Watching Hawkeye basketball star Caitlin Clark is just plain fun

It's hard to go around Iowa and not hear the name Caitlin Clark.

Driving the news: The Hawkeye women's basketball star is arguably one of the top players in the country right now — period.

• She's racking up stats that put her name alongside basketball legends like Kevin Durant and Michael Jordan.
• And even if you're not a basketball fan, watching Clark stun the nation with her deep three-point shots will make you smile.

Here's a quick look at how the sophomore superstar has become an Iowa household name:

Background: Born into an athletic family, Clark was always competitive.

• If there was a game of Candyland, you bet she wanted to win, her mom, Anne, told Iowa PBS.
• Her father, Brent Clark, played baseball and basketball for Simpson College. Her older brother, Blake, plays football at Iowa State.

As a kid, she idolized her cousins, who played for the Dowling Maroons.

• So much so, that her parents punished her and her brothers for fighting one night by prohibiting them from going to a Dowling vs. Valley game they planned on attending.
• "I was so mad," Clark told the Register.

By the time Clark played as a point guard at Dowling herself, she was already sought after by big universities for her athletic talent, including Notre Dame, Duke and UCLA.

• She always put in the time and hard work. But there's also a "God-given talent" — that whenever she wants to take a shot, it happens, her parents told PBS.

Clark ultimately chose to stay in-state and play for Iowa, saying she had big goals of helping elevate the team to the Final Four.

• And elevate it she has — in the last game against Michigan, Clark scored 25 fourth-quarter points.
• Plus: Her parents told the Register that Clark plays better the more family are there to watch her, so choosing Iowa just made sense.

The bottom line: Women's March Madness is growing and seeing Clark's incredible athletic feats on the court shows us how fast and exciting the game is — and also just plain fun.