IOWA CITY, Iowa — The phenomenon was born in an alternate universe.
In silence.
In fear.
In front of cardboard cutouts.
Caitlin Clark first played at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in 2020, near the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She debuted with 27 points, then led the nation in scoring as a freshman.
Still, a Sweet 16 run didn’t prevent Iowa — which went 34 years between sellouts — from curtaining off sections of seats the next season.
As a senior, Clark has never seen an empty chair.
“I remember running out to our first sold-out crowd, and I got the chills,” Clark said. “Now I get to do that every single night. That’s never anything that has gotten old. It’s just crazy how much things have changed and how special what we’ve been able to do is.”
This is where a star became a savior, a teenager turned into a celebrity, an athlete became an inspiration.
This is the court where Clark pulled up from 35 feet to break Kelsey Plum’s NCAA scoring record — en route to a program-record 49-point performance — where she passed Pete Maravich’s all-time Division I scoring mark, where she hit buzzer-beating 3-pointers against Indiana and Michigan State, where a girl from West Des Moines sparked the most electric atmosphere in college basketball.
Clark will enjoy one more night in heaven.
Then, the second-round NCAA Tournament matchup Monday night between No. 1 Iowa (30-4) and No. 8 West Virginia (25-7) will end, concluding her career on the court where she changed the sport.
“Honestly, I feel like it hasn’t really hit me at all,” Clark said. “As a competitor, you don’t have the time for that emotion of this being the last of something. I think it’ll definitely hit me when the final buzzer sounds.”
Clark’s final home game could be the final game of her collegiate career.
The Hawkeyes are heavy favorites, similar to Clark’s sophomore season, when second-seeded Iowa was upset on its home floor by 10th-seeded Creighton in the second round.
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Last year, Clark’s magical tournament run and introduction to mainstream America nearly never happened, with seventh-seeded Georgia holding the ball and a chance to pull ahead in the final minutes of the second-round battle.
On Sunday, Iowa, which hasn’t lost at home since Nov. 16, saw the team that finished above it in the Big Ten (Ohio State) eliminated on its home floor.
“Certainly I know the spotlight is there,” Clark said. “Certainly I know that pressure is there, but that’s not anything you ever shy away from. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“It’s not gonna be handed to you on a silver platter. That’s now how this works.”
Before Clark arrived, Iowa hadn’t been to the Final Four since 1993.
The program had never reached the national championship game.
The fans will come to say goodbye, to say thank you.
They will be young and old and sad, like college seniors, clinging to the end.
They will arrive hours early, as always, standing and chanting in the cold, as they wait for the doors to open to an inconspicuous building tucked into a quiet corner of campus, where the ceiling is low and the court is near the earth’s core, where noise doesn’t escape and luxury suites have no place, where a skinny girl with a ponytail became the biggest star the sport has ever seen.
It isn’t college.
It is an alternate universe.
“I told my mom the other day, I hope everybody can smile and enjoy this because these last four years have been so fun,” Clark said. “As a player, that’s something you can find closure in. It’s the last time, win or lose, and you need to soak it in and enjoy every moment.”