A year ago, when Grant Bender was a high school senior leading the Hillcrest Academy boys basketball team into contention for a title in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, Caitlin Clark didn’t have a clue who Grant was.

She does now.

Bender, who is now a freshman student at the University of Iowa, has spent part of his first year on campus playing on the university’s “Gray Squad” practice team, which is basically a kind of sparring partner for the Hawkeyes women’s basketball team.

The idea is, these “Gray Squad” guys play the part of an opposing team the Hawkeyes are about to face. Yes, that could include somebody like an Angel Reese of LSU or a Cotie McMahon of Ohio State.

Or, this week, Cara McCormack of Holy Cross or Kenley McCarn of Tennessee-Martin or perhaps JJ Quinerly of West Virginia.

Bender, who was an All-Academic, 6-foot-3 starting forward playing mostly in the paint and averaging more than 18 points a game for the Ravens, said he is usually lined up against Iowa senior stars Molly Davis or Kate Martin. However, the fast switches on defense sometimes leave him facing Clark, a native Iowan who is the all-time leading scorer in women’s college basketball.

“Ha ha, Caitlin does know me by name,” Bender said in a Selection Sunday conversation with The News. “I do play against her, but I usually guard Kate Martin or Molly Davis. Sometimes we will switch the ball screens on defense, which leads me to guarding Caitlin for a bit which is quite the workout.”

Clark is known nationally for her shooting (more than 3,700 points entering the NCAA Tournament), but her movement is so quick and her skills so precise that she has scored triple-doubles (double figures in scoring, assists and rebounds) in all four years. The only other player in women’s college basketball history to do that was Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon, who is now a WNBA star with the New York Liberty.

Now, in this dreamy freshman year for Bender, he has spent several days a week hitting the practice court with Clark and her Hawkeye teammates, who earned a top regional seeding in the NCAA Tournament and plenty of attention following a Big Ten Tournament title and a 29-win season. The Hawkeyes are a legit national contender just one year after an appearance in the national championship game against LSU.

Bender said “Gray Squad” players are encouraged to participate in practices when they can. It all depends on class schedules. Bender has been able to help out two or three times a week.

He made it into tryouts for the squad through a Kalona connection with Cale Robertson, a former River Valley All-Conference player with Mid-Prairie who has been a student manager for the Hawkeyes the last two years.

“The experience has been really great,” Bender said. “Helping one of the best teams in the nation and playing against the best player has been fun and I’ve learned a lot more about basketball from seeing (Iowa Head Coach Lisa) Bluder.”

All that is left to do now is watch Clark and the Hawkeyes head toward a Final Four. The start of the tournament this coming weekend in Iowa City will turn the university campus into a basketball magnet.

The Hawkeyes host the first two rounds of an NCAA Tournament regional Saturday and Monday. It will be the final two home appearances for Clark, who previously announced her intention to turn pro after the season.

Iowa, which defeated Holy Cross 91-65 in the opening round Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, hosts West Virginia in the second round Monday. That’ll be followed by the regional semifinals and finals in Albany, N.Y., on March 30 and April 1, and the Final Four in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 5 and 7.

Bender plans to watch the games with his friends at the SALT Company, a Christian youth ministry in Iowa City he belongs to.

“The women are going all the way,” Bender said. “They play really well in practice. It is often a challenge to keep up with them. Their chemistry is so great and they have the best player in the nation.”

Clark will love hearing that.

West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg, not so much.

“Let’s send Caitlin Clark packing,” Kellogg told his team.

That’ll make for an interesting atmosphere Monday night at Carver-Hawkeye.

The “Gray Squad,” a longtime Iowa tradition, might just have something to say about that.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul