The University of Iowa’s women’s basketball team has been making milestone moves with their booming popularity. For an Oct. 15 event where the Hawkeyes will play against DePaul, their “Crossover at Kinnick” exhibition game has already sold over 47,000 tickets for the Kinnick Stadium game.
The Iowa City stadium seats nearly 70,000 people, and the Hawkeyes are on their way to filling them. The Hawkeyes’ coach, Lisa Bluder, was inspired by the initial success of her program to continue to build. The women’s college basketball team’s attendance record was set back in 2002, and they’ve only continued to garner more support in recent years. The team finished their most recent season with a 31-7 record and a national championship appearance.
Bluder told CBS Sports during Iowa’s media day, “I’ve stolen this quote from Billie Jean King many times. And, in fact, I’m reading the book right now, ‘Pressure Is a Privilege.’ So I think we have to remember that we’re in this situation of facing pressure because we’ve done well. Let’s enjoy that. Let’s rejoice about that.”
Bluder attributed the team’s success to star guard Caitlin Clark, a 6-foot player who scored 191 points in the NCAA Tournament last season. Bluder credited her overwhelming drive to get better.
“You know, she’s never satisfied, but that’s the beauty of basketball. You never play a perfect game,” Bluder expressed. “There’s always things that you can work on. I think she understands that. She’s constantly working to get better. It’s not like she’s sitting back and enjoying this time of her being the National Player of the Year. She wants to get it again. She’s wired that way, where she just always wants to do better.”
The Hawkeyes have already sold out their season tickets for their 2023-2024 campaign, with interest being led by senior Clark, fifth-year guard Gabbie Marshall, and sixth-year guard Kate Martin.
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