UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Erica Wheeler always knew that Caitlin Clark joining the Indiana Fever would change things up in the franchise, even if she wasn’t sure what that would entail or what the end result would be. She just knew the young superstar would make whatever they set out to do better.

“But did I think it would be like this? No,” Wheeler said. “I think we’re all just silent and thinking, ‘No, we shouldn’t be here.’ But we are here.”

“Here” is Mohegan Sun, where the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2016 begins against the No. 3 Connecticut Sun on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC). The Fever are considered underdogs and have a chance to pull off an upset in the best-of-three first-round format, although they began the season with a crushing loss here that kicked off a 1-9 start.

The two timeline entries for Clark, Wheeler, and the fever couldn’t be further apart.

“Honestly, it feels like a completely different season since we first played here,” Clark said.

After a slow start to her professional career, Clark will return to the arena as an MVP candidate, All-WNBA First Team nominee and projected Rookie of the Year. Realistically, that kind of accomplishment is a challenge for any rookie in any league, and she’s certainly No. 1 when it comes to rebuilding a franchise after decades of missteps.

But Clark and the Fever are meeting expectations and maybe even exceeding them. No other offense in the league has been as successful as the Fever’s since the All-Star/Olympic break, and few other players have been as successful as Clark during that time.

“You could tell early on,” said Christie Sides, head coach of the Fever. “We just couldn’t get it together that quickly. But now, with the work and the training and the Olympic break, we’re just trying to keep those good habits. Because it’s the work, that’s what it was. That’s why we’re here, because of the work they put in.”

Clark’s scoring has gradually improved every month since the disastrous start in May and is now averaging 19.2 points per game, good for seventh in the league. Since the break, her numbers have increased across the board and she has been the W’s best player with 8.4 assists per game. That number is due both to Clark’s ability to make those around her look good and the improvement of the team as a whole.

“We knew they were going to continue to improve,” Sun head coach Stephanie White said. “We knew they were going to improve their reading. We knew they had all the tools. And for us, it’s just that they’re reading better, their shots are more open and since the break, they’ve been tough shooters.”

Every game against the Fever has been a different, improved version of that, White said. Kelsey Mitchell, long the Fever’s only offensive weapon, has become a dangerous backcourt player who doesn’t have to carry the load every night. Lexie Hull is sinking threes at the league’s best rate while averaging the same number of attempts as last season. And Aliyah Boston, last season’s Rookie of the Year, has the most one-on-one coverage she’s seen “maybe since middle school,” White joked.

Week after week – sometimes game after game – records were set in Clark’s name. There were the long-standing ones (season assists, season points) and the veteran ones too. She holds the WNBA record for assists in a game and assists in a season. She is already fourth on the triple-double list. Her 12 triple-doubles are the most in a season ever.

Record numbers across the country watched. Gainbridge Fieldhouse had a league-record 17,035 fans, according to Across the Timeline. The season finale away in Washington, D.C., broke the regular-season attendance record. Television viewership averages in the millions. The WNBA has struggled to attract college fans to its game in the past. But Clark is different.

“As far as Caitlin goes, that’s exactly what she does. She breaks records,” Wheeler said. “I don’t think she’s chasing it, I just think the nature of the game allows her to. And our style of play just allows her to do a lot of great things.”

That style of play creates expectations of pulling off an upset and reaching the semifinals. The Fever rank first among playoff teams in tempo (second in the regular season), a style of play that Sun veteran DeWanna Bonner admired after practice. A key focus of Connecticut’s game plan is to lock in players (e.g. Clark) early, disrupt them in transition and slow the ball down.

“It won’t be easy, that much is certain. And we know that,” said Bonner.

The Sun dwarf the Fever in terms of playoff experience and playoff minutes, a statistic that Sides drily cited as her preferred comparison point. The Sun’s starters have played 4,912 minutes of playoff basketball. The Fever’s starters have zero.

Sides isn’t sure if that’s such a bad thing. The Fever enter a casino with the house’s money.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to come here and show what we’re made of,” Clark said. “I think we’re a completely different team than we were the first few times we were here. I think that’s what’s exciting about it, we’ve changed so much. We’ve proven so much. Our confidence has grown tremendously.”

Just like the expectations Clark has had to live with all year long. She has lived up to them every time, from Iowa to Indiana.