The 2024/25 season represents a new beginning for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Caitlin Clark, the women’s basketball phenom who became the all-time leading scorer in Division I college basketball history as a member of the Hawkeyes, is now playing in the WNBA where she continues to break record after record.
Sadly, the days of Clark shooting the Hawkeyes to glory are over.
In her place steps Lucy Olsen, the Pennsylvania native and senior guard who transferred to Iowa this offseason after three seasons with the Villanova Wildcats.
Clark’s shoes are virtually impossible to fill, but Olsen has already done something the Indiana Fever star never managed during her entire time in college.
Following a 71-58 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday, Iowa is 5-0 to start the season for the first time in seven years — dating back to the 2017-18 season, three years before Clark was on the scene.
In a span of four days, the Hawkeyes have handled two teams that were in last year’s NCAA Tournament –- an 86-73 road win over Drake and a blowout victory against the previously unbeaten Jayhawks (4-1) of the Big 12 Conference.
Olsen has been as good as advertised.
The senior guard scored 16 points on Wednesday against Kansas to go along with six assists. Olsen has now scored in double figures in all five games since joining the Hawkeyes.
Olsen’s hot start to the season will comes as no surprise to those who have followed her young career.
She enjoyed a standout three-year career at Villanova, leading the Wildcats to the Sweet Sixteen in 2023 and the finals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament last season.
Olsen finished her career at Villanova ranked ninth all-time in scoring with 1,504 points. She’s also made waves on the international stage, suiting up for Team USA Basketball the last two years and winning a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League Final.
Olsen is a versatile scorer with an excellent midrange game and a patented stepback fadeaway jumper she routinely relies upon.
While she’s no Clark from beyond the arc, she’s proven a more than willing 3-point shooter, despite only shooting 30 percent from deep last year.
Now in her fourth collegiate year, Olsen was third in Division I women’s basketball scoring last season, just behind Clark and projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, JuJu Watkins, averaging an impressive 23.3 points per game.
Though it’s early in the season, Olsen has already cemented her status as one of the country’s top transfer portal additions.
Through five games with the Hawkeyes, she’s averaging 17.8 points, four rebounds, and 5.3 assists while shooting 50 percent from the floor.
Many would have labeled Olsen crazy, or confident, or both after transferring to Iowa in the immediate aftermath of the Caitlin Clark era.
But the young hooper paid no attention to that, instead following her gut after being sold on the culture and family feel that had been fostered on the Iowa campus.
No. 33 knows the Clark comparisons will always be there.
But that don’t faze Olsen, who is simply trying to become the best player she can be while contributing to a winning basketball program.
“Caitlin Clark is Caitlin Clark. I’m not going to try to be her,” Olsen said. “But they need a point guard, and it’s a perfect opportunity to try to make something happen.”
Up next for the undefeated Hawkeyes is a home game against Washington State followed by matchups against Rhode Island and BYU over Thanksgiving.