Caitlin Clark transformed women's college basketball in a way never seen before.
Off the court, the Iowa State Hawkeyes star guard drew record attendance both at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and on the road. She broke every conceivable television record on several networks. Most recently, 12.3 million people watched her 41-point performance in Monday's Elite Eight vs. LSU. It became the most-watched women's college basketball game in history.
And on the court, the list is even longer. Clark, presumed to be the No. 1 overall pick in this month's WNBA draft, broke both the NCAA Division I women's all-time scoring records set by Kelsey Plum and Lynette Woodard and Pete Maravich's NCAA Division I scoring record in about three weeks. She holds the NCAA record for most 3-pointers in a season, the Big Ten career 3-pointer record, and had the most points scored in a single season in NCAA Division I women's basketball history.
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This week, she won both the Naismith Player of the Year Award and the AP Player of the Year Award for the second straight season. She became the first player in either men's or women's college basketball to exceed 3,000 points, 1,000 assists and 850 rebounds in her career.
But will that be enough to cement her name as one of the all-time greats in women's college basketball? While some may think so, UConn and WNBA forward Brianna Stewart told Nicole Auerbach during an appearance on SiriusXM's College Sports that she doesn't think so. why? Clark doesn't have any national championship experience on his resume.
“Yeah, she needs (the title), I think so too,” Stewart said. “If you look back 10 years ago, you'll see all the records she broke and the points she scored and things like that, but we all know that when you play college basketball, your goal is to win a national championship. That's why we need it.'' ”
Earlier this week on ESPN's “Get Up,” former UConn and WNBA star forward Rebecca Lobo, who will be selected for Friday's Final Four along with Ryan Ruocco and Holly Rowe, said Clark was the best she'd seen in 30 years. Stewart agreed, saying Clark can't be the greatest player of all time because he never won multiple national championships like Stewart or Candace Parker. .
“She's the best offensive player I've seen in at least the last 30 years of playing and calling women's college basketball games (but) when it comes to the GOAT, she needs to win. “Does she need to win a national championship to be considered the GOAT? I don't think so. In order to be in that conversation, she needs to win multiple national championships” I think there is a need,” Lobo said.
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“Because if you look at the history of the game, Candice Parker won two championships at Tennessee, Diana Taurasi won three championships at UW…Brianna Stewart won four championships (at UW). , as well as a four-time U.S. National Champion, she is (also) the most outstanding performer in the Final Four. Kaitlyn is a great player. has accomplished more than any player we've ever seen. That's just a fact. But when you want to talk about something, adding championships to the GOAT conversation helps you understand the history of the game. I have to.”
Clark, who is averaging 32.3 points per game in this season's NCAA Tournament, will face Stewart and Lobo's alma mater on Friday at 8:30 p.m. Central Time, with No. 1 seed Iowa State in the Final Four. They will face seeded Yukon at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. cleveland.