John Meinen has been an avid Iowa basketball fan for many years.
The 61-year-old former hoops participant by no means misplaced contact with the game, his dwelling state or his beloved Hawkeyes’ males’s or girls’s groups, even after transferring to Indianapolis.
So with the Indiana Fever anticipated to draft Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 total decide Monday night time, Meinen cannot cover his pleasure over seeing the potential of a game-changing participant all of a sudden making the Fever related once more after a seven-year playoff drought.
He isn’t alone.
Fever guard Erica Wheeler instructed social media followers Clark was the true deal after attending one Iowa sport in February 2023. One other Fever guard, Grace Berger, already is aware of Clark’s scouting report after chasing her round Large Ten courts for 3 seasons.
Return to relevancy
Neither had any thought again then, although, that the Fever would win a second straight draft lottery that might permit them to crew up with the 2023 unanimous rookie of the yr Aliyah Boston and the best scorer in Division I historical past.
This younger, star-studded mixture all of a sudden makes final season’s 13-win crew a must-watch crew, a title Indiana final held throughout Tamika Catchings’ last season in 2016.
So followers in Indianapolis and across the Hoosier State are targeted on how rapidly Indiana can rise within the standings and develop into a professional contender.
“I feel she’s in the suitable scenario right here,” Meinen mentioned. “Indiana is all about basketball, they are going to embrace her. They’ve a great younger core. I feel the long run’s very, very vivid for this crew.”
WATCH | Clark’s stardom results in document NCAA viewership:
Rising basketball stars like Caitlin Clark and Canada’s Aaliyah Edwards are bringing recent audiences and momentum to NCAA girls’s faculty basketball as video games are seeing greater audiences than the lads’s match, and even any Main League Baseball sport final season.
Clark’s transformation from generational faculty famous person to turning into the face of a WNBA franchise has been eagerly anticipated since Clark and the Hawkeyes began promoting out arenas whereas getting document TV rankings over the previous two seasons.
That’s anticipated to proceed on the professional stage.
Whereas the Fever have declined to launch ticket gross sales or merchandising data — or talk about expectations for Clark on the courtroom — as a result of she shouldn’t be but formally on the crew’s roster, that has not stopped different groups from selling their matchups in opposition to Clark.
Hype already constructing
Two-time defending WNBA champion Las Vegas already has introduced the Indiana sport on July 2 will likely be performed at T-Cell Area, which seats about 6,000 extra followers than its conventional dwelling venue.
The Phoenix Mercury even have dubbed the June 30 date in opposition to the Fever as ” The GOAT vs. The Rook,” capitalizing on a seemingly thinly veiled rivalry between Diana Taurasi and Clark.
“Actuality is coming,” Taurasi just lately mentioned on ESPN. “You look superhuman enjoying in opposition to some 18-year-olds, however you are going to come play with some grown girls which were enjoying skilled basketball for a very long time.”
The Phoenix Mercury are advertising and marketing their sport in opposition to the Indiana Fever as “The GOAT vs. The Rook”—earlier than Caitlin Clark has been drafted. <a href=”https://t.co/XhH8K789Nl”>pic.twitter.com/XhH8K789Nl</a>
—@FOS
How rapidly and easily Clark adapts to greater, stronger, extra skilled opponents is a critical concern.
Whereas most evaluators consider Clark’s taking pictures and passing abilities will journey to the WNBA, there are questions on her defence and the way the 6-foot, 155-pound level guard will cope with established stars unlikely to provide the newcomer the pink carpet therapy.
Fast turnaround
She’ll even have solely a brief break between the top of a demanding 39-game schedule that included turning into the focus of each opposing defence and a extremely publicized record-breaking scoring quest, and the mid-Might begin of a 40-game WNBA schedule. Enjoying on the U.S. Olympic Crew additionally stays a risk, too.
“I do know what’s subsequent is quickly,” Clark mentioned after shedding Sunday’s NCAA championship sport, which Meinen watched on his cellphone simply earlier than the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and Miami Warmth tipped off in Indy.
Life definitely is coming at Clark rapidly.
WATCH | Clark’s senior season ends in championship-game loss:
Ladies’s faculty basketball reached new recognition this March Insanity. Report-smashing star Caitlin Clark dominated headlines — whilst her Iowa squad misplaced to undefeated South Carolina within the nationwide championship sport — and the game made tens of millions of latest followers.
Indiana opens preseason play Might 3 at Dallas with the regular-season opener set for Might 14 at Connecticut. If all goes as anticipated Monday, Clark’s dwelling debut would come Might 16 in opposition to New York, final season’s WNBA runner-up.
For ladies’s basketball followers, Clark’s professional profession cannot begin quickly sufficient. And in Indy, Clark appears to be like like the right reply for a franchise that is had 58 wins up to now seven seasons.
She’ll study the rookie ropes from a poised level guard resembling Wheeler whereas teaming up with Boston, ahead NaLyssa Smith, the No. 2 total decide in 2022, and taking pictures guard Kelsey Mitchell, the No. 2 total decide in 2018.
“I do not know if they will make the playoffs proper out of the field,” Meinen mentioned. “She’s going to make them higher. She’ll make them immediately extra enjoyable to look at. You will be actually enjoyable to look at, and it does not imply that your sport interprets into wins. However I feel she’s going to be actually, actually good. I simply cannot think about that she’s not going to be good.”
