Culture
Iowa to retire Caitlin Clark’s No. 22 jersey in February
No Iowa women’s basketball player will wear No. 22 again.
That is because, on Feb. 2, the Hawkeyes will retire Caitlin Clark’s jersey during an in-arena ceremony as Iowa takes on USC at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Over her four years with the program, Clark rewrote both the Iowa and NCAA record books. Last winter, she became the all-time women’s NCAA Division I scoring leader, major college scoring leader and all-time Division I men’s and women’s scoring champion in a 17-day span. During her career, Clark also broke the record for 3-pointers in a single season, made two national championship appearances, was a four-time AP All-American and was twice named the National Player of the Year.
All of that only relays part of Clark’s legacy, however, as her impact was seen and felt in the frenzy surrounding every game she played. Iowa broke countless attendance, merchandise and television records. ESPN said the 2024 national championship between the Hawkeyes and Gamecocks was the most-watched basketball game (men’s or women’s college or pro) since 2019, averaging 18.9 million viewers and peaking at 24.1 million viewers, a 90 percent increase from the 2023 title game.
“I’m forever proud to be a Hawkeye and Iowa holds a special place in my heart that is bigger than just basketball,” Clark said in a statement. “It means the world to me to receive this honor and to celebrate it with my family, friends and alumni. It will be a great feeling to look up in the rafters and see my jersey alongside those that I’ve admired for so long.”
To the rafters.
2.2.25@CaitlinClark22 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/Qjq1Y1VfrZ
— Iowa Women’s Basketball (@IowaWBB) December 18, 2024
“Caitlin Clark has not only redefined excellence on the court but has also inspired countless young athletes to pursue their dreams with passion and determination,” Director of Athletics Beth Goetz said. “Her remarkable achievements have left an indelible mark on the University of Iowa and the world of women’s basketball.”
When Clark’s No. 22 is raised to the rafters it will join Michelle Edwards’ No. 30 and Megan Gustafson’s No. 10 to become the third women’s basketball player to have their numbers honored at Iowa.
With Clark having transitioned to the professional ranks — where she made the All-WNBA first-team as a rookie with the Indiana Fever — the Hawkeyes entered into a transitional season. Shortly after last year, longtime head coach Lisa Bluder retired, giving way for her longtime associate head coach, Jan Jensen, to take on the lead role. Now led by junior forward Hannah Stuelke and senior transfer guard Lucy Olsen, Iowa opened the season winning its first eight games. However, the Hawkeyes have dropped two of their last three contests, falling to Tennessee and Michigan State.
Iowa’s matchup on Feb. 2 will be its first against the Trojans following USC’s move to the Big Ten. USC is led by JuJu Watkins, who despite being only a sophomore, is already viewed as an heir apparent to Clark in terms of continuing to elevate women’s college basketball.
Tipoff for USC-Iowa is set for 1:30 p.m. ET and the contest will air on FOX.
“Retiring her number is a testament to her extraordinary contributions and a celebration of her legacy that will continue to inspire future generations,” Goetz said. “Hawkeye fans are eager to say thank you for so many incredible moments.”
Required reading
(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)
Welcome to Lit Trivia, the Book Review’s regular quiz about books, authors and literary culture. This week’s challenge tests your memory of books that made huge impacts on society after they were published — some of them even spurring changes to American laws. In the five multiple-choice questions below, tap or click on the answer you think is correct. After the last question, you’ll find links to the books if you’d like to do further reading.
Where do you turn when you need advice? A chatbot? A life coach? A wise and trusted friend?
How about a poet? Poets may not be famous for making the best life choices, but because they subject the mess of human existence to the discipline of language, they can be as helpful as any therapist or mentor.
Good poets know the rules and when to break them, which is something they can teach the rest of us.
To wit:
Giving advice is a peculiar literary undertaking. It flourishes in certain popular genres — graduation speeches, newspaper columns, country and western songs and poems like this one — but what, in these contexts, is it really for?
I’m thinking of situations when you don’t urgently need help but nonetheless enjoy reading answers to questions you may not have thought to ask. What interests you isn’t the content of the advice — you could get all the life hacks you want from A.I. — so much as the voice of the person dispensing it.
Wendy Cope is an English poet, born in 1945, who has been a fixture of her country’s literary scene since the 1980s. More recently, her short, buoyant poem “The Orange” has been widely memed online, bringing her to the attention of new readers beyond Britain.
Cope favors rhyme, meter, brisk jokes and tart aperçus. She addresses romance, friendship and the petty absurdities of modern life with disarming good humor. The last line of “The Orange” is “I love you. I’m glad I exist.” Somehow she makes it the opposite of cringe.
This isn’t the kind of poetry you would describe as “confessional.” And yet …
Question 1/7
Stop, if the car is going “clunk”
Or if the sun has made you blind.
Don’t answer e–mails when you’re drunk.
Tap a word above to fill in the highlighted blank.Want to learn this poem by heart? We’ll help.
Fill in the missing words below. You can always refer to the reading by A.O. Scott and full
text above.Let’s start with the first stanza.
A strong sense of place can deeply influence a story, and in some cases, the setting can even feel like a character itself. This week’s literary geography quiz highlights places where authors were born (or lived) that later became locations in their books. To play, just make your selection in the multiple-choice list and the correct answer will be revealed. At the end of the quiz, you’ll find links to the works if you’d like to do further reading.
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