Iowa Everywhere Exclusive: Getting to know Caitlin Clark

[Music] thank you so I've had a theory all right well so it has to do with Steph Curry okay okay and you kind of were the one who like put this into my brain for the first time watching you play was that because I remember when I was growing up watching Jordan Dominique those type of type of guys Shaq yeah I could never do that yeah I always thought that Steph was the one who kind of changed the game for not only girls but boys who can't play Above the Rim right do you buy into this I think the way he can shoot the ball is something that you know people haven't seen in a really long time but I also believe in like the evolution of basketball and I think the game has changed so much and I think he's a big part of that but not only him I think there's been a lot of other really good Shooters on the men's and women's side but he's definitely somebody I grew up watching and kind of like tailoring my game after and you know I always didn't shoot long range threes it was kind of something I added to my game after getting here but you know I think it kind of brings that excitement to the game like maybe you can't dunk the ball um you know you don't see Steph Curry dunking the ball every single night yeah and you definitely don't see too many uh female players able to go up and throw one down but I think it adds another level of excitement to the game and maybe even more so than maybe a dunk would or an alley-oop or something like that so I think the the three-point shot is definitely you know taking the game kind of to a new level feels like it specifically with the women's game though if you watch a win women's NCAA Tournament game now compared to 10 years ago it just there it's got that Steph Curry type yeah I think you could almost argue that there are a lot better female Shooters than there are male Shooters just because you know your skill set almost has to be better to be able to play the game of basketball um you know I've played it with a lot of really good shooters from the state of Iowa you know those are that's kind of what we're known for here um but yeah I think you know it's something that you kind of have to have in your game I think it's evolved I think you know women's basketball players are very very skilled just because they have to be so it's something you know I've kind of Taken pride in ever since I was little ball handily form shooting and I think it's kind of like led to you know my Evolution and to where I am now I always say it's more of a pure basketball game than a men's game because it's like free throws for instance you guys are just better at them you have to be yeah no I think so for sure and I think you know even my team here at Iowa like we take a lot of pride in you know making free throws they're free that's literally what they're called so you better make them and um those are what you spend hours in the gym doing you know making those um you put the your situ yourself in those situations of you know the games on the line you're stepping up to the line who are you playing uh this is the Big Ten Championship on the line like what's on the line um so you know I think that that's a very good point uh girls really have to be kind of skilled more skilled in a way than men are at times okay so you are known for pulling up from the logo oh yeah but that's not all like am I what what advice would you give to not only a little girl watching this but boys who are trying to because you said you you didn't just start when you were 10 pulling up from three points yeah I think the advice that I would always give to young girls or young boys even is just the importance of being able to handle the ball being able to you know make shots close around the room I remember my dad growing up like he would never let me like just go out to the three-point line and check up shots um even though that's kind of what I wanted to do and I think that's kind of what a lot of kids want to do these days is just go out there and Chuck up threes and I think you know at times that can ruin your form that can ruin your form shooting so I was always wanting to start really close around the room and that's still what I do when I come in and get shots up you know I'm right around the rim you know working on form shooting because you know that's the basic part of shooting you know you have to have good form to be able to make it from longer out but I think that the two biggest things are you know form shooting around the room and definitely ball handling I think ball handling is kind of a lost art you know people don't want to be able to dribble the ball and you know it's something I took a lot of pride in when I was younger and I think it's you know kind of showed and paid off now that I'm a point guard okay so you you've had I saw there was a sign of a little girl who drove like from New Hampshire yeah or something to watch you play we've seen you sign shoes we've seen was there a moment we'll get to the Kevin Durant stuff and LeBron coming up but was there a moment when like a fan did something that just kind of left you speechless oh man I think there's been a kind of levels um you know in our game uh just yesterday a little girl started like bawling when she met me and it kind of takes you back for a second because I think you know you don't always realize the impact that you can have on people that goes way further than you know making a logo three or making a cool pass or you know even winning a basketball game um you know I think that's what's more important to me is the joy I can bring people and just hearing from you know whether it's older people or younger people about you know how much excitement I've been able to give them when they're able to turn on the TV or whether they're you know coming and sitting in Carver Hawkeye Arena or even people traveling from really far to come watch us play whether we're at Penn State we're at Illinois we're at Indiana no matter where it is you know people are traveling to come watch our team play I think it kind of makes you take a step back and see kind of the impact you have on people in their lives and I think that's you know the coolest part and that goes away further than ever winning a basketball game to me okay so you you do have the best players in the history of basketball tweeting about you posting about you on Instagram we have statistics showing when you play TV rating soar when did the I kind of hit you for the first time that you've become this generational type player yeah I think it was kind of like hard to understand at first because you know when I first got here was covid so I played in front of nobody my freshman year which was like really strange but at the same time I think it kind of allowed me to get my feet wet a little bit you know I wasn't playing in front of a bunch of people screaming at me you know I was used to the college scene when fans were allowed back in here but um yeah I think you know getting to play in front of that many fans is super super cool and I remember my sophomore year especially like in the middle part of the year when we started attracting like a lot quite a bit of fans then we ended up selling the last three games of the year out I remember just running out of the tunnel when those games were sold out and like I just had chills like it was kind of a surreal moment for me and my teammates we all kind of just looked at each other like wow like people are really here to cheer us on and support us and you know this is kind of what we created all because of doing what we love and doing it with like a passion and a joy and I think that's really why people come watch us they can see the excitement we we play the game with and the joy we have for one another and that's really how the game should be played you you mentioned the little girl being crying and being Starry Eyed with you who was that for a young Caitlyn Clark yeah so growing up my like favorite player was Maya Moore she played at UConn four time National Champion ends up going to the Minnesota Lynx it was like the closest WNBA team to the state of Iowa so I remember like very vividly my dad took me to my first ever WNBA game which was the Minnesota Lynx and they had Maya Moore and I actually got to meet her which was like the coolest moment ever and like I remember it so clearly um but she was like my favorite player growing up but other than that on the men's side I'd go Harrison Barnes like I was a huge North Carolina men's basketball fan and I remember you know watching Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott at the state tournament when I was a little kid my dad took me and my older brother out of school and we got to go and watch and that's probably one of the best teams in high school basketball history with those two on it so I was a huge Harrison Barnes fan and it's kind of crazy because now you know he watches me and has supported me and reached out quite a few times and I actually got to see him play for the Kings last year versus the Clippers in La so life kind of comes full circle at you but he was like my favorite player growing up on the men's side that's amazing I would have never guessed the Ames High kid I know yeah that makes sense so when all right you're going through all this you come in covid you hit the nation by storm give give me a moment where maybe you had to say to a friend when were you Starstruck when maybe somebody makes a tweet about you somebody makes a comment I think the one like I really remembers like when LeBron James put me on his Instagram story like it's LeBron James Like You could argue he's one of the best players of all time if not the best player of all time um and I remember I was like I had dinner with my family it was after we played here I forget who we played um but I played pretty well and he posted me on his his Instagram story I forget what he said but yeah a bunch of people were sending it to me I'm like guys I've seen it thank you but yeah I think you know LeBron James like that's pretty cool um somebody you grow up watching and between him and Michael Jordan the two best players to ever touch a basketball and have somebody like him you know recognize your game and talk about you is pretty pretty cool what does it mean for you to be able to do all of this in your home state it means a lot and that's like one of the reasons I came here and you know I dreamed of doing really really big things but maybe not to this level and to play in front of you know fifteen thousand but you know I grew up a super super competitive kid like I love loves the moment I love when the lights shine the brightest you know I always grew up watching the game I had cousins that played my older brother played football at Iowa State so you know just a super super competitive family and I loved being around Sports um but you know I think as my career has kind of a volunteer it's been kind of crazy and I think you know just enjoying every single second of it and I think the coolest part is seeing how many fans fans we get whether it's here at Carver or whether we're going on the road and you know I think we know that a lot of people do support teams whether we're going to Illinois whether we're going to Indiana whether we're going to Michigan but some of those Crowds Are you know record-breaking attendance for them and you know there's a lot of black and gold in the stands when we go there which is super super cool to see not only the support at home but on the road it's maybe even a little sweeter and it shows your impact how it's going if even beyond the state of Iowa so with all the accolades you get there's also a I probably say a Target on you but there's the spotlight yeah and there's a you you know the narrative out there from your naysayers you're you play the game with a great amount of passion what do those naysayers not understand about Caitlyn Clark I think the biggest thing is you know I am passionate I am competitive when I'm on the court but off the court like I wanted the goofiest silliest people you'll probably ever meet and I think my teammates will tell you the exact same like I'm able to have this switch of you know I know when it needs to be serious and like it's Full Throttle competitive but when I'm off the court like I'm fun like I understand there's so much more to life than just a basketball game and then you can understand that I think it helps you play better on the court but I think also as my passion and my competitive Spirit that's what makes me who I am so I could never lose that I don't think I could perform at the level I did if I didn't have all that and that's how I've been since a very young age and that's what I love about the game is you know getting the crowd into it um you know being feisty you know I think that's what makes me play to the level I play to everything all right is there a double standard because when a guy does that on the court he's passionate he's confident he's got Swagger is do you do you sense that yeah and I think that's part of the evolution of the women's game it still needs to occur I think you know people need to start understanding that women can play with that same passion that competitive spirit that men have played with for years and that's what's attracting people to our game is when women are you know fiery when they're competitive when they're feisty when they're encouraging their teammates you know that's what people want to watch I think that's the reason we have 15 000 people come in Carver every single night is because not only am I passionate and competitive but so is my team and you can see the love and the joy that we play with and that's that's so much more fun than watching people that are just straight face out there passing the ball around um you know you want to have that excitement to the game and that's what's only going to you know help the viewership go up even more and more and that's exactly what we want to do I mean I I remember watching you at high school this isn't just new no you've been doing this forever is this something that passion that we're talking about is that a legacy that you hope that you're passing on to young female basketball players yeah absolutely I hope you know young girls and even young boys understand that you know you can play with that competitive Spirit yeah at times sure you need to contain it and know when to do it and when not to but you know you should be passionate you should be competitive you should be feisty that's you know that's how the game of basketball should be played or really even any other sport or whatever you're trying to do you know I grew up playing softball I grew up playing soccer and I was the same way in all of those you know I just had those competitive juices and I come from a very competitive family where you know I had to learn to kind of hold my own in a way but yeah I think I hope that is something that you know especially young girls see that you can play with that you know that smile on your face or whether you're getting mad you can play with that too I think that's you know really good for them to see all right so you say you're a goofball yeah I've never seen this side of you what how are you oh man oh I mean I keep coach young I'm the one that keeps her young I I play pranks on her all the time I mess with her um I know when not to and when to do that but I think she would say the same like I'm just you know a fun easy going kid um you know I still feel like I don't know people kind of see me as like a celebrity or somebody but I still feel like you know just the the normal kid that I have been for the past whatever 10 years you know of my really important basketball career um you know through AAU through high school and now here I feel like it's kind of just been the same and I try to enjoy every single second of it because it does go sit so fast but I think understanding that there is more to you know winning a basketball game or hanging a banner that's when you really start to enjoy it when you enjoy all the other moments in between that what do you do outside of basketball oh well during basketball season I don't have a ton of time but my favorite like spring summer activity is golf um yeah I love to go play I'm sure you're not competitive at all no I'm not competitive at all I obviously just like to do it because it's fun and why else would I do I just love to go out there if I have a bad head I don't care at all um but no I'm super competitive and honestly we have a couple other girls on the team that like to play a couple coaches that like to play managers so it gets competitive it's usually not like us just all going out there and shooting like our own score like it's like 2v2 like best of all like it's obviously going to be competitive in some way so I would say that's like my favorite activity when I'm not in basketball season we like you all right your Netflix queues up what are we watching okay so season four of you just came out Outer Banks is about to come out but also the new show about the PGA Tour is about to come out where they were behind the scenes of the PGA Tour uh all of last year so I'm super excited about that one on Netflix Outer Banks isn't that like a like yeah it's a Cheesy High School show basically but that's kind of like what I like we at Dawson's Creek did you ever hear that one uh I don't know I've never seen that but like my favorite show of all time is One Tree Hill oh okay yeah basketball you got the law of romance High School drama I remember like that was my favorite show best basketball movie oh best basketball movie that's tough oh okay give me some options loving basketball would be out there I don't know if I'd go number one though I'm trying to think Hoosiers I probably wouldn't put number one either well it's Indiana you can't yeah I know you can't do that um okay this is gonna be such a hot take but I loved like Mike growing up that's a great movie such a good movie like my I had it downloaded to my iPad as a little kid and I watched it on like every road trip I never got sick of it so and there's so many people listening and watching this that they didn't have iPads when they were a kid yeah you might have had the DVD I I just had it on my iPad we had the Sony Disc man that was the we had the Space Jam soundtrack Space Jam that's a good one have you seen the new Space Jam I have the old one's better yeah MJ the the new one was kind of creepy to me in many ways okay um music okay what do you bump into when you when you're warming okay this is probably gonna be surprising to a lot of people but I go more like calm music when I'm like warming up because I'm already so like amped and juice for the game that I don't need to keep adding to it so I'm going more like calm music like country music is usually what I pick you know it's not like super slow it's not like I'm trying to go to sleep but it's like you know you're not getting more amped than you already are who's your favorite country artist oh Luke Combs that's my favorite I want to see him in concert so bad he's so good maybe somebody will tag him on this clip yeah Luke Combs come on help a girl out that's pretty good stuff okay so you mentioned your family competitive family growing up your brother is a cyclone and he he scored on a two-point conversion this year and I and I I tweeted that I'm like yeah that's Caitlin Clark's brother and like nobody really understood it yeah what's that like when the Cyclones are playing and and brothers on the team yeah I think well it was his last year this year so the past five years since he was a red shirt I think it was like more than anything super cool to watch him live out his dream of playing College athletics at the same time I was doing mine and you know it's kind of funny the way it worked out because growing up like we were never like die-hard Cyclone family or Die Hard Iowa family so it's kind of funny that you know we kind of split in both one went to one and one went to the other and I have a younger brother too and we would always kind of Nag on the our younger brother like come on who do you like more like Iowa or Iowa State and I have a feeling he low-key liked Iowa State more but it's fine I always try to get him nowhere like Iowa clothes and stuff but um like I said more than anything it's just been super cool to you know watch Blake kind of live out his dream at the same time even you know no matter what he was wearing you know Iowa State colors or even if it was somewhere else I would have been you know just as happy and supportive but you know he loved his time there and Matt Campbell was really good for him a really great guy and through the recruiting process because obviously he was already at Iowa State when I was trying to make my decision he was never like one to push me you know to go one way or the other he's just you know make the best decision for you and you know he's somebody I talk to still every single day we're really really close and somebody I lean on a lot so he wears the Hawkeye gear when he comes in here no he never does he's never put on a Hawkeye shirt I haven't put on an Iowa State shirt since you know we've been in college but I try to joke with him now that he's you know graduated that you can you can do it maybe just one time maybe on my senior night we'll see if that's gonna happen I would have guessed that he would wear a Hawkeye shirt into Carver watching you he's usually like neutral colors or he usually wears the orange WNBA sweatshirt that's like it that's how he is a go-to okay that that makes a lot of sense so I want to talk about just the women's game in general we touched on this in the kind of Steph Curry conversation but I'm I'm really passionate about women's basketball I had an older sister growing up I have two daughters I did Iowa State games for years I can just objectively tell you the game is so much better than it was 10 to 15 years ago why why is that I think the AAU circuit certainly has helped you know I played for All Iowa Attack a program that's you know probably in the top five every single year and I think it helps produce really good players but I think that's across the country I think you've seen more and more AAU circuits that have become better and better and I think the visibility of the WNBA young girls getting to watch people in college but also the WNBA and wanting to be like them so then they you know put the time in to hopefully get there one day but yeah like I said I think the evolution of the game also has helped you know more and more people want to play people want to get better at it they're driven to do it but yeah I think you know the evolution of the wmobi has definitely helped too you know it's on ESPN more people have more accessibility to watch it which certainly helps too so we're obviously here spotlighting you but there's a ton of great players across women's college basketball you can buy a ticket to go watch any other player in the country that's tough who do you want to go watch man well I would have said LSU of South Carolina which happened yesterday you got Angel Reese one of the best players in the country versus Leah Boston and they're in the same position position so they're kind of going right at each other I probably wouldn't want to go that game man there's just been so many really good games this year um I think UConn Tennessee because just that rich tradition there of that rivalry game I know UConn's battled quite a few injuries this year but a lot of talented players on that team and even Tennessee and one of our my former teammates from my freshman year is actually a ga at Tennessee now so I have that connection too so those are probably the two games I probably would have picked that the Lady Vols uniforms are just iconic yeah they are I love the baby blue they include in them now too it's it's it's perfect it's fire is obviously a national championship would be the idea what is your going into the month of March what would make you really happy at the end of the year yeah I think you know first off is like Big Ten Championship regular season title is you know they're hard to come by and you know it basically comes down to the last game we experienced that last year you know having to win out and beat Michigan on our home court and then obviously the Big Ten Tournament my first two years we've been in the championship one-on-one lost one so um you know we want to be right back there and it's moving to Minneapolis this year and then obviously March Madness I think you know we have that fire of getting upset early from last year I think that'll really drive us but I think March Madness is the greatest postseason tournament in All Sport I think because you know that you have that upset Factor where you only have one shot to play this team you know it's not a seven game series um you play them one time and you know if you have an off night your season can be over like this and you know I've been on the losing end of that so I think that upset factor of March Madness is what makes it so exciting what people love about it but you know we want to reach the final four that's our goal and you know we know it takes a little luck a good draw a lot of hard work and but we're going to do everything we can to get there so you played at the girls State here in in the state of Iowa I think it's great we have four really good women's programs absolutely in our state have you absolutely what do you have to say just think about the evolution of the game specifically here tonight and I think that speaks to you know the high school level that we have here I think the the girls Union in the state of Iowa does a really good job to you know put us on good stages you know kind of develop the talent I think the AAU level has definitely gone up as well I'm going to give credit to all our attacks that's who I played for um but yeah I think that and you know I give a lot of credit to our coaches for scheduling you know Drake you and I um Iowa State because you know they don't really have to um but those are games that get the excitement of women's basketball are staying going and fired up um you know when we played Iowa State here I think we were over 14 000 people in December um you know when football hasn't even finished yet that's an incredible number but you know Drake challenged us you know we won in overtime you and I um you know they've challenged us to a really good team a lot of girls I'm familiar playing against but I think it speaks to the talent level we have in the state and you know if you haven't watched any team other than Iowa women's basketball you should also watch those three because they're really skilled really talented teams and you know I love getting to play against them every single year what does adding a shot clock do for high school basketball you know I wish we had a shot clock even though that wasn't a problem because I was on the team I would get them out pretty quick um boys and girls side um you know teams can't really stall anymore I know I think it's 35 seconds which is still quite a bit of time but I think it's been good I think it's been good for kids to understand get end of game situations end of quarter situations you know getting two for ones things like that but yeah I think it was something that had needed to be done for quite some time so I'm really happy that they made that change all right so we've seen you pull up into the shot clock from the logo before we we're sitting on this court here could you give me a few tips I got you all right all right I'll give you a few lessons all right perfect let's let's try it out the key luckily Iowa we have a cute gigantic tiger from the logo a lot closer okay but other schools like it's back there a little bit but yeah honestly like I like to dribble into an insurance shooter but you like coming off the screen uh yeah I like in transition is my favorite okay yeah I get the rebound I'm pulling up you know okay but you know all right all right let's see what happens oh you're right on I'm right on I'm dead on what about my form is my form okay you got the follow through yeah maybe just jump a little more because we're a little short okay a little short all right I'm gonna do the I'm gonna do the little spin yeah oh yeah that's in oh I'm right there here all right let's go all right I like it off the spin I'm feeling good I'm feeling good all right no let me give you the assist okay here all right all right you ready yeah all right knock it down I'm feeling good not 10. I'm oh for six now first try well done let's go foreign [Music]

Channel: Iowa Everywhere

Views: 106,733

Keywords: Caitlin Clark, Iowa, Hawkeyes, Basketball, women's basketball, Chris Williams, Iowa Everywhere

Id: S0fl3hN0gE0

Length: 26min 6sec (1566 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 21 2023