Can 'villain' Colorado Buffaloes overcome Caitlin Clark, Iowa (and the refs)?

The last time Colorado played Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Sweet 16, the Buffaloes couldn’t seem to catch a break with the referees.

Three starters for Colorado fouled out of the game. The Buffaloes also had half as many free throws (12) as the Hawkeyes (24) before losing to them in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament last year, 87-77. Clark, meanwhile, scored 31 points as foul calls became an issue.

“It's really hard to play like that, you know, when you're not exactly sure what is − you know, what is going to be a foul or what," Colorado coach JR Payne said after that game in 2023.

If that all sounds familiar, it's because the Iowa Hawkeyes are riding high again as the popular team that is sometimes perceived as the recipient of favorable treatment from the refs. And now they play Colorado again in the Sweet 16 on Saturday in Albany, New York, this time with the Buffaloes reprising their role as villains, boosted along with a little bit of the Prime Effect from the school’s famous football coach, Deion Sanders.

“Being the villain, being the underdog, having our backs against the wall are all things that lead (to) success for the Buffaloes,” Colorado forward Quay Miller said at a news conference Tuesday in Boulder.

FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA women's basketball scores, schedules, teams and more.

What does Deion Sanders have to do with Caitlin Clark?

He recently gave some advice to the Iowa superstar on the eve of her final run in the college postseason. He was appearing on “The Tonight Show” in New York, where the show’s host, Jimmy Fallon, prompted him to “coach” a life-size cutout photograph of Clark.

“This is gonna be your last dance,” Sanders said to the image of Clark. “And guess what? I need you to finish strong.”

Two weeks later, he might want to take it back. Sanders’ daughter, Shelomi, is a member of the Colorado women’s basketball team as a non-scholarship player. She is the youngest of Sanders’ five children and transferred from Jackson State after Sanders took the Colorado job in December 2022.

Shelomi Sanders and the spotlight

This year as a redshirt freshman, she is not part of the playing rotation and has appeared in only five games for a total of 11 minutes and three points, which came on a 3-pointer against Air Force in December.

She still has more than 465,000 followers on Instagram and got paid partnerships with Marriot Bonvoy hotels and Meta Quest. She brings an added spotlight to the team, especially from her father, who has sung the praises of Coach Payne, now in her eighth season in Boulder. On Tuesday, Payne mentioned “Coach Prime” in a news conference when asked about sustaining success for her program.

“The great thing about Prime, besides all of the greatness that Prime brings with him, is that now the entire world is seeing what an incredible place the University of Colorado is,” Payne said. “So yeah, we love what we have here. We love what we’re going to continue to be able to build with our leadership.”

Payne’s team also had an up-and-down season like Sanders’ football team, which started the 2023 season with a splash, going 3-0 before losing eight of its final nine. By comparison, the Colorado women’s basketball team (24-9) started with six straight wins, including a season-opening win against No. 1 LSU, before losing six of its final eight games of the regular season.

Coach Prime might not be at the basketball game Saturday, however. His team is off on spring break, leading him to the Dominican Republic with sons Deion Jr. and Shedeur, Colorado's quarterback.

Why is Colorado the villain?

Much of America is tuning in to see Clark, the most prolific scorer in college basketball history. But No. 5-seed Colorado is aiming to end the college career of this transcendent sports hero, just like it played the role of villain in a hostile road environment at Kansas State last weekend before advancing to its second straight Sweet 16.

Similarly, opposing fans and observers have wondered if the refs are affected by this hero-villain narrative, too, especially after the No. 1-seed Hawkeyes beat West Virginia Monday in a second-round game marked by a big disparity in free throws and fouls. The refs called 27 personal fouls on West Virginia, compared to 11 for Iowa. Iowa got 30 free throws as a result, compared to only five for the Mountaineers. Clark shot 12 of those and made 11, finishing with 32 points.

Miller talked about the importance of being disciplined Saturday against Clark while also defending her aggressively. But she didn’t address the officiating. The team was more open about it after losing to Iowa last year in Seattle.

“It's hard as a player not really knowing like where you can be aggressive, where you can't, because you're thinking about picking up a foul that you don't necessarily need to pick up,” Colorado star point guard Jaylyn Sherrod said after that game.

This season, Iowa has shot 703 free throws, compared to 519 for opponents – a gap that also can be attributed to opponents’ aggressive attempts to stop Clark and Iowa (31-4).

'We want to upset people'

Four veteran CU players have started every game this season and are averaging at least nine points per game − graduate student guard Sherrod, junior Arizona transfer Aaronette Vonleh, Danish senior guard Frida Formann and Miller, a graduate student forward.

Last year, Sherrod, Vonleh and Formann fouled out against Iowa. This time the Buffs will need them if they hope to derail the Clark train and all the fanfare that comes with it. On Saturday, that includes national television exposure on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.

A win would put Colorado in the Elite Eight for the first time since 2002. The Buffs also got that far in 1993 and 1995 under coach Ceal Barry.

Colorado is “happy to be the underdogs in these types of matchups because we want to upset people," Miller said. “We want to be the team that people counts out. So I think just having that opportunity and the position that we’re in is exciting for everybody.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com