ALBANY, N.Y. — As the cameras panned the MVP Arena crowd of the Sweet Sixteen game between Iowa and Colorado, it paused on a tall teenager holding a sign in the corner of the lower bowl. It read:
“Flew from Ireland to watch March Madness”
Caitlin Clark Mania is officially global.
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Helena Keane made the trek from Dublin with her parents and brother Sean for the game. The trip was a hard-to-pull-off dream present for her 16th birthday.
After seeing their daughter stay up until the wee morning hours to see Iowa in the national championship last year, Nile and Mags Keane decided to take the family on a spring break to America.
But Helena Keane’s birthday is in December and Selection Sunday is in March. So they bought refundable airfare to New York City and Oregon and ticket packages to both the Albany and Portland Regionals with the plan to attend one and sell the other.
Then they had to wait and hope Iowa wasn’t upset in the first or second round in Iowa City. Despite a few nervous moments against West Virginia in the second round, Clark came through and the Keanes boarded a flight to New York.
“I’m just so inspired by Caitlin Clark and her game,” said Keane, who is a 6-foot-1 guard on the Irish national under-16 team. “I was impressed by her range. She took off last year during March Madness. She’s one of a kind in college basketball.”
Keene dreams of someday playing college basketball in the U.S. herself. Watching it up close only sharpened that goal.
“It looks so amazing,” she said. “This is way bigger than any arena in Ireland. It’s just so cool.”
The Keanes and everyone else who filled up the stands at MVP Arena saw Clark put up 29 points, 15 assists and six rebounds in what could be considered an off night after she missed eight of 11 3-pointers.
But having a ticket on Saturday was about witnessing a moment in time. Years from now being able to have witnessed Clark play for Iowa might be like having a ticket stub for an Indiana State game during Larry Bird’s career.
But it was about more than Clark too. She and Angel Reese, Juju Hawkins and so many others are part of a wave of women’s college basketball stars who have brought new fans and new sponsors to the game. Being in Albany on Saturday and even more so on Monday when Clark and Reese face each other again is like witnessing history.
Women’s basketball has had surges before and this could be the next big one.
The Caitlin Clark experience in Albany began well before she took the court.
Before the second quarter of the LSU-UCLA game (two hours before the Hawkeyes tipped against Colorado, every Iowa T-shirt at the MVP Arena souvenir stands were sold out. Not just the black-and-gold Hawkeye-specific gear, but even the shirts with logos of all the teams in Albany were gone too.
It was impossible to look straight ahead from anywhere in the arena bowl and not see multiple fans in Iowa T-shirts, hoodies or tank tops. Clark’s 22 was on many of them. It’s easy to forget there was a time not long ago when gear couldn’t be sold with an NCAA player’s name on it. Now Clark shirts dot the arena like sequins on Kim Mulkey’s pantsuits. Officially licensed ones, unofficial ones —”From the logo 22″ and “You Serious Clark 22?” — and at least a few homemade originals were everywhere. On old men, on toddlers, little girls and full families.
Everywhere.
Colorado may have had a great year with 24 wins and a No. 5 seed, but on Saturday, they perfectly played the role of Washington Generals. They were competitive enough for a little while, but didn’t derail the show everyone came to see on Saturday or the Iowa-LSU rematch everyone wanted for Monday.
Clark came out of the game in the final minutes and after the buzzer sounded she made the outline of a heart with her hands and smiled at the appreciative crowd. As she headed to the locker room, she received a warm ovation from the fans, including the Keanes of Dublin.
“It’s been more than we hoped for,” Keane said. “Being here makes it more amazing. Seeing all these stars in real life. I’m just starstruck.”
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
