A good article from The Athletic about the best basketball player in America. It’s behind a paywall, so I include it in its entirety.
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Jim Calkins
In the hours and days after Iowa punched its ticket to this week’s Final Four, Ella McVey opened up her various social media apps.
Her high school teammate and good friend, Caitlin Clark, was everywhere.
“The No. 1 thing everyone always asks me is, ‘Wow, I can’t believe she’s hitting all these shots.’ Or, ‘I can’t believe she pulled up from the logo,’” McVey said of March Madness’ basketball’s most exciting star. “And I’m just sitting back like, you know what? I’ve seen her do it … a million times.”
Clark has taken basketball by storm this season, which included dropping 41 points against Louisville in a historic performance in last week’s Elite Eight and winning Naismith Player of the Year honors on Wednesday. She’s the most exciting single player left in the tournament — and she’s changing the way the game is viewed.
But for those who know Clark well, no one is surprised at her heroics. As her legacy grows through the NCAA Tournament, so too do the stories about her prodigious days growing up in West Des Moines. Ahead of No. 2 Iowa’s highly-anticipated showdown with No. 1 South Carolina in Friday night’s Final Four from Dallas, The Athletic spoke to about a dozen people who know Clark best — those who have had the privilege of playing with her and the misfortune of trying to defend her.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” McVey said. “If you’re guarding her, I’m sorry.”
But it was far from the first time Clark left an opposing defense with no answers.
As a junior at Dowling Catholic in West Des Moines, Iowa, she dropped 60 points in a 90-78 win at Mason City High School. She made a state-record 13 3-pointers, many of which were deep step-backs with a hand in her face. After the first quarter she had 24 points.
“It’s OK. I’ve come to grips with it,” Mason City coach Curt Klaahsen said, laughing. “It’s hard to believe this, but we felt like we were playing pretty good defense on her. She was just making things from everywhere and every angle.”
Klaahsen’s team played one of its very best offensive games with 78 points – which in any other circumstance would have been more than enough to win a high school basketball game. Defensively, he threw different looks at Clark, whether that meant rolling out a junk defense with one player on her with help nearby, or at times, putting two players on her.
“We were telling our kids to get out on her, and she’s shooting from four or five feet from beyond the arc. That’s unheard of,” Klaahsen said. “That stuff doesn’t happen in high school.”
Meanwhile, Clark’s teammates were in awe.
“The first quarter just kind of went by and I was like, yeah, we’re playing pretty well. Caitlin has a lot of points. This is going well,” said high school and grassroots teammate Grace Gaber, Dowling’s 3-point shooter alongside Clark.
“And I think second quarter, that’s when we realized she was hot.”
Still, Mason City went head-to-head with Clark and was led by guard Megan Meyer, who scored 27 points and played with Clark at Iowa for a season before transferring to Drake. Mason City, a strong team by all accounts, made the state tournament that year and lost in the semifinals.
Klaahsen has coached girls’ basketball for 35 years and is in the state’s IGCA Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He joked that he felt much better the following year when his team held Clark to 27 points. She’s the best player he has ever competed against.
“I’m in the girls’ coaches Hall of Fame and my claim to fame? I had a girl score 60 (on me),” he said, laughing. “When she scores 40, I can tell people, ‘Oh, Louisville only held her to 40 so maybe it wasn’t so bad what we were doing.’”
It wasn’t uncommon for fans of opposing teams to heckle Clark, as was the case her senior year when Dowling played at Southeast Polk. Earlier this month, a clip on social media resurfaced from that night, showing the Southeast Polk student section chanting “OVER-RATED” at the Maroons’ star.
Dowling Catholic ultimately lost 80-71. But not before Clark casually dropped 42 points against the backdrop of the jeers.
“She loved that. I kind of wanted to tell opposing crowds, ‘Shhh. You’re actually encouraging her by doing that,” Dowling Catholic coach Kristin Meyer said. “The bigger the crowd, the louder the crowd — she loves it.”
Eventually, opponents learned their lessons.
“Those things did stop because they knew: she could back it up,” said Dowling principal Matt Meendering. “One thing about Caitlin, everyone figured out, is you don’t give her something else to fire her up.”
“I remember specifically I had to guard her,” said Andrew Lentsch, a sophomore tight end on Iowa’s football team and a year behind Clark at Dowling Catholic. “It was not a lot of fun because it was just all practice, you were never getting a break because you’re always worried about either her making a play or even getting embarrassed by her a couple times. I remember one of the first plays of the first practices, she hit a 3 from deep right in my face.”
Lentsch played on the scout team for only one year as a freshman, before he made the varsity team as a sophomore and was officially relieved of his Clark duties. But Clark’s scout team legacy lived on. McVey said several of her good friends were on the scout team and that when they’d all hang out together on weekends, the scout-team defenders were still talking about Clark from the week before — and how they couldn’t stop her.
So does Lentsch have any advice for South Carolina’s defense?
“Oh, geez,” he said. “Pray.”
But for Trimble, his connection to Clark goes beyond basketball. His son, Jaxon, played little-league soccer with Clark when both were children.
“Caitlin, then going by Catie, played on an all-boys’ West Des Moines soccer team and that’s when I first met her. And I remember watching her play. She was all over the place and she was basically yelling at the boys, telling them where to go, what to do. Coaching them on the field,” Trimble said. “She was probably the most intense player on that field. And I said to my wife, ‘Who is this little girl?’ And that was Caitlin Clark.”
Trimble said that if memory serves, Clark might have been a forward on that soccer team. Her athletic abilities immediately jumped out, but so did her competitiveness. Years later, Jaxon, who attended Dowling Catholic with Clark, came home from school one day and told his father about Clark, the basketball player.
“He said, ‘Dad, Caitin Clark is one of the best high school players in the nation.’ And I said, ‘Oh my gosh. You’re talking about that Catie that was on your soccer team?’ I believe it,” Trimble said.
“As the mayor of this city, we are really proud. She’s doing a great job representing not only West Des Moines but the entire state of Iowa and we couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Thought Clark’s 41-point tournament game was something? She dropped 60 points in high school. (Courtesy of Earl Hulst)
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Jim Calkins
Caitlin Clark and the stories only those who’ve known her forever can tell
Grace RaynorIn the hours and days after Iowa punched its ticket to this week’s Final Four, Ella McVey opened up her various social media apps.
Her high school teammate and good friend, Caitlin Clark, was everywhere.
“The No. 1 thing everyone always asks me is, ‘Wow, I can’t believe she’s hitting all these shots.’ Or, ‘I can’t believe she pulled up from the logo,’” McVey said of March Madness’ basketball’s most exciting star. “And I’m just sitting back like, you know what? I’ve seen her do it … a million times.”
Clark has taken basketball by storm this season, which included dropping 41 points against Louisville in a historic performance in last week’s Elite Eight and winning Naismith Player of the Year honors on Wednesday. She’s the most exciting single player left in the tournament — and she’s changing the way the game is viewed.
But for those who know Clark well, no one is surprised at her heroics. As her legacy grows through the NCAA Tournament, so too do the stories about her prodigious days growing up in West Des Moines. Ahead of No. 2 Iowa’s highly-anticipated showdown with No. 1 South Carolina in Friday night’s Final Four from Dallas, The Athletic spoke to about a dozen people who know Clark best — those who have had the privilege of playing with her and the misfortune of trying to defend her.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” McVey said. “If you’re guarding her, I’m sorry.”
The one-woman show
Clark’s 41-point triple-double against Louisville in the Elite Eight last week was the first time anyone accomplished such a feat in the men’s or women’s NCAA Tournament.But it was far from the first time Clark left an opposing defense with no answers.
As a junior at Dowling Catholic in West Des Moines, Iowa, she dropped 60 points in a 90-78 win at Mason City High School. She made a state-record 13 3-pointers, many of which were deep step-backs with a hand in her face. After the first quarter she had 24 points.
“It’s OK. I’ve come to grips with it,” Mason City coach Curt Klaahsen said, laughing. “It’s hard to believe this, but we felt like we were playing pretty good defense on her. She was just making things from everywhere and every angle.”
Klaahsen’s team played one of its very best offensive games with 78 points – which in any other circumstance would have been more than enough to win a high school basketball game. Defensively, he threw different looks at Clark, whether that meant rolling out a junk defense with one player on her with help nearby, or at times, putting two players on her.
“We were telling our kids to get out on her, and she’s shooting from four or five feet from beyond the arc. That’s unheard of,” Klaahsen said. “That stuff doesn’t happen in high school.”
Meanwhile, Clark’s teammates were in awe.
“The first quarter just kind of went by and I was like, yeah, we’re playing pretty well. Caitlin has a lot of points. This is going well,” said high school and grassroots teammate Grace Gaber, Dowling’s 3-point shooter alongside Clark.
“And I think second quarter, that’s when we realized she was hot.”
Still, Mason City went head-to-head with Clark and was led by guard Megan Meyer, who scored 27 points and played with Clark at Iowa for a season before transferring to Drake. Mason City, a strong team by all accounts, made the state tournament that year and lost in the semifinals.
Klaahsen has coached girls’ basketball for 35 years and is in the state’s IGCA Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He joked that he felt much better the following year when his team held Clark to 27 points. She’s the best player he has ever competed against.
“I’m in the girls’ coaches Hall of Fame and my claim to fame? I had a girl score 60 (on me),” he said, laughing. “When she scores 40, I can tell people, ‘Oh, Louisville only held her to 40 so maybe it wasn’t so bad what we were doing.’”
The Silencer
Doubt Caitlin Clark at your own risk.It wasn’t uncommon for fans of opposing teams to heckle Clark, as was the case her senior year when Dowling played at Southeast Polk. Earlier this month, a clip on social media resurfaced from that night, showing the Southeast Polk student section chanting “OVER-RATED” at the Maroons’ star.
Dowling Catholic ultimately lost 80-71. But not before Clark casually dropped 42 points against the backdrop of the jeers.
“She loved that. I kind of wanted to tell opposing crowds, ‘Shhh. You’re actually encouraging her by doing that,” Dowling Catholic coach Kristin Meyer said. “The bigger the crowd, the louder the crowd — she loves it.”
Eventually, opponents learned their lessons.
“Those things did stop because they knew: she could back it up,” said Dowling principal Matt Meendering. “One thing about Caitlin, everyone figured out, is you don’t give her something else to fire her up.”
The scout-team nightmare
It wasn’t just game day when Clark rose to the occasion. When she wasn’t torching opposing defenders on Dowling’s schedule, she routinely made a habit of roasting Dowling’s all-male scout team in practice.“I remember specifically I had to guard her,” said Andrew Lentsch, a sophomore tight end on Iowa’s football team and a year behind Clark at Dowling Catholic. “It was not a lot of fun because it was just all practice, you were never getting a break because you’re always worried about either her making a play or even getting embarrassed by her a couple times. I remember one of the first plays of the first practices, she hit a 3 from deep right in my face.”
Lentsch played on the scout team for only one year as a freshman, before he made the varsity team as a sophomore and was officially relieved of his Clark duties. But Clark’s scout team legacy lived on. McVey said several of her good friends were on the scout team and that when they’d all hang out together on weekends, the scout-team defenders were still talking about Clark from the week before — and how they couldn’t stop her.
So does Lentsch have any advice for South Carolina’s defense?
“Oh, geez,” he said. “Pray.”
The soccer player
Russ Trimble is the mayor of Clark’s West Des Moines hometown and plans to honor her — perhaps a key to the city? — after Iowa’s season ends. Between Clark and Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, West Des Moines is no stranger to producing elite athletes.But for Trimble, his connection to Clark goes beyond basketball. His son, Jaxon, played little-league soccer with Clark when both were children.
“Caitlin, then going by Catie, played on an all-boys’ West Des Moines soccer team and that’s when I first met her. And I remember watching her play. She was all over the place and she was basically yelling at the boys, telling them where to go, what to do. Coaching them on the field,” Trimble said. “She was probably the most intense player on that field. And I said to my wife, ‘Who is this little girl?’ And that was Caitlin Clark.”
Trimble said that if memory serves, Clark might have been a forward on that soccer team. Her athletic abilities immediately jumped out, but so did her competitiveness. Years later, Jaxon, who attended Dowling Catholic with Clark, came home from school one day and told his father about Clark, the basketball player.
“He said, ‘Dad, Caitin Clark is one of the best high school players in the nation.’ And I said, ‘Oh my gosh. You’re talking about that Catie that was on your soccer team?’ I believe it,” Trimble said.
“As the mayor of this city, we are really proud. She’s doing a great job representing not only West Des Moines but the entire state of Iowa and we couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Thought Clark’s 41-point tournament game was something? She dropped 60 points in high school. (Courtesy of Earl Hulst)
