The Hawkeyes will be boosted by the return of Sydney Affolter after she recovered from an off-season knee surgery, forcing a reaction from NCAA legend and former Iowa teammate Caitlin Clark.

Affolter underwent a surgical scope of her knee last month and will play for the Hawkeyes again this month. The senior guard, 21, who’s tasked with replacing Clark in Iowa, who went first overall to the WNBA‘s Indiana Fever, posted an update on social media, stating she’ll be back on the court soon.

“LETS GO KID!!!! YOUR YEAR,” Clark responded to Affolter on Instagram. Affolter was part of the Iowa team that made back-to-back National Championship games in the past two seasons alongside Clark. Her return will be a welcomed boost to the Hawkeyes, who used Affolter a career-high 39 times last season.

After averaging 8.4 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game, Affolter was named to the Big Ten’s All-Tournament Team and Albany 2 All-Regional Team. Affolter has taken up a leadership role in the Iowa locker room.

“I think with such a new and young team it’s really important to have a veteran leader and someone who’s been through the offense for three years and kind of knows the ins and outs of Iowa women’s basketball,” she said recently. “So I really definitely kept that and upheld myself to that standard whether I was playing or not, and it’s definitely been hard.

“I mean, I would much rather be leading on the court than on the sidelines, but I think everyone’s picking up everything so well and we’re progressing great. So it hasn’t been hard, and I think just having a leader that everyone can collectively be and come around to one voice is really important.

Sydney Affolter is on her way back from an off-season knee surgery

Sydney Affolter is on her way back from an off-season knee surgery ( 

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Getty)

“I think we saw that in Kate a lot last year. Obviously, there was a lot of other leaders that helped, but, you know, I think Kate was that main voice and that’s super important for a team, and I think that can really make or break a team’s chemistry for sure.”

Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder has highlighted Affolter as one of the Hawkeyes’ keys to success. “Yeah, well, you can’t talk about this year without talking about Hanna Stuelke,” Bluder said. “What a great opportunity she has as only a junior. And then, senior Sydney Affolter, oh my goodness, just came into her own last year, was in the All-Big Ten Tournament team when we won the championship and just playing so well.”