Iowa guard Caitlin Clark and UConn guard Paige Bueckers talk about their past experiences with each other and what it will be like to go head-to-head in the national semifinal.

Video transcript

CAITLIN CLARK: I think the coolest thing about Paige is how resilient she is. Obviously, she's kind of been dealt a tough hand. And you know, that girl only has positive things to say about her teammates. And the way she carries herself on and off the court, the way she works hard-- none of that has changed since I've known her.

Since she was in middle school, she's always worked that same way. She's always had that fire. She's always been a great leader. And I really, honestly, couldn't be happier for her, and the year that she's had, and the way she's led this team back to the Final Four when they've kind of been dealt a tough hand as a program.

And they never made excuses. And to me, I think that's something you just really admire as a competitor more than anything. So I think it's really cool.

PAIGE BUECKERS: I know Caitlin-- of course, we go way back, Midwestern, we had a lot of battles in AAU and stuff like that. We played together on Team USA. I think she's just a competitor. She wants to win.

She has just intangibles of the game. She knows how to play, great IQ. But I think the biggest thing about her is she competes. And she's just a winner. She wants to win at all costs.

And so I going into that, it'll be a great matchup. But I'm excited. It's great for the game. And to be at this level on this high of stakes, to see where we were in AAU competing against each other, it's just really cool to see.