CLEVELAND — In just over one month, a women's college basketball champion will be crowned in Cleveland.
Last year's NCAA Women's Final Four shattered viewership and attendance records, according to the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, and this year's Final Four is expected to have a significant economic impact for the city.
However, one student-athlete may be the key piece of the puzzle.
"Caitlin Clark is the Taylor Swift of basketball," Berea-Midpark girls basketball head coach Kevin McNamara says.
Clark, a senior guard at Iowa, became women's college basketball's all-time leading scorer earlier this season, and has become an icon for younger athletes.
"Girls are looking at the screen going, 'That could be me,'" McNamara told 3News. "You know the old commercial, 'I want to be like Mike?' 'I want to be like Caitlin' should be the new one."
McNamara has coached basketball for 20 years in both high school and his AAU program, Mac Basketball, and has had more than 300 girls go on to play in college. He says Clark is different than most, and has become someone his players look up to.
"She is that midwestern farm girl, heartland of America — outwork you, out-hustle you, out-play you," he explained. "There's a reason why every gym she goes into she sells out."
The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission expects large crowds for the Final Four, which begins April 5. A star like Caitlin Clark can help make that happen.
"We estimated in 2018, when we were awarded [the Final Four], $22 million of economic impact for Northeast Ohio," Monica Gustin with the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission said. "What we say as indication last year in Dallas, it's going to be much more than that."
And that's not even with Clark factored in.
Clark has a chance to make it to Cleveland this year for the Final Four, and her Hawkeyes actually played for the national title a year ago. However, there are a number of elite teams standing in her way, such as Dawn Staley's No. 1-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks or Angel Reese and the defending champion LSU Tigers.
And then there's hometown favorite Ohio State, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation. Not only have the Buckeyes already clinched the outright Big Ten title, but they also beat Clark and Iowa 100-92 back on Jan. 21 in Columbus. The crowd of 18,660 that afternoon in Columbus was the largest for any OSU basketball game this season, men's or women's.
The Buckeyes and Hawkeyes will battle again this Sunday in the regular-season finale in Iowa City. Tickets to watch that game in-person cost more than $270 each.