Lisa Bluder believes Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston 'could really have fun' on same WNBA team

Iowa fans were heartbroken in February when women’s basketball superstar Caitlin Clark announced that she would not be taking her fifth year with the Hawkeyes and declared for the WNBA Draft. A decision that Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder also had to come to terms with as well.

“Can she still change her mind? Is that possible?” Bluder asked. “I don’t know. I would like that very much.”

Sunday’s national championship game marked Clark’s last in an Iowa uniform, leaving a remarkable legacy behind as she now looks to transition to the next level. Leading to Bluder being asked how she feels Clark’s unique play style and elements of her game will translate to the WNBA.

“How much — I don’t know if that’s a good question for me or for a WNBA coach, to be quite honest,” Bluder said. “Obviously she’s going to have great people around her. And if you put great people around her, that helps her succeed so much. So I think that’s going to be a benefit.”

Clark’s scoring ability captivated audiences during her time with the Hawkeyes, becoming college basketball’s all-time leading scorer between the men’s and women’s games with deep off the dribble three-pointers and dazzling finishes around the rim. But her passing ability has been elite as well, leading the nation in assists per game last season along with points becoming the only college basketball player ever to record 1,000 career assists alongside 3,000 career points.

Clark’s expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft, a selection that the Indiana Fever possess for a second straight year which could pair her with last year’s top pick. Former South Carolina center Aliyah Boston.

“If she’s with the Fever, playing with somebody like Aliyah Boston, I think they could really have fun together. I think they’ll be a great one-two punch,” Bluder said.

Both Boston and Clark took home numerous national Player of the Year awards at the college level, with Boston winning WNBA Rookie of the Year last season and making the All-Star Team after averaging 14.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

The duo would likely be a perfect pair after Clark displayed elite playmaking ability with her bigs throughout her college career. But for Clark and other rookies at large Bluder does have some concerns regarding the WNBA.

“She’s going to be really tired after this season. That’s what concerns me the most. Rookies go into the WNBA, which is such a challenging time, at their most exhausted time. That’s a little bit kind of unfair for them,” Bluder said.

“I just know that Caitlin has stepped up to every challenge that we’ve posed to her. And I expect the same thing at the next level, although I know she’s going to have to pay her rookie dues.”

There’s no question the transition will have to be a quick one for Clark and her rookie classmates following Sunday’s national championship, with the WNBA Draft kicking off on Monday, April 15 and the WNBA preseason tipping off on May 3.