From Carver Hawkeye Arena to the top WNBA team

These two former University of Iowa women’s basketball players have earned their spot on the Las Vegas Aces, the best team in the professional league.

Megan Gustafson signed with the Aces ahead of this season, and in a surprise moment at the 2024 WNBA draft, Kate Martin was drafted after finishing her last season at Iowa, where she shared the court with Caitlin Clark.

Gustafson and Martin joined Talk of Iowa host Charity Nebbe to discuss going pro.

Teammates again

Gustafson and Martin overlapped in their time at Iowa when Gustafson was a senior and Martin was a freshman. Although they were on the same team, they didn’t share the court because Martin had a torn ACL and was redshirting that year.

“It’s just really cool to get that moment back now, being able to share the court with her. You know, she's just such a skilled player, very smart,” Gustafson said. “And it's been really fun to see her growth even in these past couple of months with (the) Aces. I know how hard it is to be a rookie and to be in this league. And so she's really done a great job of navigating all the craziness that's been thrown her way.”

Martin attended the draft to support Clark as the number-one pick for the Indiana Fever. Although she had put her name in, she had no guarantee she would be selected. Then in the second round, she was picked by the back-to-back champions, the Las Vegas Aces.

“It's been phenomenal. I've learned a lot. I feel super-grateful to be surrounded by the vets that I'm surrounded by and the best coaching staff and honestly, it's just been a dream come true,” Martin said. “Everyone's been super-welcoming and super-helpful making my rookie year transition, you know, as smooth as possible.”

The rookie is getting playing time and has even been able to start.

“I think it goes to show that you do what you love and you chase your dreams and other dreams will come,” Martin said.

Leveling up in the league

The next dream for Gustafson? The Olympics.

The Spanish team contacted her agent and had her naturalized to be an eligible player for the country. In February, Gustafson helped Spain qualify for the Olympics. The official team roster for the game hasn’t been released yet, but she hopes to become an Olympian soon.

“Spain seems super interested. They saw a really great vision for me. And honestly, I just wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself,” she said. “And I wanted to be part of like a family and a long-term kind of relationship with a team.”

On the WNBA side, Martin and Gustafson said they continue to see Hawkeyes representing Iowa in the stands each game.

More people are watching the WNBA this year — in stands and on TV — and new fans have also brought new scrutiny, with some Hawkeyes saying Clark has been targeted with hard fouls from other members of the league.

“I think there's a bit of a misconception of targeting, to be honest,” Gustafson said. “I think media can really hype up situations all the time. And yes, of course, there are some outliers that we've seen this year, but for the most part, the players respect her. That's why they're going so hard. That's why they're defending extremely hard — because they know how good she is… We are really welcoming of new fans because we obviously want people to see us, but they also need to realize that this is the top league in the world.”

A new era of Hawkeye basketball

The Iowa women’s basketball team spent the last two years in an unprecedented spotlight, making it to the NCAA Championship Game two years in a row, led by Clark’s scoring power.

“Obviously Caitlin and Kate have been a huge part of that for the state of Iowa,” Gustafson said. “And it just makes me very proud… being an alum at the University of Iowa just to see where the program has gone and where these two amazing women have taken the program.”

After sending two more of her alumni to the professional league this spring, Coach Lisa Bluder announced the next phase of her career: retirement. Jan Jensen, who coached alongside Bluder for her entire 24-year tenure at Iowa and at Drake before then, was named the new head coach.

“When I first found out, I was very shocked because I don't think she even really knew that she was going to retire — and so it came as a shock to a lot of us, but I'm extremely happy for her,” Martin said. “She's had a phenomenal career. She's the hardest worker I know and she deserves to have some downtime. And I think more than anything, she's really excited to get to spend time with her family and get to watch her son Dave in his last year of playing college basketball. And that's who Coach Bluder is, she's a family person, and she created a family culture at Iowa. And she treated us all like her own kids.”

To hear more of the conversation, listen to Talk of Iowa, hosted by Charity Nebbe. Dani Gehr produced this episode.