Iowa's Coach Reveals Caitlin Clark Practiced With the Team Last Season
Clark, who broke record after record during her college career with the Iowa Hawkeyes, took the unusual step of going back to college as a professional. No, she didn't gain any extra college eligibility, but she did hoop with her former teammates, thanks to a relatively new NCAA rule.
Iowa's coach, Jan Jensen, shared how Clark helped Iowa ahead of one of its biggest games of the season versus the USC Trojans in February.
'Caitlin, we keep in touch obviously. ... Before that [USC] game, about 10 days before, Caitlin says, 'Hey, do you want me to practice?''
The Hawkeyes played JuJu Watkins and the Trojans in a home contest on Feb. 2, with Clark's Iowa jersey retirement ceremony following the game. USC entered the contest on a 15-game winning streak and was ranked No. 4 in the country, while Iowa was unranked and had lost five of its previous seven games.
To help prepare for USC, Iowa had Clark join practice, becoming essentially the scout-team quarterback, playing the role of the All-American Watkins. A pro player practicing at her alma mater with current student-athletes was previously prohibited by the NCAA, but Jensen revealed the organization recently changed that rule, allowing Clark, and others, to do so.
Related Stories
2/3/2025
12/24/2024
'I didn't tell our players until the day before,' Jenson continued. 'And I said, 'By the way, tomorrow we're going to have an extra practice player, and it's going to be Caitlin.' And [the players] are like, 'What?'... They loved it. During the practice, they were really cool, and Caitlin was stroking it from 40 and just doing amazing things. It was fun for all of us.
'She did do JuJu pretty well, but no one's Caitlin, right? But it was really fun for Lucy Olsen. Lucy told me afterward, she's like, 'That was awesome. I was so nervous but it was so awesome.''
Olsen transferred to Iowa last season after beginning her career with Villanova, so she never got to play with Clark until the WNBA star returned to Iowa's practice. Olsen essentially took the role of Clark on Iowa's team last season, leading the team in points and assists enroute to making All Big Ten First Team. She also clearly benefited from Clark's practice session—Olsen led the Hawkeyes with 28 points as they upset USC, and she outscored Watkins, who finished with 27. Olsen was taken by the Washington Mystics in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
After the game, Clark saw her jersey lifted into the rafters at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, becoming just the third Iowa women's basketball player to receive the honor. The day was one of the few highlights during Iowa's season, which ended with a 34-point defeat in the second round of the Women's NCAA Tournament.
The timing of the WNBA season allowed for Clark's return. Unlike the NBA, which runs simultaneously to the NCAA basketball season, the WNBA operates on a summer schedule in which the regular season begins in May and ends in September.
Clark will resume practicing with the Fever when WNBA training camps open on April 27. The Fever will be looking to build upon their 20-20 record last year in which they made the postseason, ending a seven-year playoff drought, the longest in WNBA history. Clark and the Fever will have a new head coach, as Christie Sides was replaced with Stephanie White, an Indiana native, who previously coached the Fever from 2015-16.
The all-time leading scorer in Division I history, Clark didn't disappoint when she left Iowa City for Indianapolis. She was named WNBA Rookie of the Year, started in the All-Star Game, broke the rookie scoring record and became the first rookie to record a triple-double. She capped off her inaugural pro season by becoming the fifth rookie in league history to make All-WNBA First Team.
She was also recognized outside her league. Clark was named Athlete of the Year by Time magazine, becoming just the second individual female athlete to receive that honor. Additionally, she was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press, becoming just the second WNBA player to win that award, following Candace Parker, who won it twice.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fever awaits Sophie Cunningham MRI results as Indiana slides in new power ranking
Fever awaits Sophie Cunningham MRI results as Indiana slides in new power ranking originally appeared on The Sporting News Many things can be said about the Indiana Fever's 2025 season, but any discussion about the team's fortunes ultimately comes back to its injury luck -- or lack thereof. Superstar Caitlin Clark's return remains uncertain, and guards Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald are out for the rest of the 2025 season. In addition to that, fans are anxiously awaiting news about the status of guard Sophie Cunningham, who suffered a right knee injury during Sunday's dramatic overtime win over the Connecticut Sun. MORE: Fever's best passer without Caitlin Clark isn't who you'd expect At 19-16, the Fever remains in the thick of the WNBA playoff race; entering Tuesday's games, Indiana sits sixth in the standings with nine games remaining. Though All-Star duo Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston is doing everything possible to guide the Fever back to the postseason, ESPN's new power rankings have Indiana seventh out of the league's 13 teams -- one spot lower than last week. "The Fever trailed the Sun by 21 points and were reeling from the emotional blow of another teammate being hurt," ESPN's Michael Voepel wrote. "But they staged the biggest comeback in franchise history -- led by Kelsey Mitchell's 38 points -- to close it out 99-93 in overtime. This came after Indiana had lost to the Wings and the Mystics at home earlier in the week." Indiana lost some goodwill due to those two defeats, and this week, the Fever faces the WNBA-best Minnesota Lynx twice. As the team awaits word on Cunningham's status, head coach Stephanie White will have to draw from her players' well of resilience for back-to-back meetings with the presumptive #1 seed. MORE WNBA NEWS: Fever's Caitlin Clark gets concerning injury update from coach Stephanie White Marina Mabrey stepped in to shield Sophie Cunningham from view after tough injury Liberty's Breanna Stewart quietly delivers big injury update The 3 WNBA coaches who are on the hot seat The Atlanta Dream is steamrolling the WNBA – is a first-ever title incoming?
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
WNBA postseason race heats up with teams jockeying for playoff position behind Minnesota
With less than a month left in the WNBA regular season, the Minnesota Lynx have a firm lock on the top seed in the playoffs. The rest of the postseason picture is still up in the air, with more than half the league jockeying for positioning. Minnesota has looked like the best team all season even with star forward Napheesa Collier sidelined for the past few weeks with a right ankle sprain. The Lynx have won five straight and hold a 6 1/2-game lead in the standings heading into Tuesday night's game at New York. The Lynx look in great shape to have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, which could be key since they lost a decisive Game 5 in overtime to the Liberty in the WNBA Finals last year. Atlanta, New York, Phoenix and Las Vegas are all within 1 1/2 games of one another for the second through fifth seeds. No team has been hotter lately than Las Vegas. The Aces have won seven straight heading into Tuesday night's game against Atlanta. The streak started after a record blowout loss to Minnesota on Aug. 2. Reigning MVP A'ja Wilson has been huge during the winning streak, averaging 26.1 points and 13.3 rebounds. She topped the 30-point mark three times in the past four games. The Dream have a gauntlet of a schedule in front of them, with two games against Las Vegas and contests against Minnesota and New York over the next eight days. Indiana, Golden State, Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington all are vying for the sixth through eighth seeds. Only a few games separate them. The league switched its first-round format this season, with the best-of-three series having each team get at least one home game. In the past, the higher-seeded team would host the first two games of the series with a deciding Game 3 if necessary being on the lower-seeded team's home court. Power poll rankings Minnesota remained the No. 1 team in the poll, with Atlanta still second. Las Vegas jumped two spots to third. New York and Phoenix followed the Aces. Golden State and Indiana were the next two. Washington, Los Angeles and Seattle came after the Fever. Dallas, Connecticut and Chicago rounded out the poll. Looking to the future The Cleveland expansion WNBA team hired Allison Howard as its president, the franchise announced Tuesday. Howard will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers, where she oversees corporate and ticket sales revenue and strategy, corporate partnership, membership sales and service, venue experience, ticket operations and youth sports programming. Player of the week Wilson of Las Vegas was the AP player of the week for the second consecutive week. She averaged 27 points, 13.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks to help the Aces win all three of their games last week. Other players receiving votes included Sonia Citron of Washington and Alyssa Thomas of Phoenix. Game of the week New York at Atlanta, Saturday. In a week that features games between Atlanta-Las Vegas, Phoenix-Las Vegas and the Liberty at the Dream, there might be a clearer divide among the top teams. The Liberty have rallied twice to beat the Dream, overcoming double-digit deficits in the victories. ___ AP WNBA: Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
USA Today
19 minutes ago
- USA Today
Connecticut Sun looking at multiple options to complete proposed $325M sale: Report
The owners of the Connecticut Sun, who had tentatively reached an agreement to sell the WNBA franchise, are now assessing their options to salvage the deal, according to an ESPN report, after the WNBA balked at a planned move of the franchise to Boston. The Mohegan tribe, which bought the former Orlando Miracle and moved it to Connecticut in 2003, struck a deal earlier this month in which Boston Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca agreed to buy the club for a WNBA-record $325 million. Pagliuca hoped to move the Sun's home games from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, to Boston's TD Garden, where the Celtics also play. However, the league quickly stepped in and issued a statement emphasizing that "relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams," and pointing out that other cities bid for WNBA expansion franchises at the beginning that would take priority over putting a team in Boston. Sources tell ESPN the tribe intends to present multiple options to the league to facilitate the sale. Those options reportedly include a full sale to Pagliuca's group, a sale to a group fronted by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, selling only a minority stake in the franchise or allowing the WNBA to purchase the club for that same $325 million price tag. Sources also tell ESPN that the WNBA has offered to buy the Sun for $250 million so it could then steer the franchise toward an ownership group in one of its preferred expansion cities. In the last three rounds of bidding for WNBA expansion franchises -- which resulted in new teams in Cleveland (in 2028), Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030) joining the league -- Boston never submitted a proposal.
