Blake Hornstein, Hawkeye HQ Reporter

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Listen on your Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll be glad you did. Blake, how are you, man? JR, I'm fantastic. Thank you so much for having me. A little bit of a hype up, I appreciate that.

Wouldn't say I know everything, but I'll do my best for you. Oh no, I appreciate that. So we learned earlier this afternoon that Kaitlyn Clark is going to move on. Not a shock. She's getting rid of the COVID waiver, the extra year. She's like, I don't need it.

I need to move on. Any surprise? Any surprise?

Shock? I mean, it seemed pretty normal, right? Yeah, I'd say the timing of it was unique. So from my understanding, it was really just this week there was a conversation about when it would happen. And really there was a senior day coming up on Sunday and there's the spotlight on Kaitlyn and a few of her teammates.

I would just say that you create clarity and the fans can soak it all up. There's only one regular season game left and potentially two more on the tournament. Really, the fans get their last chance to see Kaitlyn play at home and she said initially that this would be a decision she would make at the end of the year. Interesting rule, I think like 48 hours after the season's over she has to make the call and now you just really again create clarity and we know what's going to happen after the season.

Not a shock at all. Before she came to Iowa, her goal was to make it to a Final Four and potentially a national championship and she did that. She's the all-time leading scorer. She's going to pass Pete Maravich most likely on Sunday, which is just hard to wrap your brain around. But there's really not much left to do and it's time to go to the next challenge. Blake Hornstein is joining us here at the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio.

With your expertise and what you know out in Iowa, you had mentioned this, Sunday is going to be the last game, a scheduled game for right now against Ohio State. How has she kind of handled all of this? She seems pretty stoic, straightforward, she's all about business. We don't know too much about her personality, we just know she goes down onto the court and destroys people.

What might you be able to share about her? I think the most impressive part about Kaitlyn is not the fact that she can shoot a basketball from the parking lot or make crazy outlet passes, whatever you want to talk about her on the basketball court. It really is the way that she handles pressure.

Nothing ever faces her. Nothing's ever too big for her. I could not imagine being 21 years old and spearheading a sport, let alone women's sports in general. Kaitlyn's really bringing us into that golden era of women's athletics. The other thing I'd say too is she knows her role. She's never too big to take time to sign an autograph for a kid. There's literally people coming from all over the country to get their one chance for their daughter or son to see Kaitlyn Clark play. She'll always take the time to take a selfie, share a moment, because she understands that she was that little girl who watched Maya Moore play, looked up to her. Now she gets to do that, and she gets that. She has crazy media obligations. I think she had to turn down, I don't know, at least 100 media requests over the course of this season. It's unbelievable.

Again, you never see it. It's not too big for her. Heck, you go back to that game, she had the record on the table, 8 points. She scored 49. She always puts on a show. Again, it's just really hard to wrap your brain around her greatness, because whatever you expect, she'll just blow right out of the water.

Blake Hornstein is joining us from 4WHB4 out in Iowa. We have seen her fill up stadiums, 50-plus thousand, to show up to see her. I would say, in the conscience of the country, she's only really probably been here now for a year, maybe a little bit more, a year and a half, if that. What does she mean to the community? She puts Iowa on the map. It is crazy to think about.

Iowa doesn't have any pro sports. It is a college basketball, I'd say even more specifically a women's basketball state, in my opinion at least. It's awesome. It's really cool. I was watching all the national sports talk shows, again when she broke the record, and they're all leading with Kaitlyn Clark, all leading with Iowa and women's basketball.

I just could have never imagined that, growing up in middle school and high school. I think she represents everything that's good about this state too. You can't ask for a better star, period. I'll go back to, I know you were talking about MJ and Lebron and that whole conversation.

You didn't have to make it a conversation, I get that, but you talked about Lebron for a little bit. I think that Kaitlyn's ability to not only play basketball, but to represent the sport in a certain way and elevate it. It's hard to wrap your brain around the fact that she's not going to be here in a few months, but I'll go back to the conversation I know you were having earlier. I think Indiana is a perfect fit for her. I think that, again, a Midwest team, she has that Midwest ethos about her.

I really like that fit and I'm going to guess that played a little bit into her decision as well. Well, Blake, when you think about what's next for her, what are we looking at by the time it's tournament time? We saw her go to the final and Angel Reese, we saw that whole thing take place that you can't see. We went through all of that. From a basketball standpoint for the entire team, what is the likelihood that we see them back in that same position?

All things are possible with number 22. I thought before the season, because last year's team, they had played 80 consecutive starts together. That was a starting five. They had played so many games together.

You can't just microwave that chemistry. But this year, Kaitlyn's taken on a bigger scoring role. She's averaging 33 points for a game leading the nation in assists as well.

Again, I was right there, number six seed, or number six team, I should say rather. You can't put anything past her because that's all they need. As long as Kaitlyn can give you a 40 point triple-double in a tournament, which sounds nuts, but as long as she can do that, as long as she can be an all-time great player, she'll elevate everybody else and the sky's the limit.

I think they can do exactly what they did last year and now they have that experience having been in that spot to potentially get them over the hump. Blake Hornstein with us from Iowa. Well, we know whenever her time in college is done, she's going to be moving on to Indiana with the fever, as you mentioned. No doubt she's going to be the number one overall pick.

No Caleb Williams debate there. This is going to be interesting because she has brought so much attention to women's basketball and women's college basketball and Iowa, as you mentioned, and to herself. The expectations at the WNBA level, I don't think anybody's expecting her to walk in and say, here's 35 points against the best of the best.

What realistically, outside of attention, should we expect from her? In a few years, is she going to be the best overall player? Is that the sky? Is that the limit?

What do you think? Yeah, and this has been, again, a super hot topic of conversation. I honestly, I look at it this way. I mean, she's the greatest shooter the sport's ever seen and I don't think enough people talk about the fact that she, again, is leading the nation in assists again to have two skills like that that are just above and beyond. I don't see how she's not a top three player when she walks into the WNBA. I know that, again, the previous all-time leading scorer, Kelsey Plum, it took her a little while to get her feet under her and I know Cheryl Soobes had some comments as well, but I just don't see how Kaitlyn's game not only translates to the WNBA but doesn't dominate. I think that this is one of those things where she'll come in. I mean, maybe it'll take her a year where she's an above average player, but by year two, if she's not an MVP candidate or I'd say even the best player, I wouldn't put anything past Kaitlyn. That's my take on it. Well, for this season, you are correct. She is dropping 32 points per game and almost nine assists. That's ridiculous.

I don't care what level or where at a basketball, but especially women's college basketball, that just makes no sense. Blake, I want to thank you for taking the time to join us. Let's see what happens throughout the rest of her career on the college level, how far she can go, and let's chat on down the line and see what Kaitlyn is up to. I'm Don Jayar. Thank you so much for having me. Have a good one and this was a very good time. Appreciate it. No doubt. Tell everybody where they can follow you and keep up with your work.

Yeah, at BlakehornTV. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you. When something happens to your car, you might say, No!

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