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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

The favorite choice for this year’s National POY, Caitlin Clark, has huge shoes to fill in this March Madness. Being the first seed of the Albany 2 region with many heavyweight teams, including LSU, Clark’s camp – Iowa – will not have a smooth sail to Cleveland for their Final Four. Nevertheless, the NCAA finalist are riding high after their recent Big-10 Championship win. Moreover, they have shown that they have the ability to take down formidable opponents throughout their conference campaign. But will they be able to repeat their previous year’s March Madness success?

Entering the tournament, Iowa will face the winner of an enticing First Four encounter between Holy Cross and UT Martin. If they get the desired result, the Hawkeyes’ next challenge will feature one of the two evenly matched sides. These will be West Virginia (8) and Princeton (9.) Moving on to their Sweet Sixteen matchup, Caitlin Clark and Co. will come across either the Lady Buffs or Kansas St. unless both these teams become victims of a Cinderella story.

USA Today via Reuters

Iowa will then have a shot at redemption in their cards in Elite Eight. Provided that LSU follows the same path as them in their knockout matches. If not, the Gamecocks will have a neck-to-neck competition with the remaining two immaculate teams that may or may not change their fate in this March Madness. These include UCLA (2) and the Bluejays (7.)

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Read More- Who Are the 9 Other Semifinalists Apart From Caitlin Clark Nominated to Win the 2024 Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year Award?

With Iowa’s performance this season and their focused mindset, the Gamecocks just might reach Cleaveland for their Final Four matchup. However, with her WNBA draft on the way, this will mark an end to the Caitlin effect for college basketball.

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Caitlin Clark’s final dance in the March Madness

Iowa’s senior baller Caitlin Clark will soon be bidding farewell to the competitive world of college basketball. In the past month, she had declared that she would turn pro through this year’s WNBA draft. This will be the last chance for the talented 6 ft guard to add a national championship ring to her glittering list of accolades.

In addition to this, if she leads Iowa to their first NCAA title, the hype and popularity that she has created for women’s basketball will have no ceiling for the basketball fans. In the end, the only question that remains is whether she will be able to do it this time around or forever be one of the greatest players to never win an NCAA ring.

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Do you believe Iowa will win this March Madness?

Read More- Caitlin Clark Gets the Winning Motivation for March Madness From Inspiring Deion Sanders