Yahoo Autos Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano, Gabbie Marshall offer final South Carolina breakdown
All of the buildup has led to this moment tonight. Iowa takes on South Carolina in the 2023 NCAA Tournament’s Final Four in Dallas from the American Airlines Center.
The Hawkeyes and Gamecocks have met just once in their histories. With a win, Iowa would advance to its first national championship game and face the winner of LSU-Virginia Tech in tonight’s first national semifinal.
Here’s the final comments Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano and Gabbie Marshall shared yesterday to preview the historic battle against South Carolina.
Women's Final Four ticket prices
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Question: Caitlin, I know you’re a huge fan of basketball watching and obviously playing it. When you see the ticket prices for the women’s tournament is more than the men’s right now and there seems to be a much bigger buzz for this tournament, your guys’ game, the other game, what does it mean to you to know you’re part of a movement that seems to be finally blossoming for women’s basketball?
CAITLIN CLARK: I think it’s pretty incredible. I think it’s starting to get the viewership, the attention, things like that that it deserves. And when people really turn on the TV or sit in the seat, they understand how good the product is and how much fun it is to watch.
I’ve loved the game since I was a young girl. I’ve always seen how good it is. And I really think we have so many good players in our game right now, whether it’s WNBA or at the college level, and people are really starting to figure that out.
So I really think sky’s the limit. I don’t know if ticket prices are as indicative because ours is in an actual basketball arena, and they’re playing in a football stadium. I don’t know how much that affects it. But I think it shows the demand that people want to be here and be in the arena that seats 20,000 people.
More than anything, I’m just lucky and we’re just lucky to get to play on a stage in front of so many people that love the game and want to watch our game.
Should this be the national championship game?
(Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
Question: Caitlin, following up on that, a lot to talk about, this game in particular, and there are people who are mad it’s not a championship game, that it’s a semifinal game. What does that say about the women’s game and the fact that you do have people that are that passionate that they’re arguing and mad about that? And for Gabbie and Monika, do you have a favorite memory of Caitlin like shooting or a specific game she did something very Caitlin-like?
CAITLIN CLARK: I think it’s really good for our game. I think, even though the conversation is about Player of the Year, conversations about Coach of the Year, conversations about who’s playing on the floor, I think that’s really good.
I think people need to realize how many tremendous players there are in our game, how many tremendous coaches there are in our game. We’re lucky enough, we play in the Big Ten. I believe that’s the best conference in America. We’ve been lucky enough to play against the best players, Diamond Miller, Mackenzie Holmes. You can make a list of really talented players we’ve played.
We’ve played against National Coach of the Year. As some people have said. Obviously Coach Staley won the Naismith award yesterday. And I saw Coach Moren was named the AP Coach of the Year today. Congratulations to her as well. I thought Indiana had a tremendous year.
I think just finding confidence in that. We’ve gone up against some really tremendous teams. Obviously we know South Carolina is taller than anybody we’ve ever played. They haven’t lost a game all season. We’re just going to be us and believe that we can win, and that’s all you can do.
We’re going to give it everything we have, and we’ve enjoyed every second in Dallas, and we want to be playing two more basketball games.
MONIKA CZINANO: And I think, thinking about like a game where Caitlin is Caitlin, I feel like it’s weird for us because we see her do it all the time at practice, so it’s like a treat when you guys get to see it.
But I think Michigan at Michigan last year, just seeing her single-handedly bringing us back into that game when we were down. We didn’t win it, but we got really close with a limited amount of people. I think that’s when I was like, oh, great, everybody gets to see what I see every single day. So yeah.
GABBIE MARSHALL: I think my favorite is at home — I think we were playing Iowa State. She had come down and hit three logo shots in a row. I remember looking over at Sue, like what is going on? This girl’s crazy. I think it was Ohio State. I’m not really sure who we were playing, but that was crazy. But I was not surprised.
Playing at American Airlines Center
(Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
Question: You talk about the difference in the sizes between the men’s and the women’s, where they’ll be staged. Because this feels like a moment, because this is like Aliyah Boston, the defending champions and their team, versus you and your team, two projected No. 1 picks in the WNBA Draft, is this maybe the perfect stage to maybe show the NCAA that the women’s Final Four can be, should be staged in the same kind of event space as the men’s?
CAITLIN CLARK: I’m lucky I’m not the one who has to make those decisions. Hopefully I’m the one that gets to play in the Final Four. Yeah, there’s very high demand for this basketball game, and even Virginia Tech versus LSU.
A lot of teams that are new to the Final Four, obviously us and Virginia Tech haven’t been here in a while. I think more than anything we’re just really grateful. We could be playing in a high school gym, and I would be just as happy to get to play in the Final Four.
I don’t really care where it’s played. I’m happy we get to play in the Mavs stadium. I think that’s pretty cool. It might almost be cooler to play in a basketball arena than a football arena too. Maybe it would be easier to shoot. I don’t know.
I don’t think it really bothers me, but I think it definitely shows how the game is growing and how high of a demand there is for people to want to get in the door of this game. A lot of people are going to turn it on on TV too if they can’t make it down to Dallas. I think we’re just grateful more than anything.
McKenna, Gabbie playing great ball at the right time
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Question: You two carry the offensive load for this team, but over the last week, I’d say, Gabbie and McKenna have been playing some of the best basketball they’ve played all season. How does that open up the floor for you guys when they’re hitting all their shots?
MONIKA CZINANO: It’s tremendous. People have to really pick their poison. They can really clog the paint. And then we have Gabbie and Makenna and Caitlin who are really doing their thing out there. Or they can choose to respect them for their game and leave me more open.
Just seeing the work they’ve put in all throughout their career. We’ve played 90-plus games together. Seeing them in the gym all the time, seeing their shots go down in a game, it makes me happier to see their shots go in than my own truly.
It’s so great for our team. It really opens everything up for me individually, but we’re just peaking at the right time.
Handling the attention of being the national Player of the Year
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Question: Caitlin, you’ve gotten as much attention as anyone in the country this year, deservedly so. Have you been able to relish it? Do you enjoy it? Has it gotten old or overwhelming, or how have you kept it from not being too much?
CAITLIN CLARK: I think I’m lucky enough to have a support system around me that kind of keeps me humble, keeps me grounded. I get picked on the most more than anybody on our team.
But I’m not really on social media that much, and I think that helps a lot too. I’ve just tried to enjoy every single second. This is the most fun time I’ve had playing basketball this year, and that’s why the product has been so good for myself and this team because I’m just going out there and having fun and enjoying what I do.
It’s not to win an award. It’s not for our team to hoist trophies. I think that has all come because we’ve played with the same love of the game we’ve had since we were young girls.
I’m going to enjoy every single second of it. I’ve tried to enjoy every single second of it. I think it’s hard for it to set in right now because I’m so focused on continuing to play basketball and continuing to win basketball games. I think, after this season is over, I’ll be able to reflect and really enjoy everything this team has been able to do together.
We’ve had two really good seniors that are going to be leaving us. So I’m just trying to enjoy every second I get with them because it’s been three really special years of us getting to play together as well.
Supporting Caitlin as she won the Naismith Trophy
