A dream of Caitlin Clark's was to attend UConn. She will now play them in the Final Four.

Caitlin Clark’s first March Madness ended, like so many others have, at the hands of the University of Connecticut. This was before she became college basketball’s all-time leading scorer, before she became a household name, and before all the network TV interviews and licensing deals and seven-story-tall Nike ads.

Even as a freshman, Clark was exceptional. The Iowa Hawkeyes, led by her, had advanced to the Sweet 16 with her as their star. However, they still desired more: the program’s first-ever title and, if they were brave enough, Iowa’s first Final Four since the 1990s.

However, UConn, the unchallenged Goliath of women’s collegiate basketball, proved to be too formidable in March 2021. Although Clark scored 21 points, the Huskies defeated Iowa 92–72 to advance to their 13th Final Four in a row.

Three years later, as Clark’s extraordinary collegiate career draws to a close, her Iowa Hawkeyes are once again a heavyweight top seed in the Final Four.

About the only trophy Clark still lacks is a national championship, and in order to get it, Iowa will play the Huskies one last time in a Final Four showdown that might break attendance records for women’s college basketball on Friday.

Clark remarked, “It’s amazing to be back in the Final Four,” following Iowa’s Monday Elite Eight victory over Louisiana State. “We want to win two more, and I think we have the power to do that.”

“I thought I was going to go to UConn when I was growing up”

There was another, more intimate side to Clark’s 2021 defeat: she had originally intended to enroll at UConn, but the university had turned her down.

Clark, who is now 22 years old, grew up watching college basketball during the 2010s UConn dynasty, which was one of the most dominant periods in team history. During those years, the Huskies won 111 games in a row, including several full seasons, and the head coach Geno Auriemma guided them to four straight NCAA titles.

Specifically, Clark states that she looked up to Maya Moore, a former standout player at UConn who now plays for the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA, a team that is located a short drive from Clark’s hometown of Des Moines.

“I desired to resemble her exactly. During a press conference last month, Clark stated, “I thought I was going to go to UConn when I was growing up, but obviously that’s not what happened.”

Clark was recruited as a high school student by numerous universities around the country, including prestigious schools like Notre Dame. But as she stated in an ESPN feature last month, neither Auriemma nor UConn ever reached out to her.

To be really honest, I was more interested in them recruiting me so I could say I was hired, Clark admitted. I cherished UConn. They seem like the greatest place on Earth, and I wanted to let you know that I was hired by them.”

In the end, Clark chose Iowa, where she will start her professional career in the autumn of 2020. “I know a lot of little girls dream about going to all those blue bloods, but I think playing for your home state is really something special,” Clark stated at the time.

Following the game in 2021, Auriemma called Clark aside to offer his congratulations to UConn for ending Iowa’s tournament streak. “He said, ‘What you’ve done for Iowa this season has really been something special, and you have a bright future’ — and to hear him say that to me really meant something,” Clark said following the 2021 match. “I’m very thankful for that.”

Clark has faced UConn twice previously, both occasions ending in losses.

Soon after Iowa’s 2021 tournament defeat to UConn, Clark was already planning for the future.

When a reporter questioned her about UConn’s oppressive defense, she responded by outlining the lessons she intended to learn. “Progressing throughout my career, it’s going to be the same thing,” she stated at the time. “So, just learning from it, getting better, finding ways to move without the ball, things like that.”

Furthermore, despite the Hawkeyes’ two-game defeat that year to miss out on the Final Four, Clark was optimistic that the team would eventually make it there. “That’s the reason I came here, because there was a true belief that we were going to make the Final Four someday,” she stated. “We didn’t say we were going to do it in my first year here.”

Above all, Clark predicted that the Hawkeyes would eventually become a national attraction. “People are going to be super excited about Iowa women’s basketball,” she stated at the time.

The two teams met again in a November regular season game that UConn won by a score of seven, with Clark playing as a junior at the time. Clark received a 25. “Clearly, [I] didn’t shoot the three pointer as well as we would have liked. However, you play games like that. That’s just the nature of basketball,” she remarked afterwards.

The Final Four game on Friday

In a star-studded matchup of powerhouses, Clark and Iowa will play UConn, the No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament, on Friday night. Junior guard Paige Bueckers, who has averaging 22 points per game this season, is one of the Huskies’ own megastars.

A red-eyed Clark expressed her wish that her legacy will be her influence on young children and the people of Iowa following their national championship loss in the previous year’s NCAA tournament.

“Hopefully, this season I made them very happy. I hope they had a lot of fun with this crew. I realize we lost by one game,” she added, sniffling and using a towel to dab at her tears. “But I think we have a lot to be proud of and a lot to celebrate.” She stated it was too early to be thinking about this season quite yet.

Iowa has now made no secret of their desire to win the championship, which was narrowly out of reach the previous year.

That’s undoubtedly our objective. We want to be there, “clarified Clark on Monday. “However, you must handle each one individually. Two more are left to be obtained.”

The main distinction that Clark sees between her current game and her initial attempt at UConn is her mentality. “I’ve been good at basketball my entire life. It’s just about improving my mental state,” she remarked.

“I think the biggest thing has been my maturity and being able to move on from things when it doesn’t go my way,” she stated. “I don’t care what the opposing team is doing. It doesn’t concern me what call the referee makes. I’m concerned about Iowa’s needs.

The game on Friday will mark UConn’s return to the Final Four following their absence the previous year. After UConn defeated USC, the top-seeded team, to secure a position in the Final Four on Monday, Auriemma remarked, “There’s something about when you reach this particular game.” “It may be even more emotional than winning a national championship game sometimes, because you know how hard it was to get here.”

Regardless of the outcome of Friday’s game, Iowa or UConn may still face their greatest obstacle.

The victor of this encounter will face the winner of the second Final Four in the tournament, which will pit the scorching No. 3 seed North Carolina State against the undefeated No. 1 overall seed South Carolina Gamecocks.