Caitlin Clark, Iowa set for emotional home finale with extra motivation from West Virginia coach.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Lisa Bluder has coached for 40 years. This is her 22nd NCAA Tournament. Iowa’s coach knows a slight when she hears one.
In the hug-it-out prelude to top-seeded Iowa’s final home game, in the loving embrace of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a conflict has emerged. It starts with comments by West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg from Selection Sunday that have circulated on social media.
In addressing supporters at the Mountaineers’ Selection Sunday watch party , Kellogg (now) infamously said, “Let’s send Caitlin Clark packing.”
Well, look who the Mountaineers are playing in the second round of the tournament Monday night. Speaking out against Clark right now is like speaking out against sunsets. It doesn’t make sense in either case; eventually, both are going to rise again.
Kellogg and the Mountaineers are trying to achieve something of a first this season. Clark has never really been so much as slowed thus far as the reigning national player of the year. But Iowa’s first-round game over Holy Cross on Saturday did reveal more of Clark’s acting out on the court. After being elbowed in the face by an opposing player, she complained to officials to the point where her father was caught on television admonishing his daughter, “Stop.”
An intentional foul was called, but that’s not the point. A dad caught on camera weighing in live as though he and his daughter were still back in their West Des Moines driveway is one thing. An opposing coach standing at the lectern addressing the team and talking smack about a single player in a possible second-round game is another for Iowa coach Lisa Bluder.
“He tried to backtrack on it, I know, a lot. But the team all saw it,” Bluder said of Kellogg’s comment. “They can do with it what they want.”
And you’d better believe the issue has been discussed in the Iowa locker room. The coach wasn’t hiding her agitation.
“I’m not going to isolate one player [if I speak out],” Bluder added Sunday. “I’m not going to say, ‘Let’s send one player from their team home.’ That really isolates the rest of our team, and the rest of our team is pretty good. Also, they had to get by Princeton first.