Iowa stud transfer arrives with Caitlin Clark’s ghost lingering

Lucy Olsen got a hearty midwestern greeting as soon as she arrived at Iowa.

Olsen, the nation’s third-leading scorer in Division I women’s college basketball last year, transferred to Iowa from Villanova, as the Hawkeyes enter their first season post-Caitlin Clark.

At Big Ten media day Wednesday, Olsen told reporters she was recognized by fans at Chick-fil-A shortly after she arrived on campus in June.

“They get out of the car, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re Lucy Olsen, you’re the new Hawkeye,’” Olsen said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, how do you know me? I haven’t touched the ball yet.’ This is crazy, but it was definitely a really cool time.”

With Clark, Iowa reached the finals of the NCAA Tournament in 2023 and ’24 before losing to LSU and South Carolina, respectively.

At the Big Ten media event, Jan Jansen, the new Iowa head coach who succeeded Lisa Bluder, was asked if it was a motivating factor that the Hawkeyes are “more than” Clark and continue to succeed after she moved on.

“I don’t know if that’s really where we are,” Jansen said.

“I think Michael Jordan is still part of North Carolina. They probably don’t go through a recruiting process where someone doesn’t make some reference that Michael Jordan went there. I’m really proud of that [with Clark]. I feel like [the players’] mindset is, ‘That was part of it, but this is here and this is now.’ I think they have a really good approach on that.

“It’s not used in any inappropriate play, in my opinion. It’s there. It’s obvious. We’re gonna get a lot of questions about that. It’s out of respect and gratitude, but this is a new chapter.”

Jansen also compared and contrasted how Olsen and Clark play the guard position.

“It’s not the normal cast of characters, and that point guard position is going to be played a lot different,” the coach said. “[Olsen] doesn’t shoot it from Kinnick [the football stadium]. She shoots it from the normal 3-point line. She can pass it, but she’s not going to maybe make that three-quarter length pass. And when she shoots, a lot of them are going to be in that mid-range area. So I think there’s a fun style to her play that’s exciting to watch, because it’s all crafty.”

As far as the challenges of replacing Clark, Iowa forward Hannah Stuelke said, “It’s obviously going to change. Caitlin’s a crazy scorer. Kate [Martin] brought a lot too. But I think Lucy brings just as much, and she’s an amazing basketball player. I think we’re gonna score in a different way, maybe, but I think we’ll score just as much. So yeah, different — but the same.”