Many were surprised and disappointed when Caitlin Clark passed over the opportunity to compete in the inaugural season of the three-on-three league Unrivaled this year. But the Indiana Fever star was playing offseason basketball nonetheless.
Clark, who broke record after record during her college career with the Iowa Hawkeyes, took the unusual step of going back to college as a professional. No, she didn’t gain any extra college eligibility, but she did hoop with her former teammates, thanks to a relatively new NCAA rule.
Iowa’s coach, Jan Jensen, shared how Clark helped Iowa ahead of one of its biggest games of the season versus the USC Trojans in February.
The Hawkeyes played JuJu Watkins and the Trojans in a home contest on Feb. 2, with Clark’s Iowa jersey retirement ceremony following the game. USC entered the contest on a 15-game winning streak and was ranked No. 4 in the country, while Iowa was unranked and had lost five of its previous seven games.
To help prepare for USC, Iowa had Clark join practice, becoming essentially the scout-team quarterback, playing the role of the All-American Watkins. A pro player practicing at her alma mater with current student-athletes was previously prohibited by the NCAA, but Jensen revealed the organization recently changed that rule, allowing Clark, and others, to do so.
“I didn’t tell our players until the day before,” Jenson continued. “And I said, ‘By the way, tomorrow we’re going to have an extra practice player, and it’s going to be Caitlin.’ And [the players] are like, ‘What?’... They loved it. During the practice, they were really cool, and Caitlin was stroking it from 40 and just doing amazing things. It was fun for all of us.
“She did do JuJu pretty well, but no one’s Caitlin, right? But it was really fun for Lucy Olsen. Lucy told me afterward, she’s like, ‘That was awesome. I was so nervous but it was so awesome.’”
Olsen transferred to Iowa last season after beginning her career with Villanova, so she never got to play with Clark until the WNBA star returned to Iowa’s practice. Olsen essentially took the role of Clark on Iowa’s team last season, leading the team in points and assists enroute to making All Big Ten First Team. She also clearly benefited from Clark’s practice session—Olsen led the Hawkeyes with 28 points as they upset USC, and she outscored Watkins, who finished with 27. Olsen was taken by the Washington Mystics in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
After the game, Clark saw her jersey lifted into the rafters at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, becoming just the third Iowa women’s basketball player to receive the honor. The day was one of the few highlights during Iowa’s season, which ended with a 34-point defeat in the second round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament.
The timing of the WNBA season allowed for Clark’s return. Unlike the NBA, which runs simultaneously to the NCAA basketball season, the WNBA operates on a summer schedule in which the regular season begins in May and ends in September.
Clark will resume practicing with the Fever when WNBA training camps open on April 27. The Fever will be looking to build upon their 20-20 record last year in which they made the postseason, ending a seven-year playoff drought, the longest in WNBA history. Clark and the Fever will have a new head coach, as Christie Sides was replaced with Stephanie White, an Indiana native, who previously coached the Fever from 2015-16.
The all-time leading scorer in Division I history, Clark didn’t disappoint when she left Iowa City for Indianapolis. She was named WNBA Rookie of the Year, started in the All-Star Game, broke the rookie scoring record and became the first rookie to record a triple-double. She capped off her inaugural pro season by becoming the fifth rookie in league history to make All-WNBA First Team.
She was also recognized outside her league. Clark was named Athlete of the Year by Time magazine, becoming just the second individual female athlete to receive that honor. Additionally, she was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press, becoming just the second WNBA player to win that award, following Candace Parker, who won it twice.
