Senior guard Caitlin Clark is the brightest talent in the game as the Iowa Hawkeyes enter the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

As the current unanimous national player of the year, Clark leads the country in both assists per game (8.9) and points per game (31.9). The six-foot guard is making 38.1% of his 3-pointers and 46.0% of his field goals.

Clark is a well-known superstar. The West Des Moines product has attracted millions of spectators to the sport of women’s college basketball and has numerous NIL deals.

She isn’t, however, working alone for Iowa (29-4, 15-3 Big Ten).

The 2024 women’s NCAA Tournament top 10 pairings were released by ESPN, and Iowa’s Clark and sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke are included.

It’s easy to argue that anyone and Clark would be a strong combination, but it misses how crucial Stuelke is to the Hawkeyes. The 6-foot-2 sophomore’s assist totals would be significantly lower if he hadn’t finished so many of them. Clark dished up 15 assists on a night when Stuelke scored 47 points against Penn State.

Stuelke isn’t the same kind of player as Monika Czinano, but she did a good job filling the roles of inside presence and finisher for Iowa. Even with Clark’s skill, Stuelke’s play is what makes Iowa the best team in Albany 2 and the No. 1 seed. Charlie Creme from ESPN.

The resident women’s bracketologist of ESPN is spot on. This season, Stuelke has performed admirably for Iowa, and her partnership with Clark has developed into one of the best in the country.

Stuelke has improved since taking over as the starting inside player in place of Clark’s longtime running partner, Monika Czinano. From 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game last season to 14.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this season, the 6-foot-2 big from Cedar Rapids has increased her statistics.

Stuelke is hitting 61.7% of free throws and 64.3% of field goals. She also provides 1.3 assists a game on average.

The Hawkeyes need Clark to notice Stuelke’s continuous contributions if they are to make it back to the Final Four and win the program’s first national championship.

Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards from UConn, Audi Crooks and Addy Brown from Iowa State, Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow from LSU, Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbeld from Notre Dame, Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor from Ohio State, Kamilla Cardoso and Te-Hina Paopao from South Carolina, Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen from Stanford, Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice from UCLA, and Georgia Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley from Virginia Tech, are the other participants.

First-round play in Iowa’s 2024 NCAA Tournament will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena against the victor of the match between No. 16 seed Holy Cross (20-12, 11-7 Patriot League) and No. 16 seed UT Martin (16-16, 11-7 Ohio Valley). ABC will televise the game.