A midsummer game of Twenty Questions with Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark

IOWA CITY — She brought the noise at the Pentacrest, and she thrives on a boisterous crowd, whether it’s the friendly masses at Carver-Hawkeye Arena or the hostility of life on the road.

But even Caitlin Clark has her decibel limit.

“Actually, I don’t listen to a ton of music before games, which is probably weird,” she said Wednesday, two days before the University of Iowa women’s basketball team left for a trip to Europe.

“I am so amped for the game anyway, I don’t need to be even more juiced up from hype music.”

In an exclusive Q&A session with The Gazette, the All-American point guard spoke openly about a wide range of topics.

Among them:

Angel Reese. NIL and the transfer portal. Her kid connection. Trash talk. Northwestern’s coach. Nebraska’s fans. Life after Monika Czinano.

And, perhaps most importantly to her thousands of fans, where things stand in her mind about the likelihood of a fifth year of eligibility (spoiler alert, it’s better than 50-50).

The following is a partial transcript of our Clark conversation:

1. What excites you most about the European trip?

“I’m excited to go over there and play, but basketball is such a small part of it. I expect there will be jitters from the young girls.

“We get to play this summer. Not every team gets to do that. I’m excited to get out, get up and down the court.

“I’m excited to see Italy and Croatia, two of the most beautiful places in the world.

“I’m grateful to have a coach that wants to make these trips memorable for us.”

  Buy Photo

2. It seems the offseason awards circuit hasn’t slowed down for you. Which award has meant the most to you?

“They’re all special in their own way. Sometimes I don’t even know that it’s an award that exists, and I mean that in the most respectful way.

“The academic awards are really special, and sometimes those aren’t at the forefront.

“I loved the Honda Cup Award out in L.A. This was all women’s athletes, not just basketball players. I went up against girls that have been in the Olympics. I don’t know why they picked me, I’m not even close to the Olympics.”

3. With all of your offseason commitments, how do you make time for basketball?

“I’ve had to turn down a lot because I wanted to be here for my team and I’d never want to bail on my team.

“With a new NCAA rules change, we’re allowed to have our coaches be way more involved, which has been huge for me. Me and (director of player development) Tania (Davis) have been able to get in the gym and work on the things I want to work on. I think it’s super-beneficial for me.

“I’ve been working a lot more off-the-ball stuff, coming off screens. I try to come in with younger players and get some shots with them.”

4. What part of your game still needs refinement and improvement?

“I think it’s moving away from the ball, coming off screens, getting my shots up faster. Sometimes there will be an offense we run that coaches can tell I’m not comfortable getting my feet set and getting the shot off.

“I’m very comfortable shooting off the dribble, shooting in transition. I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable shooting off screens, shooting off handoffs.

“I want to work on things by myself that are going to translate into things that we run.

“Obviously, I’d like to cut down on turnovers still again.”

5. Since last season, LSU’s Angel Reese posed for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Were you approached?

“I was not. Honestly, I’m probably not one to pose in a swimsuit. I don’t know if my body is good enough for that.

“The cool thing, me and Angel ... do a lot of different stuff NIL-wise. She has so many opportunities, and everything she has done has been absolutely incredible.

“People use NIL how they use it. I use it in different ways than our football guys do.

“I probably wouldn’t have considered (the photo shoot had I been contacted). I haven’t done much NIL stuff since the season ended. To be honest, I wanted to get away and relax. That stuff is special, but it’s exhausting.”

6. At the team’s welcome-home at the Pentacrest, that speech ... planned or impromptu?

“Yeahhhhh. I had some energy that day.

“They told me that I was going to speak, and I was, ‘OK, sure.’ I mean, I have the most personality on the team, so I was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ And that’s fun for me to interact with our fans.

“I expected a huge crowd, but I didn’t expect 10,000 people there on a beautiful Friday afternoon in Iowa City. I just wanted to stay and live in that moment forever.”

7. You are an intelligent, bright person. I am setting the over/under on your ACT score at 29 1/2. Am I close?

“I actually only took it one time, after my freshman or sophomore year and I only got like a 24 because I hadn’t taken any of the classes I needed.

“I was super young and I just went and took it. I never retook it; I didn’t need to retake it to (qualify).

“Now that you’ve offered me this challenge, maybe I should retake it and see what I can really get. I think I could be high-20s, I don’t think I’d get into the 30s.

“My brothers got a 33 and a 29, they kind of diss me about it. It’s like, guys, ‘I hadn’t even taken geometry yet.’”

8. Your connection with kids, is that natural or acquired?

“It has always been kind of natural for me. I was around older people growing up. I understand how important older role models are. I know how much those people inspired me to be on this level right now.

“I can be that kind of person for all of these kids that are running around, so it’s really easy for me to take time for them. It’s hard to say no to a really cute little kid. Maybe it’s easier to say no to an older adult.

“I know it’s not going to last forever, so I enjoy it while I can. I almost want to tell them, ‘Hey, I’m really not as cool as you think I am.’”

9. What’s your favorite opposing arena?

“Oooooh, geez ... Nebraska!

“All of my family is from Nebraska. I always have a huge crowd. But Nebraska doesn’t like me. I don’t know why.

“They fill it up when we come to town. They can argue it’s for them. When we come to town, it’s usually a Sunday afternoon. The place is usually going bonkers and it’s amazing for women’s basketball.

“They don’t really love me there, but I get it, it’s the Iowa-Nebraska rivalry. I think we play good basketball there; hopefully I don’t jinx us.”

  Buy Photo

10. Opposing coach that you respect most?

“Honestly, I really love the coaches in the Big Ten. I could go a lot of different ways.

“I think Joe McKeown at Northwestern is very admirable, what he’s done with that program, the people he recruits. He’s always been super respectful to me. Early in my career, he gave me a hard time with the blizzard defense, so maybe I shouldn’t like him, but, no he’s amazing.

“It was super cool to play against Lindsay Whalen (formerly at Minnesota). I love Amy Williams and the whole Nebraska staff. They’ve always been super supportive of me. They recruited me, and they were great.”

11. Were you disappointed there was no activity in the transfer portal?

“No, I think we tried and looked around for what we could possibly have. I’m really happy with the group that we have.

“You look and see what there is, but if nobody wants to invest in here and come here, that’s OK. We’re not going to force anybody to come here and be a Hawk.

“There’s a million kids in the portal. Some of them are really good, some of them are not so great. It’s hard to find a fit, especially in that time frame. You might not get them on campus. They’re making decisions through Zoom calls.

“Sure, people can say they’re disappointed, but I’m really confident in the people we have.”

12. With your NIL earnings, if there was a situation in which 15 players were on scholarship, would you consider playing as a walk-on at some point to open another scholarship?

“Honestly, I’ve never thought about that. That would be something I would be open to doing. It’s honestly never crossed my mind.

“I think Coach Bluder is planning far enough ahead. She really wants me to be back here, and I love that my head coach wants me to be here.

“I’m treating this as my last year because I don’t want any regrets on what I decide and don’t decide to do.”

13. OK then, on a scale from 1 to 10, how likely are you to come back for a fifth season (in 2024-25)?

“I knew that was coming ... (lengthy laugh) ... oh, God, I really don’t know.

“A lot of it is going to depend on ... honestly, I’ll give you a 6. Just a little above the middle, it could definitely go either way. A lot depends on the WNBA draft lottery. A lot depends on how things go for our team this year.

“I would obviously like to have somewhat of an idea before I go into this year because it’s a big decision to make. It’s a big life decision, one of the toughest decisions I’ll make.

“I’ll sit down, take a piece of paper and a pencil and write down ‘Pros’ and ‘Cons.’ That’s what I did when I chose where I was going to go (to college).”

14. What’s life going to be like without Monika Czinano?

“It’s already really weird; I miss her so much. She moved out of her apartment last Friday. I said goodbye and I wanted to cry to her.

“It’s a good thing and a bad thing. She’s one of my best friends. Getting to share those memories, we understood each other so well on and off the court.

“Not having her presence and her goofy self will be really, really missed. I was so comfortable playing with a post like her. We had three years to build that bond.

“It’s an opportunity for three of our posts to go and take the ‘5’ spot. In my opinion, they’re being getting coached by one of the best post coaches in the country (in Jan Jensen), so they have every opportunity to be as successful as Monika was.”

  Buy Photo

15. What is your biggest irrational fear?

“Anything? That’s hard. I used to be terrified of cats. I would cry if a cat came near me.

“I hated cats. I don’t know why. There was a black cat on our street and it scared the crap out of me. His name was Jinx. The best day of my life was when that cat ran away.”

16. What is worst heckling you’ve received?

“I’ve had some bad stuff. There was this time at Nebraska that somebody was telling me that Dr. (Christine) Grant would be very disappointed in me.

“It was shortly after Dr. Grant had passed. To me, it was disrespectful to our whole university because Dr. Grant was one of the best in women’s athletics in all time.

“That’s what comes with this. It doesn’t intimidate me. It doesn’t scare me. It doesn’t make me upset. It comes with the spotlight and it comes with being great.

“I talk just as much crap and have just as much confidence. It’s not anything that I can’t handle. It comes with this role.”

17. Assuming you are No. 1 in this category, who is the second-best trash talker on the team?

“Kate Martin.

“Me and Kate, we’re like the same person. We’re wired the same. If we’re ever on different teams and we’re scrimmaging, we’ll go at each other, all in good fun. Maybe it gets a little serious sometimes, but we’ll step off the court and hug and be best friends.

“She’s one of my best friends, she knows everything about me. She likes to think she can get in my head, but she can’t.”

18. Have you ever had to deal with a stalker? Do you ever have a bodyguard?

“I don’t have a bodyguard. I do have security when I go to events from time to time, depending on what the event is, which is really weird for me.

“I’ve never had a stalker or any weird situation, that I know of at least. I walk around with a police officer when I leave games here. When I do appearances, I’ll have a security guard of some sort.

“It’s better if they say no to somebody than for me, then I don’t feel as bad, if I’m trying to enjoy something with my friends. Sometimes it’s hard to say no to pictures, when you’re trying to get from place to place — it’s not that I don’t want to, I just have a tight schedule.

“It is weird walking around with somebody moving people out of the way for you.

19. What’s the highlight of your pregame playlist?

“Actually, I don’t listen to a ton of music before games, which is probably weird. I am so amped for the game anyway, I don’t need to be even more juiced up from hype music.

“If I do listen to anything, it’s soothing, calm music or country music, something that’s going to calm me down and make me settle into the moment. I haven’t always been that way. It’s something I’ve developed through college.”

20. What’s the biggest key for Iowa’s success in 2023-24?

“I think there’s a few things. I think patience is going to be a big one. This team is different, but different in a really good way. But it’s going to take time. We’re not going to be the team that we were (last year) right away. I need to be patient and help bring kids along.

“I think confidence, too. We have players that don’t have the minutes yet, but installing confidence in them, that they can be on this stage and I believe in them a lot, and they need to believe in themselves.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com