Iowa’s Caitlin Clark Replacement Lucy Olsen Talks Getting Recognized At Chick-Fil-A

Lucy Olsen hasn’t even appeared in a game yet for the Iowa Hawkeyes, but the woman tasked with picking up some of the offensive slack led by the departure of superstar Caitlin Clark is already getting the superstar treatment from the sound of it.

The senior from Collegeville, Pennsylvania spent her first three seasons of college hoops with the Villanova Wildcats but will lace ’em up for the Hawkeyes this season.

She was a big-time scorer at Villanova — averaging the third-highest points-per-game average in Division I play, per Hawkeye Nation — so she seems like she’d be a perfect fit to replace a scorer like Clark.

It also sounds like Iowa fans are ready to give her some Clark-like attention.

At Big Ten Basketball Media Days, Olsen talked about how she’s already getting some love from fans, even if she hasn’t really done anything yet.

“The fans are great,” Olsen said. “It was right off the airplane, driving to Chick-fil-A, getting out of my car to pick up Chick-fil-A and these fans are like waving out the window, ‘Can I get a picture?’ I’m like, ‘Sure, I haven’t even touched a basketball yet, but thank you; yeah, of course.”

Man, that’s wild, but I can kind of relate to that. People used to recognize me at Chick-fil-A when I was in college too. The only difference was that it was normally the cashier saying, “Hey, I recognize you. Weren’t you here for lunch yesterday?… Actually, I think I remember you in here for breakfast too.”

Those were the days…

As wild as that may sound, Olsen seems to be enjoying the attention around town.

“All the fans are so great and everyone is so welcoming and I said it earlier but they were like, ‘Yeah, if you need anything — I know you don’t know who we are and you can’t contact us — but if you need anything we’re here,’ and just feel that from everyone in Iowa.”