IOWA CITY, Iowa — Twenty minutes after her sixth-ranked Iowa women’s basketball team blasted No. 8 Maryland, coach Lisa Bluder sat at a postgame dais and delivered an unprompted but bold statement.
“I don’t know how you cannot say that Caitlin Clark is not the national player of the year,” said Bluder, the winningest coach in Big Ten women’s basketball history. “I don’t know how you can say that she is not. She was unbelievable.”
Clark, a junior, scored 42 points against an opponent she never had beaten. It was the second time the all-everything point guard hit the 40-point mark this season. She led the nation in scoring and assists as a sophomore in 2021-22 and ranks second nationally in both categories this season. Her accomplishments, however, often become a footnote to the star power she brings her sport. Clark has become must-see TV, from her logo 3-pointers to her precision passing.
Mirroring Clark’s prominence in the same facility is 125-pound wrestler Spencer Lee. Competing for one of sports’ greatest dynasties, Lee stands taller than his predecessors despite his 5-foot-3 frame. As one of Iowa’s seven three-time NCAA champions, Lee can become the program’s first four-time winner next month. He would join only four others in NCAA history to hit…
