Who’s Caitlin Clark Facing Off in 1st Round of March Madness? Everything You Need to Know About Iowa’s First Opponent in NCAA Tournament

Selection Sunday lists Iowa Hawkeyes as No. 1 seeded team in Albany 2 Region. That means Caitlin Clark’s camp will be facing the winner between the Holy Cross Crusaders vs. UT Martin Skyhawks in the first round. If Hawkeyes advance that, they will play the winner of the matchup between West Virginia and Princeton in the second round.

Hawkeyes’ road ahead will get more challenging with potential matchups along the way against Kansas State and LSU in the Sweet 16 and regional final respectively. However, if their first round rival decide to live by their name, then Clark’s campaign might derail at the word go itself.

The Name is: Holy Cross Crusaders

Hailing from Worcester, Massachusetts, the Crusaders earned a 16 seed in the Iowa City Regional and are set to face No. 16 seeded Ut Martin Skyhawks on March 21. They won their 13th Patriot League Championship this year and finished the regular season with an overall record of 16-12, including a 10-7 record in the Patriot League. Out of 360 teams, they have ranked at 251st position nationally as they averaged 61.8 points per game.

Some of their notable victories of the season include a 59-48 win against the American. They also knocked off Boston University with the score of 61-55 at the Hart Center Arena on Sunday and won the Patriot League Championship. Marking this one as their 13th victory, they have won the Patriot League back-to-back, hence becoming the only team to do so since Navy’s three-peat from 2011 to 2013.

The team’s leading scorer Power Cassidy was named the MVP Patriot League Championship for the second consecutive season. She went in full throttle on Saint Patrick’s Day scoring a game-high 21 points. Seniors Cara McCormack and Janelle Allen played a pivotal role in delivering Holy Cross its Patriot League championship title. McCormack scored 15 points, while Allen did most of her hard work on maintaining the defense.

Read More: Breaking NCAA’s Top Scorer Record, Caitlin Clark Can Extend History Books With Few More Pages of Her Own in March Madness

Notably, this is the 3rd consecutive year when Crusaders have won 20+ games. They have also established a new single-season win mark with 15 on their home court, the Hart Center.

If Not Crusaders, then Skyhawks for Sure

Boasting a young roster, Skyhawks are entering March Madness with the OVC’s automatic bid after winning a couple of games in last week’s conference championship. This team can be called the injury-stricken UConn Huskies nemesis, as they started their season with six consecutive setbacks.

These setbacks included losing their lone preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference honoree within two weeks into the season, and seven separate season-ending injuries, attempting at a playing rotation of 6 players at max, and yet they are here, set to compete in March Madness.

In simple words, their encounter with rash injuries kicked off when NCAA Division I transfers Sydneey Boykin from Mercer, Ally Collett from Eastern Kentucky, and Kiya Dorroh from Colorado State got sidelined for the whole season. Followed by the Preseason All-OVC honoree Shae Littleford could play for only four games before sustaining a season-ending injury. They took another hit when freshman Morgan could play only 8 games.

This year marks their 5th appearance in the NCAA National Championship tournament. “Patience is a virtue” is the mantra that is followed by this team. Moreover, head coach Kevin McMillan has been pressing his team with the quote, “Just wait until they figure it out,” throughout the season. They won 14 games in their last 22 outings in their transition to the postseason.

The team powered through the rigorous OVC schedule, finishing with an 11-7 record given their distorted potential-and-end-result ratio. They played with all five starters who played for 40 minutes without any substitute in the regular season finale. Their patience finally paid off as they tied themselves for second place in the OVC standings.

In essence, both the teams are giving tough competition and look promising for the fans to go wild with a thrilling first round with sensational Caitlin Clark and co.