Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark will enter the WNBA Draft this summer. The Hawkeyes phenom will soon appear in the NCAA Tournament and said that her final college basketball season is “far from over.”

“It is impossible to fully express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me during my time at Iowa — my teammates, who made the last four years the best; my coaches, trainers, and staff who always let me be me; Hawkeye fans who filled Carver every night; and everyone who came out to support us across the country, especially young kids,” Clark said in a statement on social media.

In three seasons at Iowa, Clark has captured the imagination of countless basketball fans and has become the leader of a movement to elevate women’s basketball to mainstream status. With a handful of regular season games remaining, she in on pace to pass Pete Maravich to become the highest scorer in NCAA history.

Clark’s announcement will be sure to make this year’s WNBA Draft in April a national event. The first overall pick, which currently belongs to the Indiana Fever, is now the most valuable draft position in the history of the league.

Within minutes of Clark’s announcement, Indiana Fever made a flurry of posts on X, reminding fans that the team had the #1 pick and advertising season tickets for the 2023-24 season. The team’s conspicuous activity all but confirms that Clark will be the surefire top pick.

Clark’s future may be secure, but Iowa’s road to a potential championship this season isn’t easy by any measure. The Hawkeyes are ranked sixth overall, behind the likes of powerhouses South Carolina, currently 27-0, and Ohio State, who leads Iowa in the Big 10 standings with a 15-1 conference record. Right behind Iowa in the rankings, teams like USC, UConn and LSU, the team that eliminated Iowa last season, are also likely to make some noise in March.

On Monday, Iowa Hawkeye’s center Luka Garza in a letter posted to the school’s website announced that he would be withdrawing from the NBA draft and returning to school. Garza, a national player of the year contender in 2019, immediately makes the Hawkeyes national championship contenders. In his letter, he cited the pandemic disrupting the draft process as well as the desire to finish his career at Iowa, “When I was younger, I dreamed that at some point in my college career I would have the opportunity to leave early to pursue an NBA career. Although I dreamed that, I could never have anticipated how many people this decision would affect. Through all of the blood, sweat, and tears that I have given to this game I put myself in a position where this decision was the most talked about thing in college basketball this summer. I am so humbled, and grateful to have these two choices on my plate.”

On top of that, Garza added that this was not because of fears that he would not be drafted. “Through my interviews, I am confident that if I were to leave my name in I would be drafted to an NBA organization,” he said. “If I decided to return, I could play on potentially one of the best teams in college basketball and make a championship run. For most of the process, I felt like I couldn’t make a wrong or right decision. However, there is a right decision.”

It will be interesting to see if others who are uncertain of where they will end up in the draft follow Garza’s lead and withdraw. If this were to happen that would weaken what is already a pretty mediocre draft class.

Iowa hadn’t reached the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in six years. That may not seem long but failures year after year add up. Entering the second half with only a six-point lead didn’t look great. Though the Hawkeyes were favored by four points, they hadn’t covered at all in their last eight games.

Then, the second half kicked off. While no. 11 seed Illinois, kept pace with the no. 6 seed for the first 20 minutes, they all but imploded in the next. Iowa stormed the court, with an unbelievable shooting performance and ball movement that got everyone involved. Four different Iowa players shot at least three three-pointers and as a team, they went 12 for 23.

Iowa outscored Illinois 46-31 in the second half. They also had no problem capitalizing on mistakes, creating 24 points off of 15 turnovers. Hawkeyes senior Nicholas Baer erupted in the second half. The forward drained a career-high five three-pointers. In just 17 minutes, he was good for 17 points and four rebounds to lead his team to an 83-62 victory. Then, after the best game of his life, he was the first player out to greet reporters in a shirt and tie. 

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“My mom never waited around for me,” Baer said with a smile. “I’ve just always been a quick dresser.”

“I’m just thrilled for him. Nicholas is such a special young man, and it’s so important for him that our team do well,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “He wants to perform at a level that he’s appreciated by his coach and his teammates.”

Iowa will play no. 3 Michigan in the last quarterfinal on Friday. The Hawkeyes beat the Wolverines in their last showing 74-59 on February 1 in Iowa City but Friday’s game will have an added intensity to this. Michigan is hoping to repeat as conference champs.