Six months ago, how many women’s college basketball players could you have named?
Five?
Maybe just two or three?
Or was it only one?
Caitlin Clark was already a national celebrity by the beginning of the 2023-24 college basketball season, and if there was any women’s player that the average American would have been able to name six months ago it would have been her.
The Iowa senior’s exciting style of play transcends all previous realms of college basketball, and although her quest for a national championship came up just one game short for the second consecutive season, her impact on women’s basketball will be monumental.
This season, Clark became the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history. Not just women’s college basketball, but all of college basketball, men’s or women’s. She also racked up numerous other accolades and accomplishments, but listing all of them would be nearly impossible.
Friday night’s game between No. 1 seed Iowa and No. 3 seed UConn featured some of the best TV ratings in ESPN’s history. Clark battled it out with fellow star Paige Bueckers, and the game lived up to every bit of the hype it was getting.
And heading into Sunday afternoon’s national championship game between the Hawkeyes and undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, the anticipation was once again off the charts.
Could Clark lead Iowa to victory over the unbeaten Gamecocks?
Or would South Carolina complete the perfect season?
It turned out to be the latter, but Clark didn’t disappoint. She posted 18 points in the first quarter and finished with 30 in the loss.
Her college career is now officially over, as Clark will head to the WNBA, completing a decision she announced months ago. The women’s game will undoubtedly miss Clark and her incredible talent, but it’s hard not to look back at everything she did to grow the women’s game.
Women’s college basketball used to be an afterthought. It was second fiddle — if that — to the men’s game.
In recent years, dominating the headlines were Zion Williamson of Duke, Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin and Kevin Durant of Texas, to name a few.
But this year, things changed.
Clark won over the hearts of college basketball fans, and she paved the way for other players — Bueckers, Kamilla Cardoso, Cameron Brink, Angel Reese, Hailey Van Lith and so many others — to be seen.
She’ll head off to the WNBA, and while college basketball will be left looking for another star to rise up and fill Clark’s shoes — if that’s even possible — college basketball’s all-time leading scorer will head off to the WNBA and will likely have the same effect on that league as she did on college basketball.
Clark will almost certainly be selected with the No. 1 overall pick in next week’s WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever, and her conquest of the world’s best women’s basketball league will soon begin. If her reign atop the WNBA is anywhere near as successful as her dominance in college, Clark will take the WNBA to new heights and will yet again pave the way for the younger generation coming behind her.