In the hours and days after Iowa punched its ticket to this week’s Final Four, Ella McVey opened up her various social media apps.
Her high school teammate and good friend, Caitlin Clark, was everywhere.
“The No. 1 thing everyone always asks me is, ‘Wow, I can’t believe she’s hitting all these shots.’ Or, ‘I can’t believe she pulled up from the logo,’” McVey said of March Madness’ basketball’s most exciting star. “And I’m just sitting back like, you know what? I’ve seen her do it … a million times.”
Clark has taken basketball by storm this season, which included dropping 41 points against Louisville in a historic performance in last week’s Elite Eight and winning Naismith Player of the Year honors on Wednesday. She’s the most exciting single player left in the tournament — and she’s changing the way the game is viewed.
But for those who know Clark well, no one is surprised at her heroics. As her legacy grows through the NCAA Tournament, so too do the stories about her prodigious days growing up in West Des Moines. Ahead of No. 2 Iowa’s highly-anticipated showdown with No. 1 South Carolina in Friday night’s Final Four from Dallas, The Athletic spoke to about a dozen people who know Clark best — those who have had the privilege of…
