Lucy Olsen is off to a fast start at Iowa. Here’s why her ‘basketball is fun’ motto still rings true.
She doesn't consider herself a replacement for Caitlin Clark, the former Hawkeyes star who's now a WNBA sensation. But she does help lead an undefeated squad.
Lucy Olsen has a three-word motto that defines her illustrious college career: “Basketball is fun.”
She became known for the catchphrase during her three seasons at Villanova. She’d post it to social media and eventually trademarked her own merchandise.
But Olsen’s basketball journey took a surprising turn at the end of her junior year, when the point guard from Collegeville transferred from Villanova to Iowa. She announced her move in April after Villanova’s run to the final of the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
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“I didn’t expect [to transfer] at all,” Olsen said. “But I was hoping basketball would take me different places, and I’m really excited that it did.”
For her senior season, Olsen traded blue and white for yellow and black and now sells a “basketball is fun” T-shirt in Iowa’s signature colors. She donates part of the proceeds to Women Lead Change, an Iowa-based organization that helps promote and develop female leaders.
After finishing the season as the nation’s third-leading scorer and an honorable mention All-American, Olsen is helping the Hawkeyes fill the void left by Caitlin Clark, the WNBA Rookie of the Year with the Indiana Fever, along with Las Vegas Aces guard Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. It was an offseason of change for the Hawkeyes, whose coach, Lisa Bluder, retired in May after 24 seasons and was replaced by longtime assistant Jan Jensen. Olsen was the only newcomer via the transfer portal, but Iowa features five freshmen.
The 5-foot-10 Olsen is averaging 17.3 points, a team high, and 4.5 rebounds for the No. 17 Hawkeyes, who are 8-0 and heading into a matchup with Tennessee on Saturday (7 p.m., Fox29) at the Barclays Center in New York.
One reason for her fast start, Olsen said, was the immediate chemistry she discovered with her new teammates. She has 32 assists, 10 more than any other Hawkeye, despite having missed the last two games with a “freak” knee injury that required stitches.
“When I first got [to Iowa,] I was mostly scared about how I would fit in with the team and how my role as a player was going to be different,” Olsen said. “The team was really easy to get along with, so that makes the start of the season a lot easier. We didn’t have to jell too much or do too much team bonding, just because we all clicked right away.”
Olsen also is used to the uncertainty that comes with starting a new season without a star player. In her breakout junior season at Villanova, Olsen was the one who led the Wildcats after Maddy Siegrist was drafted third overall by the Dallas Wings in April 2023. Olsen’s scoring jumped from 12.4 points per game as a sophomore to 23.3 as a junior, and she was the Big East’s Most Improved Player.
“In my junior year at Villanova, I didn’t really know what to expect because my first two years at Villanova, we had Maddy Siegrist, and she was just amazing,” Olsen said. “And then [at Iowa], they had three starters leave and a new head coach. But it’s a very different team, so it’s hard to compare too much.”
Olsen arrived to a spotlight at Iowa, with some wondering if she was Clark’s replacement.
While Olsen loves the packed arenas and high energy surrounding the team that ended last season in the NCAA championship game for the second straight season, she never saw herself as replacing Clark or just filling a void in the roster. Instead, she aims to bring the talents she developed at Villanova to her new team and lead the way to another successful Iowa season.
“I know the transfer portal can be really messy at times, but it also opens up opportunities like [mine] for people to go find a different place to play,” Olsen said. “And women’s basketball is really thriving right now. That was one of the reasons I came to Iowa, just how much they embrace it, and the fans are so amazing. So it’s really cool to be a part of all of it right now.”
Olsen’s basketball story started in Montgomery County — at Spring-Ford High School, then Villanova — but she hopes that it will continue in March Madness with the Hawkeyes. Through it all, she knows it will be fun.