Caitlin Clark Reveals Coach K's Advice to WNBA Star Ahead Team USA's 2026 FIBA World Cup Run

Caitlin Clark and the United States women's team will take the court Thursday for the quarterfinals of the 2026 FIBA World Cup, and she studied the advice of a legendary coach to better prepare her for the moment.

Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press reported Wednesday that Clark watched videos of former Team USA and Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski talking about assimilating to a star-studded national team roster with players such as LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

The message that the only thing that matters is winning on this stage is what resonated with the Indiana Fever star.

"You have to set everything that you want to achieve personally aside," Clark said. "At the end of the day, people don't care about that if you have a gold medal hanging around your neck. So, that's my goal, and I think we have the group to do it."

The United States has won the last four editions of this tournament and last fell short in 2006 when it settled for the bronze. This year is once again gold-medal-or-bust with so many WNBA superstars leading the way, and that can be a motivating factor.

"You don't want to be the team that everybody talks about because you didn't win," Clark said. "You want to do what's expected and that's to win a gold medal. I think it would certainly help and hopefully it's just a step in the direction of where I want to keep building and hopefully the goals that I want to achieve of hopefully playing in the Olympics in '28."

The Americans have looked the part of gold-medal favorite thus far with a 3-0 record in group play, although they received quite a test from Italy.

While Clark and Co. handled China by 33 points and Czechia by 41 points, they trailed Italy in the fourth quarter before escaping with a 55-52 victory. Perhaps it was something of a wake-up call and an experience they can build on moving into the elimination rounds.

As for Clark, she wasted no time establishing herself with a double-double of 14 points and 11 assists in the opener against China. However, she had just one point and one assist against Italy before going 1-of-6 from deep on the way to nine points against Czechia.

Fortunately for her, she doesn't have to be the star every night on a team that includes Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, Jackie Young and more.

"Obviously there's probably still a lot of pressure on me to perform at this level, but I think that's a great thing about USA basketball, it isn't like the WNBA," the Fever guard said. "You're probably not going to come out here and score 30 and have 10 assists. That's just not reality because of the talent we have."

That is exactly the message Coach K preached in the videos she watched.