CLEVELAND — Caitlin Clark won’t be distracted as she closes in on a second chance at a first championship. “This is business,” Clark said Thursday at a packed press conference. “We’re here to win a
basketball game and hopefully win two.” Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes meet UConn in a Final Four semifinal on Friday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder doesn’t want the Caitlin Clark-Paige Bueckers storyline to dominate. “I want it to be Iowa versus UConn and let these players do what they do best,” Bluder said. Clark agreed with Bluder. “Like coach said, ‘It’s not Paige verse Caitlin,” she said. “It takes the entire team to win a basketball game, and both of us are gonna do everything we can, but I think the coolest thing about Paige is how resilient she is, obviously she’s kinda been dealt a tough hand (a torn ACL that sidelined her for the 2022-23 season). The way she carries herself on and off the court, the way she works hard, none of that has changed. Since I’ve known her since she was in middle school, she’s always worked that same way, she’s always had that
fire, she’s always been a great leader. “I really honestly couldn’t be happier for her the year that she’s had, and the way she’s led this team back to the Final Four when they’ve been dealt a tough (injury) hand in the program, and never made excuses, and to me I think that’s something you just really admire as a competitor more than anything, so I think it’s really cool.” Clark and the Hawkeyes lost to LSU in last year’s championship game but avenged that defeat in an Elite 8 showdown in Albany on Monday night.