The next chapter in great athlete duels begins.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark leads the nation in scoring at 26.8 points
per game. Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers — a freshman, like Clark — became one of
the most recognizable faces in the sport as she led a young team to a 26-1
season.
اضافة اعلان
For all the hype around the two players, though, Clark will have
a comparatively low profile when Noumber 5-seeded Iowa meets Number 1
Connecticut in the round of 16 of the National collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) women’s basketball tournament.
The Hawkeyes feel they’ve been overlooked, and they play with a
chip on their shoulder. Clark, for example, wasn’t a finalist for the John R.
Wooden Award for the best player of the year, even though she was the first
freshman to lead the country in scoring since Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell in
2014-15. She was on the second team All-America squad.
Bueckers was named to the first team. She’s averaging 19.9
points, six assists, 4.7 rebounds and more than 35 minutes a game, drawing
comparisons to former Huskies greats such as Breanna Stewart, Maya Moore and
Diana Taurasi.
Clark doesn’t view any of it as a snub. She has enjoyed watching
Bueckers grow and said facing her is a measuring stick for her own game.
“It’s great competition — and that’s what I love: I love playing
against the best,” she said. “She’s such a tremendous player.”
It will be the first time they’ll play against each other at the
college level. It’s the start of what promises to be a memorable rivalry.
“She plays with so much passion and joy, and that’s kind of like
who I am,” Clark said of Bueckers. “I like to see people who love to play
basketball so much, even you can just tell their love being out there.”
The two have a long history on the court. They played against
each other in middle school in Amateur Athletic Union tournaments and were
teammates on USA Basketball’s development squads in their teens.
Clark, who says she watches Bueckers play often, probably has a
better feel for Bueckers than any other opposing player, and the same is true
for Bueckers’ knowledge of Clark.
Both players enter on a roll. Clark’s 35-point performance
against Kentucky to get the Hawkeyes to their second consecutive round of 16 is
tied with Texas A&M’s Jordan Nixon for the highest single-game point total
in the tournament.
Bueckers has dominated in similar fashion, breaking a UConn
record with 24 points in her tournament debut. The Huskies have been
short-handed, with Geno Auriemma, their Hall of Fame coach, out for the first
two games because of COVID-19 protocols and freshman guard Nika Muhl injured in
the opener against High Point. Auriemma arrived in Texas.
The young team, guided by Bueckers, has responded.
“We play such team basketball, we get a lot of assists because
of that,” Bueckers told The New York Times in January. “Most of the points I
get come from screens for my teammates, so I give all credit to them because
they make it happen. We really take things game by game and don’t let pressure
get to us.”
Clark stressed that the game isn’t about Clark against Bueckers,
but Iowa against UConn. But as Clark goes, so go the Hawkeyes. She shoots 47.7
percent from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range. She single-handedly
outscored Kentucky in the first half, 24-22, helping the Hawkeyes upset a Number
4 seed. The game wasn’t close early, and that was all Clark.
Like Bueckers, Clark is quick to defer to her teammates, and she
has good ones. Monika Czinano averages 19.4 points per game and Gabbie Marshall
shoots 45.7 percent from 3-point range.
“We always say all we need is each other every time we step on
the floor,” Clark said.
Inevitably, how Clark performs against UConn, ranked number 1 in
the nation at times this season, will help determine how she ranks not only
against Bueckers, but as a superstar in the game. Part of her legacy will be
written.
“We’re playing each other, but it’s still Iowa vs. UConn,” Clark
said. “It’s going to come down to who is the better team; it’s not going to be
who is better, me or her.”
.jpg)
.jpg)
