Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, Lisa Bluder press conference after championship loss to South Carolina

reminder for those in the room to please clear the back as much as possible and the side so that our mic microph holders are able to move throughout good evening and welcome to the NCA women's final four press conference joining us on stage are the Iowa Hawkeyes we'll hear an opening statement from coach and then follow with questions for from Caitlyn Clark and Kate Martin this time coach if you like to provide a brief opening statement thank you um just want to congratulate South Carolina that is a tremendous basketball team and uh coach Staley obviously uh congratulations to them um I'm proud of my team though I mean finishing National runnerup two years in a row is an amazing feat and um nobody thought we were going to be here you know the beginning of the year and so that makes it pretty special but always saying goodbye to your seniors is really really tough and every time you see a season and it's another chapter closed and and that's tough but I'm going to know we're going to look back on this and and be very very proud of the effort that we gave this year this time we'll take questions from the audience Jonathan I see your hand first I'll move over from there thank you Jonathan tanal of the Philadelphia inquir Caitlyn I'm sure the moment stings quite a bit but Don Staley just gave you some really really strong and sincere Praise on the podium on the TV broadcast for all you've done and all she believes that you're about to do in the years to come and I wonder what that means to hear from her um I think anytime somebody like coach Dy is able to recognize you and what you did for the game is is pretty special and obviously she's somebody I you know respect so much I respect what she's done for South Carolina I respect what she did as a as a player um for our game and uh you know anybody anytime you can get the Praises of her is is pretty special so that means a lot take our next question from Nancy if you could raise your hand Nancy followed by Michelle and then um we'll move our way up I saw you thank you Nancy armmer USA Today sports Kaylin you said that you've not wanted to look Beyond this game or whatever was next in front of you now what are the emotions and what do you think going forward and what do you think about everything that you were able to do especially this past season yeah it's certainly been a special year and to be honest like after last year I was kind of like well how do I top how do we top doing what we did last year and somehow some way every single person in our locker room believed and to be honest this year was probably probably more special than last year um you know the teams we had to go through to get to this point um you know we won the Big 10 tournament uh we lost two players that were threee starters for our program and to be back in this position and um come out here and battle I mean South Carolina is just so good like there's only so much you can do I mean cardoso has 17 rebounds they have 51 as a team we have 29 like hard to win a basketball game like that you basically got to shoot perfect at that point and um you know I'm just proud of our group we you know we never back down and um you know we gave it everything we got I think for me is just the emotions will probably hit me over the next couple days and I don't have much time to you know sit around and sulk and be upset and I don't think that's what I'm about either is you know yeah I'm sad we lost this game but I'm also so proud of myself I'm so proud of my teammates I'm so proud of this program um there's a lot to be proud of but you know there's going to be tears it is sad that this is all over and this is the last time I'm going to put on an Iowa Jersey so um I think just reflecting back and you know soaking in everything I was able to do because basically anybody other than me and Coach BL never thought this was possible Michelle if you could raise your hand they can get the microphone to you Michelle Smith the next for Caitlyn have you allowed yourself to be excited about what's next or have you been too focused on um finishing your career here I've been 110% focused on finishing my career here um that's been my full Focus that's been my driving force and I think that's what's allowed me to play such great basketball through the month of March and April and you know the end of our season but really all year long like it was never you know the decision of whether I was going pro or whether I was staying at Iowa never was something that you know I stressed on too much I knew it was something that would become clear to me over time but um I think for me is like you know I know what's next is is soon but at the same same time like I'm not blind to the fact that I need to enjoy this I need to soak this in and um enjoy these last few moments with my teammates because these are some of my best friends they'll be my best friends for the rest of my life and that's what matters to me the most we're going to stay to our right people raise your hand so student athletes can see you sorry all right Michael Robertson hoop feed.com so Caitlyn um you've done a lot for the Big 10 you know Big 10 gets maligned a lot but you guys did a lot for the Big 10 um I'm sure you're disappointed but will you have a chance to look at the impact you've made where the ratings are through the roof and most of it's because of you and then of course uh the Iowa team once again being in this position two years in a row so what will you look back at this time frame despite the not winning the championship yeah I think uh the biggest thing is you know it's really hard to win these things um I think I probably know that better than most people by now and to be so close twice it it definitely hurts but at the same time like like you know we were right there we battled um we took down some really great teams to get back to this point and something that's really hard to do and um you know I think when I think about women's basketball going forward you know obviously it's just going to continue to grow whether it's at the WNBA level whether it's at the college level like everybody sees it everybody knows everybody sees the viewership numbers um when you're given an opportunity wom Sports just kind of thrives and I think that's been the coolest part for me on this journey is just you know we start our season playing in front of 55,000 people in in KCK stadium and now we're ending it probably playing in front of 15 million people or more on TV um you know it just continues to get better and better and better and um that's never going to stop you know when you continue to give them the platform like this things like this are just going to continue to to happen G to stay to our right hi Caitlyn Caroline Fitzgerald from goals right here hi um what you and your team have accomplished in Iowa has made the whole world look at Women's Sports and women's basketball how do you think all of women's sports can capitalize on this momentum right now oh geez I mean I think the biggest thing is I think for us like this team came along at a really good time whether it was social media whether it was nil whether it was um our games being nationally televised I mean we've played on Fox NBC CBS ESPN I mean you just go down the list and we've been on every National Television you know Channel and I think that's been one of the big biggest things has helped us and I think no matter what sport it is um giving them give them the same opportunities believe in them the same invest in them the same um and things are really going to thrive I mean you see it um with other sports um and I'm a big fan of other sports like I try to support as much as I can and I think that's the biggest thing is you know continue to invest your time money and resources there and continue to show up for those people and give them the opportunities and um you know I think that's what's going to help Drive women sports forward in the future we're going to go Scott to the back row and then back to Jim so Scott if you could raise your hand we can get the microphone to you nope Scott's in front of you sorry thank you hi Scott doct with the athletic this is for all three of you um what do you think the legacy of this team and this era is for Iowa basketball and what are the what's probably the a moment that stands out is it something on the floor is it something just between among all of you or you know I guess what can you share we're going to start with Kate then do Caitlyn and we're going to hold on questions for Coach yeah I mean there's I don't know if you can really describe and put it into words this Legacy but honestly I mean I just hope we've brought a lot of people Joy um and we've brought a lot of people together um I hear all the time about how many friends that people have made in the stands just watching our games we sold out every single home game this year at Carver and then everywhere we go you know we have fans lining up wanting you know Caitlyn's autograph our autograph but more than anything you know our Legacy is you know what we've brought to the state of Iowa I think and just all the joy and the fun and um you know it it's pretty cool to be coached by coach bler and uh the culture she's built at Iowa and I think just watching us you can see the the joy that we have and so um I think that's the main thing for our Legacy yeah I would agree I think this group has gone about it in the right way in every single thing that we've done in every you know phase of our life and um I think that's what you can be the most proud of I think um you know each truly have each other's back maybe we weren't always the most skilled maybe we weren't always the tallest maybe weren't always the fastest but we just believed we knew we could be in these moments we trusted one another um and that took you know a couple years to get to that point and um you know there's been so many great Iowa woman's basketball players to come before us and you know allow this program to be really really good when you know Kate and I and everybody else St on campus and feel like we took it to a whole another level and um I feel like our program is in really good hands moving forward and um I think more than anything yeah people probably remember our you know two final fours and things like that but people aren't going to remember every single win or every single loss I think they're just going to you know remember the moments that they shared at one of our games or watching on TV or um you know how excited their young daughter or son got about you know watching women's basketball I think that's pretty cool and that's you know those are the things that mean the most to me when people come up to me and you know I don't really get offended when people say I've never watched women's basketball before I think you know one you're a little late to the party yes but two uh like that's cool like you know we're changing the game we're attracting more people to it um but at the same time like those are those little things are just you know I think the moments that we'll remember for forever go to our back row no one more back behind you Howard Kenny wrote a whbc radio Caitlyn this was a game of runs your guys start was amazing right but right before the half they hit you with a 0 and then they start with a 60 in the third quarter is that where the game kind of changed the hands and they took control yeah I think they're uh they're a really good team so like we knew they were going to go on runs and by no means did when we started off as hot as we did did we think we were going to be able to hold that lead like that's just what good teams do and um I think if I'm not mistaken like there's some crazy statistic where South Carolina just out scores everybody in the second half by a bunch of points every single game and to me I'm just proud of our resiliency you know we go into the fourth quarter I think we cut it to five and we just weren't able to come up with a few stops and come up with a few baskets and um that just speaks to our team like that's the story it's been all year long my whole entire career is like we never give up like we just keep fighting and um yeah I mean their their runs were kind of daggers and especially when they're making pullup jump shots you know that's what we're going to give up um and you know sometimes you live with that and you're going to live with them out rebounding you you know there's only so much you can do for somebody who's 67 Hannah was trying her best to box her out and she's a really good player going to be a really great great Pro so um yeah going to stay to our right Jim thank you uh Jim Trotter the athletic ladies um I want to ask a very A variation on questions that have been asked just we've talked about this being a transformative year in terms of w women's college basketball and I just wondered for for the two of you personally what does it mean to be a part of that to have your name associated with that we start with Kate go ahead yeah I mean I don't think I can fully grasp the whole entire concept of being a part of that right now I think once I'm you know older and I can reflect back on this time I think you know I'll appreciate it way more but I mean just like we've said before like seeing you know little girls and little boys look up to us when our autograph enjoy watching women's basketball that is just something so cool and so special and um um you know I idolized Iowa women women's basketball but it wasn't like it is now and it is just super cool to be a part of that um you know and I think forever we'll be known like I said our Legacy as a team that's really kind of changed women's basketball in a sense I mean there's other teams too but um it's just really cool to be associated with that and I feel super grateful yeah I would say the same I think there's uh you know obviously so many amazing people that have come before us and give us this opportunity and um I think you know to attract so many people to watching women's basketball is so special and you know the way people have showed up consistently throughout my career I was going through some old pictures last night and just like how things have changed since my freshman year and my sophomore year like was so incredible and time goes so fast like it's crazy I can't believe this is my last career game and U there's just there's just so much to be proud of um I think people didn't love us for our wins I think they loved us for the way we carried ourselves every single day for the way we played for one another the joy we played with the passion we played with the competitive Spirit we had the way we high-fived and celebrated our teammate success like that's the reasons people love turning on Iowa wom's basketball take our last question from Lily up at the front Lily hi I'm DJ Lily Jade from 95.9 FM and you've had an incredible journey to this point especially with the historical viewership what would you say to kid striving to be you right now we'll start with Caitlyn I would say I think the biggest thing is you know this is what I kind of set up my entire career is like nobody like really believed other than myself I think confidence I think as a young girl like just have confidence a young boy have confidence in yourself and confidence in whatever you want to be and um I think that was a thing my parents instilled to me from a young age is like they never told me no um they told me a no a l about other things but not and what I wanted to do um and what I wanted to be and you know the goals I wanted to chase after and I would say that's the biggest thing is you know you can say it you got to work for it you got to earn it you don't ever want anything to be given to you and I think that's what I'm most proud of throughout my career is like I've worked really hard to be in this moment um and that's where my confidence comes from and I think that's the biggest piece of advice I'd give to the younger generation yeah very well said but I mean I I used to sleep with the Iowa women's basketball poster on my ceiling so you know to be in this position and uh to play for coach bler and to make it to backtack National Championships um I mean I just feel super grateful it's because I worked really hard and I dreamed big and um you know I'm not some allamerican five-star recruit out of high school you know like I I never was and uh you know people believed in me I believed in myself and here I am so if I can do it so can you thank you very much Kate and Caitlyn and congratulations on tremendous season at this time we'll open up the floor for questions from coach start with Howard Lisa Howard M do the next congratulations on the season you had um two parts to this one um I've went back and looked Caitlyn's freshman year your first games were not even on uh terrestrial cable TV they had to be streamed so I I hear a lot of people talk about this being a moment you already hear some people talk about Caitlyn as a one-off uh trying to talk about the audience that is involved here what would you say to people who try to make this about just being one player as opposed to opportunity for the audience and then just second one is if you could talk about the way Caitlyn's uh performance and time at Iowa uh is going to impact how you recruit going forward um yeah it's interesting that the games were streamed I think we're playing at like 3: in the afternoon during Co and things like that so really not even giving anybody an opportunity to watch our games but I mean Caitlyn has certainly been a tremendous star for our game but there are so many stars in our game I mean we have many many and so we're just going to latch on to that next one next year and and uh I there's lots of them there's just not one even this year there was so many and that's what makes her getting the player of the year award so special because it wasn't a runaway it was really really hard decision because there are so many good players out there um you know I'm hoping that with our success I think success breed success and so definitely I I feel like recruiting going forward we've opened up our geog Geographic uh footprint and uh I think uh that's going to bode well for Iowa in the future going to go to Nancy then we'll go Talia and then cam hey Lisa Nancy armor USA Today sports um now that her career is over can you put it into words what it means and what it's going to mean going forward for not just for I mean for her for Iowa for women's basketball for all of it I mean she has I mean raised the excitement of our sport there's no doubt just because she does things in a different way than anybody else can do um plus you know she has all the intangible she's a great student she's a great role model she does everything you know she she loves being that role model um I you know I I really think that you know when she came in as a freshman and she said we're going to the final four and a lot of people laughed at her and maybe even laughed at her for coming to Iowa quite honestly but she believed we believed and she got everybody else in that locker room to believe and that is not an easy thing to do uh so her just belief in everybody around her it just grew and grew uh you could say the same thing about this year quite honestly um so I don't know if I answered your question completely Nancy but I think that she has done amazing things to grow our game and doing it the right way we're going to go to our right Talia hey coach Talia Gman with the next being here in backtack years and especially with the expansion coming to the Big 10 next year what's the importance and what does this mean for the Big 10 as a conference well I hope it means a lot you know I I'm so proud to be a part of the Big 10 conference um it's a great conference we go against super competition every single night uh great coaches great athletes and It prepares us for this It prepares us for being on the biggest stage um but you know I really go back to quite a long time ago when the Big 10 said we're going to put a network out there and we're going to be a national sports network and I remember when Jim Delaney came into the women's catch coaches uh room and I was like what you know what is he talking about and look at look what happened we were the first ones out there and then everybody had to follow suit to keep up so I am very very proud to be a part of the Big 10 and I think our leadership is really really good with Megan Khan right now too G to stay to our right cam camon teue with the athletic Lisa everybody knows South Carolina's one of their biggest advantages how deep they are 37 bench points like the first quarter Brie went out and then they already put Raven how hard is that to game plan for so many different weapons and so many different looks they can throw through at Caitlin offensively yeah and that was I mean a huge Advantage because I think they played nine people in double figures if I'm not corre nine people in double figures um we had six and yeah just to have those extra fouls and those extra legs I mean they didn't have to play too hard even the other night they're arresting people the other night um one thing that we've always been able to do is really push the ball and really run and you know we we did score you know pretty well I mean we scored 20 more points than other people do against South Carolina so we did score pretty well um but yeah P will have those fresh legs on Caitlyn was really tough and not only their depth their height um I mean and I'm not just talking about their centers they're L really pretty good big at every position which makes it hard you know I mean they would they could recover really well uh when we had threes going to go to our left Jonathan thanks uh Jonathan tanal from the Philadelphia inquire Lisa I'm going to ask you a similar question to what I asked Caitlyn to know that Dawn praised on the stage out there with all that Dawn means to women's basketball what does that mean for you in terms of who Dawn is and what is it mean to know that Caitlyn is not done she is going to continue to be a big deal and for hopefully many years to come now as a professional yeah I mean obviously you know Don Staley is the leader of women's basketball right now she's our Olympic coach she is I mean the person that we are all looking up to and she is she's somebody that uh when she said something like that to a player um you know it should make them feel really good so I'm thrilled that she acknowledged Caitlyn in her greatness I really am um I think that Caitlyn's going to continue to have this kind of impact in the WNBA with I mean Indiana's doing well with their ticket sales I know Las Vegas just had to move to a different bigger Arena uh when Indiana comes to town so those are all really good signs that you know women's basketball is in a good spot going to go right here to our front row on the right hey coach BL it's um what a journey with this team and I remember when you guys signed Caitlyn Clark and no one really knew who she was at that point um just thinking about what you you guys have all taught her and and apparently like how to be a more compassionate person how to be a leader um but it's true that growth goes both ways you never maybe even had a group like this before what has this group um taught you or made or in what ways have they um made you think differently um well people did know about her she was the fourth best player coming out of the country so I mean people did know about her obviously um you know we really had to work hard to get her to keep her into state but you know um you know this group I really hope that I haven't changed a lot to be quite honest I mean I've changed in how I had to coach Caitlyn because there was that line you had to walk between discipline and don't put out the fire and so there was that line but honestly I don't think I've changed as a person I think you know the values that I have now are the values that I've always had the things that we really try to build as a team with trust and caring for each other I mean I've always tried to coach that way we're going to go to our left Robert feus clan.com congrats on a great season coach um I want to ask you about Hannah stalky uh you know very likely without her performance in the semi-finals you guys aren't here today um can you just tell me how she's grown just this season and even in these last couple weeks uh against the really tough assignments uh throughout the contest yeah I mean Hannah stalky first of all was a power forward up until about beginning of November so she really has adapted to her position she didn't really want to be a center but we convinced her that she needed that if it was best for the team she would do it um she obviously has improved her game so much this year and used you know and and everybody focus on she's not tall enough she's not tall you have other assets right you've got speed you've got agility use those assets um and and she has done it and even though she wasn't playing the position she really desired and wanted to play didn't matter she came and gave it everything she had all day and we've you know talked about her growth as a young woman as far as you know mentally and confidence wise and you know that gives me a lot of Joy when I see my women just growing in that area of their lives because I know that's going to last forever going to shift to our right coach all right Mike Robertson uh hoop feed.com so coach um maybe a constellation scenario but you lost to coach mki last year four titles for her and then you lose to daily this year three titles for her so what does that put you for the standard uh that you may have reached knowing that you did really well against these two coaches but just came up a little short kind of makes me a double loser right now I mean quite honestly um you know it's um it's tough you know but I know how hard it is to get here too um I you know I say that tongue and cheek because I know it is really really difficult to get to a final four and for us to be National runner-ups two years in a row I'm never going to apologize so many people last year kept oh you'll do it next time like it was like terrible that we didn't win the national championship and so many people said that to me and I'm like darn you guys we were National runner-ups that's pretty good too um so I'm never going to apologize for finishing second in the country um but sure would' be nice to win one we're going to go to our left with Lily and then we'll go to the B hi I'm DJ Lily Jade from 95 .9 FM Cleveland and how did it feel to coach these amazing girls it's so empowering being around these women I mean to be around women that are driven every single day that come to to work positive and believing in themselves and each other it is so empowering I wish everybody's workplace could be like mine is and the world would be a whole lot better place but I think you're well on your way Lily I really do I think you're going to be in that driver's seat real soon you're amazing we're going to take our final question from the back all right Kevin Walker with voice of mustine Coach going off what this gentleman before it asked you recruiting fan base national awareness two years in a row National runner up it hurts now but six months from now what will you be able to take away from it or how will you feel when you know that you went head-to-head and hung in it the entire game with probably one of the best if not the best team in the history of the sport it's kind of hard to process right now you know I just I I'm just I pray that our team will still get the the fan support even when Caitlyn leaves I mean uh we have five seniors leaving and so yeah we're going to be young we're going to have some Growing Pains next year but I hope that people respect the way that we play the way that we do things and they're going to want to support this young group of Hawkeyes next year um just as much as they have you know after the success we've had the last couple of years so I just I just hope it maintains coach we'd like to thank you for your time and congratulations again on such a tremendous season thank you I appreciate that

Channel: Hawk Central

Views: 137,400

Keywords: iowa hawkeyes

Id: zFSSSvK4fDs

Length: 28min 29sec (1709 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 07 2024