The countdown is on, and the clock is ticking until tipoff of the NCAA Women’s Tournament Final Four in Cleveland, Ohio. An enthralling tournament has come down to this — Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Friday night will play host to North Carolina State – South Carolina and Connecticut – Iowa, with the pair of winners moving on to Sunday’s championship game.
Much of the fascination with this year’s Final Four centers on Friday’s late matchup between UConn and Iowa, a showdown between two of the top college basketball players in the country — the Huskies‘ Paige Bueckers and the Hawkeyes‘ Caitlin Clark. On Thursday, both stars faced the media — and Clark had plenty to say about being in Cleveland with her NCAA legacy on the line.
Clark is cool with Cleveland
Despite her Midwest upbringing in Iowa, Clark has never had the chance to visit Cleveland, Ohio‘s second-largest city and part of a metropolitan area that is home to more than three million people. Clark told reporters Thursday that it didn’t take long for the city to win her over, and she thinks that Cleveland is “awesome.”
“It was super cool, went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night. Think you could stay in there for a week and still have things to do,” Clark said.
Three of the four major North American sports leagues have representation in Cleveland, in the form of MLB‘s Guardians, the NFL‘s Browns, and the NBA‘s Cavaliers. The city’s most famous athlete though is LeBron James, who led the Cavs to their first-ever championship in 2016 and played 11 seasons for the franchise. Clark’s all-around impact has made her among the most famous players in the sport — just like LeBron.
“I’m excited to play here, obviously, with LeBron James being the face of Cleveland and being able to play here when he first started his NBA career, that’s just super cool,” Clark said. “More than anything, we’re just excited about the opportunity; we’re happy to be in Cleveland.”
Clark favorably compared Cleveland to her birthplace, albeit on a bigger scale. The Iowa native really wanted to attend Connecticut but took the opportunity instead to make history with the Hawkeyes — she led the program to its first-ever national final last season and has won consecutive Naismith awards, as well as back-to-back AP Player of the Year awards, while becoming the NCAA’s all-time top scorer.
“Honestly it feels, low-key, like a bigger version of my hometown — Des Moines, Iowa, like, obviously, a bigger city,” Clark explained.
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