DES MOINES, Iowa — This season, NCAA women's basketball is drawing record viewership on multiple major networks.
Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark has been at the center of some of the historic numbers and catching the eyes of basketball fans all over the country.
After the national championship game last year where Iowa lost to LSU, Indianapolis artist Kwazar Martin said he became a fan of Clark. Since then, he's been following Clark and the Hawkeyes women's basketball team.
Like a true artist, the inspiration he felt inside was brought out through cans of paint and the side of a building near downtown Indianapolis.
A mural of Clark now graces the building, with fans stopping by at all hours of the day to snap pictures.
Martin, who has done several murals in Indy and around the country, said this piece took him 26 hours over several days to complete.
Speaking to Local 5's Chenue Her, Martin said he wanted to paint the mural because he likes her game on the court, as well as who she is off the court. As a father, he said he wanted to have someone on a mural he considers a great role model.
"Having her up there, a lot of the little girls can see her and be inspired, you know what I mean?" Martin said. "Take pictures and be inspired to push through the same way."
The Iowa to Indiana connection doesn't stop there. The Clark mural is next to a piece of Indiana Pacers star and former Cyclone Tyrese Haliburton. Martin finished that piece just last month before the NBA All-Star Game.
Another reason Martin created the Clark mural? The Indiana Fever has the number one overall pick in the upcoming WNBA draft. As such, experts believe Clark will go to Indiana, meaning she could soon call Indianapolis home.
Martin said he's met lots of Iowa fans since finishing this mural, even one who told him he should bring his art to Iowa.
"The guy who I met from Iowa, he was at the wall and he's getting me connected with some people because what happened was, when people from Iowa saw the wall, they thought it was in Iowa and I'm like 'No! It's in Indiana'," he said. "So I'm like, I gotta get one out there. I've never been to Iowa so he was making me aware that there was a lot of mural work out there."