It’s safe to say that Caitlin Clark has the biggest target on her back and she has done nothing but be brilliant playing basketball in college.

Caitlin Clark, the University of Iowa basketball player who has dazzled crowds with her deep shooting range, has become quite the target of current and past WNBA players.

Diana Taurasi – a legend in both women’s college basketball at UConn and the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury – had a stark warning for Clark that produced a ton of backlash when she admitted to ESPN that “reality” was coming for the Iowa star because she won’t be playing against teenagers anymore.

“Reality is coming,” she said on ESPN after the Hawkeyes’ win over the Huskies. “You look superhuman playing against some 18-year-olds but you’re going to come play with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time.

“There is gonna be a transition period where you’re going to have to give yourself some grace as a rookie.”

Taurasi also had something to say about LSU Tigers star Angel Reese when she shockingly blurted out, “Wave bye-bye to your own career” when the star could be seen waving to a Middle Tennessee player in the Round of 32.

Taurasi was also asked if she’d take UConn Huskies star Paige Bueckers over Clark in the upcoming WNBA Draft and she made it clear, “I’m taking Paige,” Taurasi replied bluntly. “Next question.”

Social media recently just came across an old video from four years ago that was a conversation between Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe when Taurasi chimed in and stated she wants to “kill” rookies when she first goes against them amid the comments she has been making against players like Caitlin Clark.

“Every time you play rookies, you just wanted to [expletive] kill them,” she said in the video.

“Physically, just punk them. There’s this mental bullying that takes place right before the ball goes up. And it happens in different ways, it happens like, ‘Oh you had such a good senior year I’m going to bust your [expletive] right now.’”

“Every time you played rookies, you just wanted to fucking kill them.” – Diana Taurasi — Matt Ellentuck (@mellentuck) May 4, 2020

Caitlin Clark Will Face Diani Taurasi’s Team At Least Three Times Next Season

Caitlin Clark (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Diani Taurasi has said so much about Caitlin Clark that when the Iowa star finally hits the WNBA floor, at least three of her games will be highly anticipated.

Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury will play the Indiana Fever three times next season. The Fever are widely expected to take Caitlin Clark with the no. 1 pick in the draft.

Nika Mühl spoke through tears as she described to Geno Auriemma the impact he has had on her life. Auriemma provided levity with his sense of humor. They hugged in his office.

It wasn’t goodbye, but an emotional see-you-later.

“I love you,” Auriemma said as they embraced, a scene captured by the UConn women’s basketball program’s social media team and posted to X.

“I love you so much,” Mühl said back.

And then Mühl, who grew particularly close to Auriemma during her four years at UConn, was off to pursue her WNBA career. The Huskies’ all-time assists leader, she was selected 14th overall last week by the Seattle Storm.

“I’ll have to get your schedule,” Auriemma said soon after Mühl entered. “As soon as you guys are playing …”

“If I make the team,” Mühl said.

“Come on, stop,” Auriemma said. “It will take you one practice to figure out what you’ve got to do to make the team. And then you just do that. They drafted you for a reason. So do what they drafted you for. Bring a different culture to them, that pros don’t have.”

“That UConn culture,” Mühl said.

“Bring that UConn culture to them,” Auriemma said.

Mühl, of Croatia, chose to turn professional instead of exercise the additional year of eligibility offered to every student-athlete whose time in college overlapped with the pandemic.

She arrived as a freshman in 2020, parachuting into the bizarre world of COVID basketball bubbles and isolation, became fast friends with classmate Paige Bueckers and spent four years injecting her unique personality into the Huskies’ program.

A defensive specialist, Mühl also broke Sue Bird’s record for most career assists, thriving in the backcourt even as Bueckers missed most of two seasons due to injury. She was indispensable.

Now Mühl will work for Bird in Seattle. The Storm announced Wednesday that Bird had joined the franchise’ ownership group.

Mühl didn’t win a national championship at UConn like Bird, but she leaves having found herself and having offered new levels of entertainment to a fan base, and a needed level of hot-headed defensive intensity to UConn teams so often limited by one unprecedented wave of injuries after the next.

When Muhl entered Auriemma’s office Wednesday, Auriemma said he had been watching her shoot in the gym that his office overlooks.

“You didn’t shoot like that when you played here, back in the day,” Auriemma said. “You’re ancient history.”

Mühl smiled with a quizzical look. She soon got serious.

“I just thank you,” Mühl said. “Like, you changed my life. Your impact, I don’t think you’re aware of it. To an extent you are, but you’ve impacted so many people around me, including me. … There’s never been a single person like you and there never will be in the world. And I hope you know how unique you are and how special you …”

Auriemma cut her off.

“Are you describing yourself?” he said. “Are you talking about you right now?”

“Not but, seriously,” Muhl continued. “You’re just legendary, but not as a coach. To me you’re legendary as a person. And I’ll cherish that forever. … You changed me, man.”

Article continues below this ad

Muhl, who idolizes Dennis Rodman, was a two-time Big East defensive player of the year. Where Bueckers was all flash and flair for her offensive gifts, Mühl was all hustle and muscle in the way she approached each game, each possession.

Former teammates Evina Westbrook called her “Gnat” for the way she played. Off the court, she Mühl was more gentle, fun and personable while in the public eye.

Muhl had asked Auriemma and associate head coach Chris Dailey to schedule a game against Ball State her senior season, and it came to be on Dec. 7, 2023. Her younger sister, Hana Mühl and Ball State visited Gampel Pavilion. Their parents, father Darko and mother Roberta, made the trip from Croatia to attend the game.

“Surreal,” Darko said that night. “When you think, two people from Croatia, enjoying this moment is special. It shows that anything is possible. Those two were able to get here with their work. It’s a great family story, right? I think this is a perfect moment for us.”

Hana has since transferred to Manhattan.

Nika, 23, who set the UConn single-game record with 15 assists against NC State in 2022, has closed her college chapter. In announcing she would do on March 8, she posted pictures of herself and Auriemma in Auriemma’s black Mercedes-Benz and wrote, “Last ride with my G.”

On Wednesday they hugged as UConn player and UConn coach for the final time.

“I don’t think anybody here will forget you,” Auriemma said. “You won’t let them. You’ll be back a lot.”

Marshall’s block, Affolter’s three-point play put Iowa in front for good, igniting the Hawkeyes to a 64-54 win over West Virginia.

Call it a season-saving sequence.

Iowa had squandered a 10-point lead, and West Virginia’s J.J. Quinerly was lining up a 3-point shot from the right wing for the lead.

Instead, Gabbie Marshall made the defensive play of the game. Maybe the defensive play of the year.

“I had to do something for my team,” she said.

Marshall blocked Quinerly’s shot, and Sydney Affolter converted a three-point play moments later.

That six-point swing ignited the second-ranked Hawkeyes to a 12-2 run in the final 2:03, and ultimately a 64-54 NCAA second-round win Monday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“Gabbie made an amazing defensive play,” Affolter said. “Then I saw a lane and I took it.”

It was Marshall’s third block of the season, the 13th of her career. And it was reminiscent of a key swat she had in overtime against Nebraska in the Big Ten tournament final.

“To have that moment, it was amazing,” Marshall said.

One of five Hawkeyes making her final Carver appearance, Marshall didn’t score a point Monday. But her block — and Affolter’s conversion — was as big of a play as any that Iowa (31-4) mustered all night.

“Gabbie didn’t score, but she never stops working her butt off on defense,” said Kate Martin, another senior.

“That play motivated us. You see that play, and you see that kind of passion in Gabbie, and it’s infectious. Then Syd, she had an opportunity and made a play at the rim.”

Iowa could have been down 55-52 had Quinerly nailed that 3-pointer with 2:12 left. Instead, Marshall made the swat, Affolter made the play on the other end of the court, and the Hawkeyes were up 55-52 at the 2:03 mark.

The remainder of the game was a free-throw fiesta. Iowa made 14 of 15 in the final 4:46, and the back end of Affolter’s three-point play started a 10-of-11 spree from the line in the final 2:03.

That included a late 3-of-4 from Hannah Stuelke, who had missed a pair earlier in the fourth quarter.

Stuelke was a 46-percent free-throw shooter as a freshman. This year, she’s up to 62 percent.

“Going into these big games, I’m going to need to knock down free throws, and I think this is a stepping stone to that for sure,” Stuelke said.

There’s at least one more big game to play, and perhaps as many as four.

Iowa will face No. 17 Colorado (24-9) in a Sweet 16 contest at 2:30 (CT) Saturday at MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y.

No. 6 UCLA (27-6) meets No. 8 LSU (30-5) in the other regional semifinal, at noon.

The regional final is 6 p.m. Monday.

News

Why Caitlin Clark will earn in one year the same amount that Diana Taurasi has earned in her entire career?

Clark has shaken the world of sports in the USA. The phenomenon that Caitlin Clark has become and her impact on women’s basketball is reaching beyond what happens on…

Fans slam Adidas for ‘disrespectul’ offer to WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark

Fans blast brands over Caitlin Clark negotiations. On Tuesday, it was reported that Caitlin Clark is about to ink a massive eight-year, $28 million deal with Nike, making it the…

Angel Reese Sets Bold Goal Ahead of First WNBA Season

Former LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese is setting the bar high ahead of her first WNBA season.  Reese, who led LSU to the national title in 2023,…

Shaquille O’Neal Reveals the First Thing He Told Angel Reese After the WNBA Draft (Exclusive)

“I am described as Angel’s understandable ear,” Shaquille O’Neal tells PEOPLE exclusively of the LSU star who was selected by the Chicago Sky in the WNBA Draft….

Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark were ‘as attractive as tall women can be’ at the WNBA Draft, says Jason Whitlock – and praises new Chicago star for ‘leaning into the sexy side of being an athlete’

Jason Whitlock has risked sparking a backlash by saying Angel Reese was the main reason last week’s WNBA Draft was a success because ‘she has made it cool to…

Angel Reese flaunts her new luxurious $183,000 Mercedes in Chicago to cap off 2024 WNBA Draft celebrations: ‘New City. New beginnings. New big body Barbie Benz’

Angel Reese has flaunted her new, luxurious Mercedes-Benz upon touching down in Chicago just a little more than a week after being selected as seventh overall pick in…

End of content

No more pages to load

Next page