The Iowa Hawkeyes won the Big Ten title and now enter their first game Saturday (3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN App) in the women's 2024 NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed. The accomplishments and fanfare of this season would seem to be leading up to a storybook return to the Final Four for the Hawkeyes and their star player Caitlin Clark -- and maybe even that elusive first national title in Iowa's history.
But not so fast.
Yes, Clark has been the face of college basketball this season, without a doubt.
Already a household name for her feats in the NCAA tournament last spring -- leading the Hawkeyes within a win of the national championship with 31.8 points per game throughout the tourney -- Clark went into 2023-24 with high expectations. She has somehow met all of them so far. That included passing the all-time Division I women's scoring record (formerly held by Kelsey Plum), the women's major-college record (formerly held by Lynette Woodard) and the overall D-I record (formerly held by Pete Maravich).
But before fans of Iowa, Clark and the women's game as a whole get their brackets set and add championship game tickets to their electronic wallets, expectations need to be tempered around another deep tourney run for these Hawkeyes.
Here's why.