The Caitlin Clark Tour stops in Indiana — and the Fever hope to make it her permanent residence in April
Clark is focused on her season at Iowa, but basketball fans in Indiana can't help but think about the possibilities if she enters the WNBA Draft and becomes a star on the Indiana Fever.
BLOOMINGTON — Back on January 3rd, more than seven weeks before the Indiana women’s basketball program hosted Iowa, led by Caitlin Clark, IU announced that tickets and parking had already sold out.
That’s The Caitlin Clark Effect.
Everywhere she goes this season, she’s selling out arenas. And tickets on the resale market sell for hundreds of dollars.
She’s a phenomenon, a player so skilled and talented that every sports fan wants to see her in person for themselves. That’s why there were hundreds of fans lined up outside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall more than four hours before tipoff.
More than two hours before the primetime tipoff, the line wrapped around and through the parking lot. This wasn’t the student section, but rather for fans of all ages.
Roughly 90% of fans in attendance for the sellout crowd (17,222) were IU fans dressed for the white out, but undoubtedly, Clark was the main attraction. As the best player in college basketball, that’s been the case everywhere.
With the Indiana Fever holding the top overall draft pick in the 2024 draft, they’re praying, wishing and waiting — hopeful for the day that Clark announces she will be entering the WNBA Draft. Because of the COVID year, she has the option to return to the University of Iowa for one more season. And thus far, she hasn’t given an indication either way.
Sitting about 10 rows up behind the IU bench in Section E were Fever general manager Lin Dunn, head coach Christie Sides and former IU guard Grace Berger, who the Fever selected seventh overall last year. It was another opportunity to scout Clark and see her in person. We’ve all seen the game film, but you can see so much more by being there in person.
Like how she warms up, how she handles a big, intense environment, how she treats teammates and vice-versa.
To add to the stakes and the environment, it was a matchup of two top-20 teams.
No. 4 Iowa at No. 14 Indiana.
So while the Pacers hosted (and pummeled) the worst team in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons, I drove down to Bloomington to see The Clark Hysteria for myself. This was the game of the night in the state.
Especially for basketball fans hoping Clark enters the draft and joins Aliyah Boston to help make the Fever relevant again — for the first time since Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings retired in 2016.
We would all be spoiled to watch Tyrese Haliburton during the winter and Clark in the summer. They have similar games and both have the killer instinct.
“This is a great environment to come and play basketball,” Clark said told reporters postgame. “Their crowd was incredible. It’s fun to play basketball here.”
It became clear early on what Indiana’s mentality was: don’t be intimidated, throw the first punch, be physical and make everything difficult. And they succeeded.
IU led at the end of each quarter — and by as many as 18 points — in a 86-69 win. IU (22-4) now has a half-game lead on Iowa in the conference standings, in second.
(Click here to watch highlights from the game)
Clark, by her standards, had a poor game. And yet she nearly recorded a triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. They coughed up probably 10 bunnies at the rim — Clark included — that would’ve easily given her double-digit assists and kept the game within single digits longer than it was.
Her court awareness immediately stands out, her vision is remarkable and the gravity she holds in unmatched. She was most successful on this night moving without the ball and then coming off curls.
“They had a great game plan and I think it frustrated Caitlin at times,” said Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder.
IU opened the game in a look of a matchup diamond-and-1 and they constantly tried to take away Clark’s airspace. Iowa goes as she goes — and Clark was just 8 of 26 from the field, including 3 of 16 from range. (Now those three 3-pointers, step-back jumpers moving sideways, were each spectacular.)
“They threw a lot of different people at me,” she said of the IU’s defense. “Just very physical, I think that was the main thing. And pushed me off my spots, got me a little deeper than I wanted to be.”
To make things more difficult, Iowa fell behind early and was forced to play from an unfamiliar position. Instead of maintaining a lead, it was constantly trying to fight back. And each time, IU had an answer.
IU center Mackenzie Holmes, the program’s all-time leading scorer, dominated her matchup inside and finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. And Sara Scalia’s play was the epitome of the game plan: play hard, make everything difficult and don’t back down. She scored 25 points and to top it off, earned a technical when she did the too small celebration after a late bucket.
She knew exactly what they just accomplished — and did so with flare. Therefore she couldn’t stop smiling. In that environment … you couldn’t blame her.
As Indy hosted 24 All-Stars over the weekend, Clark’s name was brought up several times. And it was once again before the Pacers’ win on Thursday.
“Big fan,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Clark. “Love the 40-foot step backs. Can't get enough.
“The whole world around here is very interested. … What she's doing and what she's done is quite phenomenal.”
There’s also interest in the Pacers locker room because Connor McCaffery, who is dating Clark, is one the team’s basketball assistants this season.
Even former IU and Pacers star Victor Oladipo was in the house to see the show.
Clark was asked about playing in Indiana and potentially for the Fever, and she gave a veteran response about how she’s focused on her current situation.
“I’m playing my heart out for Iowa and getting to represent my state every single day, and that’s what it’s all about,” she said. “I’m not really too worried about the future. That is what it is, it comes when it comes, whatever I decide, but I go game by game.”
College basketball fans are so loyal, it’s what makes it so special, and on this Thursday night, they created an electric environment that contributed to the home team winning decisively against a top-five team in the country.
One day later, the Big Ten conference announced that the entire women’s basketball tournament in Minneapolis (March 6-10) had sold out for the first time in the history of the event. So more than 109,000 fans are expected to attend the five-day event.
The Caitlin Clark Effect.
Then in April, after NCAA Tournament, everyone in this state hopes she’s done in Iowa City and Indianapolis becomes home. It’s just a seven-hour drive from her hometown of Des Moines.
You know who is also from there? Pacers GM Chad Buchanan.
If the Fever sales staff thought season-tickets packages were selling quickly after they secured the No. 1 pick, just wait until draft night on Monday, April 15.
But for now, all Fever execs, coaches and fans — along with basketball fans in Indiana — can do is keep their fingers crossed, hoping that No. 22 becomes theirs at No. 1.
If she leaves and enters the draft that would be so HUGE for the city/state as a whole, it could landscape changing. I sincerely hope she does as I think she and Haliburton would mesh well and are similar in their midwestern roots and it just makes too much sense and and would be such a huge win for Herb and the late Mel Simon and their commitment to Indiana basketball.
How does the WNBA draft work: could they draft Clark “early” like the Celtics did with Larry Bird (after the Pacers drafted Rick Robey 😥) and then still have her rights a year from now? Or has that loophole been closed?