just going to trust my gut. I’m not going to do research on what’s better and all this stuff and find data. I’m just going to trust my gut and go with that.

I think that’s the most telling thing, and that was the most telling thing for me in my recruiting process. I know there was a lot of really good options, but in my heart I wanted to be here and that’s why I selected this place. I think it’s going to be the same when I make the decision to stay here or leave.

1. What have you seen from the other guards around you on this team? Who have you seen step up at the guard position this summer? Is there anyone in particular that you’ve really felt like has made a big jump?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think honestly, everybody is playing really well. It stinks because it’s hard to find minutes for 13, 14 girls.

But I think Molly has done a really good job. She’s just playing with a different confidence level that maybe she didn’t have at times last year.

But I also think she understands we lost a lot of people that scored a lot of points. She needs to go into the game with a mindset of yeah, I can score the ball, and she’s one of those people that puts in a lot of time in the gym.

I just tell her, trust that work; like, you’re really good. Everybody always tells her, don’t pass up shots, shoot the ball, you’re really good. I would say Molly and Taylor are shooting it really well, and I think Kylie is coming back really well, too. Obviously it’s very hard to come back from an injury like that, and I think just helping build her confidence back up because she’s shooting the ball really well, she’s moving really well. She seems like she’s pretty confident on that leg.

Those are the people that you just need to continue to pump confidence into because we’re going to need them.

1. Is there one thing you wanted to get better at this year?

CAITLIN CLARK: I think there’s a lot of things I can be better at. I think the biggest thing, turnover-wise, I can still cut down on those numbers. I think that’ll be important, whether I — whenever I decide to move on, like that’s something at the professional level, like I can’t average three turnovers a game. That’s just not a realistic thought.

I think also, like I talked about earlier, I wanted to get better at shooting off of screens and being more comfortable getting my feet set and getting shots off, and I think that can also translate to the next level when I decide to go is I might not play with the ball in my hands for 40 minutes. That might not be how it’s going to be. I might be playing the 2. I might be playing the 3. So I need to be comfortable moving without the ball and getting my feet set and being able to get my shot off, so I think that’s another thing I worked on.

Then just in practices working hard defensively. I still think that’s something I can get better at and something I try to work really hard at when we’re working on them in practice, whether it’s one-on-one, whether it’s close-outs, whether it’s 5-on-5. I think it’s something that I can continue to develop.

1. Coach Bluder said that she’s most proud of all your accomplishments of your academic accomplishments. How were you able to achieve the high standards off the court, if not higher than what you have on the court?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think honestly it just speaks to the way I was raised. My parents always made sure my schoolwork was done before I went to basketball practice, before I went to soccer practice. I wasn’t going to be able to play sports if I didn’t have good grades. And I think it also just speaks to my competitive spirit.

I’m wired in the way where I want to complete my schoolwork to the best of my ability. I want to be the best in the classroom. At times I wish I wasn’t that way because I wouldn’t try so hard and I wouldn’t care as much, but that’s just how I am. And those awards sometimes get buried below everything else, but they’re super cool, and I think it speaks to the full embodiment of a student-athlete and what you have to do to be at your best every single day.