Caitlin Clark and Iowa march into the NCAA Tournament Championship

First, a legitimate apology for not having a gamethread for last night’s stunning Women’s NCAA Tournament Final Four, as Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes came out with a brilliant gameplan to slow the South Carolina Gamecocks, packing the lane with a triangle-and-2-looking defense and literally waving away a few of the Gamecocks’ players if they had the ball on the perimeter:

Clark dropped 41 points, and cue the laughable Iowa football stats:

Don’t let your laughter at Brian Ferentz, though, distract you from what a stellar season and career Clark is having.

From getting shouted out by virtually every star in professional men’s and women’s basketball to rewriting the record book in real time against a team that had won 42 straight games, Clark and the Hawkeyes have something magical going. They’ll test that tomorrow against the LSU Tigers in the national championship game, and we’ll have a thread for you here.

Kind of...: Jokes and typical OTEing are appropriate 95% of the time.

On some occasions, though, it’s healthy and right to appreciate greatness. This is certainly one of those times.

And I don’t just mean Clark. You’ll be hearing about her for years to come. Iowa had an NPOY 4 years ago... and got run out of the gym in the Elite 8. This is a great team, with an all-time great player leading the charge.

I hope they kick the shit out of LSU.