Clark, Bueckers share history, drive ahead of Iowa-UConn clash - ESPN

CLEVELAND — Iowa's Caitlin Clark and UConn's Paige Bueckers both stressed that Friday's national semifinal showdown between the Hawkeyes and the Huskies (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) was all about their teams, not them.

UConn's Geno Auriemma, who is coaching in the women's Final Four for the 23rd time, sees the individual superstar matchup in a more historical lens. He recalls the 1979 men's national championship game between Magic Johnson (Michigan State) and Larry Bird (Indiana State) as helping elevate not just March Madness but the NBA.

"[With] Magic and Bird, TV all of a sudden started paying more attention," Auriemma said during Thursday's sessions with media at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. «Those two particular players came on, and it just lit everything up, and it just took off from there.

»So [the game] needs some stars. It needs people that have the right personality, the right game. And we have that now."

That's true with two guards who are must-watch standouts. Clark leads the nation in scoring (32.0 PPG) and assists (9.0 APG); she has scored more points (3,900) in her Iowa career than any men's or women's player in Division I history. She's coming off a 41-point, 12-assist performance in a win over LSU in an Elite Eight game on Monday that drew a record television audience of more than 12 million.

Bueckers was the national player of the year as a freshman in 2021 and has made it to the Final Four each of the three seasons she has been healthy enough to play. Bueckers missed 2022-23 with a knee injury, and UConn missed the Final Four for the first time since 2007. Bueckers had 28 points and 10 rebounds in UConn's regional final victory over USC; she is averaging 22.0 points and 3.9 assists.

Clark said Thursday that she