Caitlin Clark’s Iowa team may have earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992, but their return to the national championship game looks to be anything but easy.

The superstar and her team will have to navigate the toughest region — the Albany 2 Region — which sports five teams that were ranked among the top three of the Associated Press’s top 25 at some point during the season and was dubbed “Murderer’s Row” by ESPN. Another team, Louisville, has advanced to the Elite Eight in each of the past five NCAA tournaments.

It’s a rugged road for Iowa and Clark, the NCAA Division I’s all-time leading scorer whose games have set TV ratings. When she passed Pete Maravich on the Division I list earlier this month, the game attracted more than 4 million viewers at its peak and was the most watched regular season women’s basketball game since a game between U-Conn. and Tennessee in January 1999.

Iowa plays the winner of the play-in game between Holy Cross and Tennessee Martin, both 16 seeds.

In 2022, the Hawkeyes lost to Creighton and last year they led Georgia by only two points with less than a minute left before winning. This year, one intriguing possible opponent after the first round is Kansas State, the fourth seed who has beaten Iowa in each of the past two seasons. In three games, two of which K-State won, the Wildcats frustrated Clark, holding her to 33.8 percent shooting from the field and 28.2 percent on three-point attempts.

“I was a bit surprised by Kansas State,” Coach Lisa Bluder said, “just because I’ve always heard they [selection committee members] don’t like you to play against someone so early [in the tournament] that you’ve already played in the regular season twice this year. I was a little bit surprised by that one, but definitely, a lot of familiar faces with Colorado and LSU in there. But I think that’s okay. That’s not a bad thing.”

LSU, a 3-seed which beat Iowa in the national championship last year, looms on the other side of the region and in last year’s championship game it, much like K-State, forced Clark to beat them from the three, clamping down in the paint.

“It is what it is, and I think that’s what makes it so fun,” Clark said. “Those storylines and the familiarity whether it’s Colorado at the 5, Louisville at the 6. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you’d better bring your best. At this point of the season, anybody can get beat. I know we didn’t beat LSU, but a lot of those teams … we have a win vs. Kansas State, we have a win vs. Colorado, we have a win vs. Louisville, we beat Drake. You can use that to your advantage.”

No. 2 seed UCLA could be in Iowa’s path, too, and perhaps tough teams will be out early. No. 1 Stanford and No. 4 Texas both lost in the first weekend last year, easing Iowa’s path in the region. And not many picked Iowa to beat South Carolina, with its 42-game winning streak, in the Final Four last year — and the Hawkeyes won by four.

This year, Iowa would face the winner of the Portland 3 bracket (with No. 1 seed Southern California, No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 3 seed U-Conn.). It would not face South Carolina, the No. 1 overall seed, until the national championship game.

No matter how it shakes out, this much is certain. The college career of Clark, who will enter the WNBA draft, is fast approaching its end.

“You really have to go game to game. After you get out of the first round, every team is basically a top-25 team,” Clark said. “You need a little luck, a good draw, need to be playing your best basketball, but I think the biggest thing for me is just enjoying every single second because this is the most fun basketball.

“I think this is the greatest postseason tournament in all of sport. You don’t have it one night, you’re out of luck, but if you do have it and you can string some games together, you can put a special run together.”