IOWA CITY, Iowa — One block away from the newly installed six-story banner honoring the city’s larger-than-life basketball superstar, a coffee shop owner watched the occasional patron walk around downtown’s Pedestrian Mall. A quiet morning of empty streets like this used to be reserved for Iowa football gamedays.
There was no football on Sunday, though the weather felt that way. It was women’s basketball and another broken record that drew fans from the city and the whole country to raise the decibels at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Connor Moellenbeck, a season ticketholder and owner of Daydrink Coffee, could only marvel at the growth around the team over the past few years.