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March Madness: Caitlin Clark, Iowa's difficult Final Four path

Caitlin Clark and the No. 1-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes play their first game in the 2024 NCAA women's tournament Saturday at 3 p.m. ET (ABC/ESPN App). AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

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.