Like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers showcase their sport in all-time matchup — Jimmy Watkins
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Iowa guard Caitlin Clark can’t stop gushing about teammate Hannah Stuelke. And before Friday night, newbies to women’s basketball only recognized one of those names.
Clark thinks Stuelke is “tremendous.” Always has, really. Stuelke just needed to believe what Clark and other Iowa teammates would tell her, that she could compete with any player in the country if she trusted her training, believed in her abilities, played with confidence.
During Iowa’s 71-69 win over UConn in the Final Four, we all saw what the Hawkeyes have been talking about. Stuelke led Iowa with 23 points while matched up against Aaliyah Edwards, a fourth-year veteran who earned All-American honors this season. And she shot 75% (9 of 12) with millions of fans watching at home, not to mention the sold-out crowd who watched live at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Funny what a player can do once they’re stamped by their superstar teammate.
“I think the confidence is everything,” Stuelke said. “Especially hearing Caitlin Clark talk about me like that, it gives me a confidence boost. I think anyone would say that.”
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Anyone who was watching Stuelke on Friday turned the game on to see Clark and Paige Bueckers, the pair of dueling stars whom UConn coach Geno Auriemma compared to basketball’s godfathers: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Specifically, Auriemma wondered if Clark and Bueckers could do for women’s basketball’s footprint what Johnson and Bird did for the NBA during the 80s.
Like Clark and Bueckers, Johnson and Bird first met on the college stage (the 1979 NCAA championship game). Like Clark and Bueckers, Johnson and Bird’s rivalry pitted a long-established star (Johnson/Bueckers) against a later-blooming challenger (Clark/Bird). So why couldn’t Clark and Bueckers, like Johnson and Bird, lure casual fans into their rivalry and put on a show that convinces them to come back?
You tell me: Even on and off night from Bueckers and Clark, who combined for 38 points on 35 shots, Iowa and UConn played a college-hoops classic complete with roller-coaster runs, late-game controversy and cold-blooded buckets. The crowd may have gathered to watch Paige and Caitlin because it heard Geno compare them to Magic and Bird. But by the time fans left Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Friday, they had learned a bunch of new names.