Caitlin Clark has unrealistically changed the image of women’s basketball in the last four years with the Hawkeyes. But with the roses, did she also get a lot of thorns? Yes. In fact, while she has amassed almost all the accolades one can grab during a college career in basketball, she has made numerous enemies as well. Nevertheless, she continues bringing pride to Iowa and her head coach, Lisa Bluder.

Bluder talked to The Athletic‘s reporter in the post-game interview about how challenging Clark’s life is; especially, as a player who everyone looks up to and who has become well-known in the country. Providing everyone with the bitter truth of fame behind a generational player, the head coach said, “I appreciate her so much, her skills. I appreciate how she has handled this. I think her crown is heavy. And I mean, she has been the face of women’s basketball, you can even say men’s basketball, all year long.”

“And for her to do that every single night and really, never have a bad night, to do that with seeing the best defense that she can get, every single night, everybody doing different things to her, pulling off being a great teammate, not having people be jealous of her on this team, film a commercial one day, be in practice fully ready to go the next day, that has impressed me.”

Praising the 4× First-team All-American USBWA, Bluder also talked about how defeating Clark has been a goal for everyone this year. No doubt, she has been tagged as a generational player. In fact, Kim Mulkey, coach of LSU, and Angel Reese, who happens to be her biggest rival said, “She’s who she is and that’s awesome, and her lord knows when I played against her, ‘I was like are you kidding me?’ What a generational talent.” Mulkey’s team faced Hawkeyes last season, where the Tigers defeated the latter 102-85 in the 2023 National Championship.

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico and Illinois coach Shauna Green echoed the same sentiments about Clark as Mulkey. No one has been able to deny Clark’s skills and basketball success. Clearly, her success is also the product of several other women who were there before her.

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Caitlin Clark also deals with the social media heat!

Lisa Bluder further addressed how women athletes like Clark have more shoes to fill. Talking about the influence of social media, she said, “I’m just more appreciative of what these young ladies are going through today as far as social media and the haters out there. I think I just appreciate them and think God it’s a great time to be a female athlete, but it is also a really hard time. It’s both.” 

This is especially true for a player like Clark. With great recognition comes great criticism as well. And the 22-year-old has been at the receiving end of both. Recently, an X user shared how they were unhappy with her behavior while playing. Clark was quick to block the person, and she found support from her fans for this action.

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Now, Caitlin Clark has turned the basketball world upside down, specifically, by bringing more views to the women’s league. With the growing expectations, the projected favorite NPOY contender remains unaffected, and that’s surely something worth applauding. Further, she has received several accolades. Wooden Award? Check. Naismith Award? Check. Associated Press player of the year? Check. She is also the only player to top 1,000 points in a season twice.

Earlier this month, she broke a record that was set five decades ago. Clark surpassed Maravich’s record as the all-time NCAA scoring leader. She needed just 18 points to cross Maravich’s total of 3,617 going into the game against Ohio State. In fact, just before this game, coach Lisa Bluder said, “You know, her logo shots are definitely spectacular, but her vision of the court, I swear she has eyes in the back of her head.” Can’t deny that, can we?

Do you agree with Bluder’s opinions? Let us know in the comments below.

Caitlin Clark Breaks Another NCAA Scoring Record – Vintage Display Erupts Home Crowd in Thriller vs West Virginia, Carries Iowa to Sweet 16