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Caitlin Clark’s legacy shouldn’t be, or cannot be questioned. What the Iowa native has done for not just the game of women’s basketball, but the history of basketball in general. The legend just ended one of the single best college basketball seasons ever for an individual. She has had accolades come at her left and right including the all time NCAA’s scoring record passing Pete “Pistol” Maravich, the single-season points record in WCBB, and back-to-back-back Big Ten championships.
Clark came in as the number three ranked recruit in the historical class of 2020. Staying home, committing to Iowa, not many people in the basketball world thought it was gonna be the ride that it has been. Names like Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, and Paige Bueckers were all high class names in the 2020 class ranked ahead of Clark. Her first season for the Hawkeyes, she did not disappoint averaging 26.6 points on 47-40-85 shooting splits. Although, that would be her lowest scoring average of her historical career. This season, she averaged 31.6 points and and 8.9 assists which were both number 1 in the country for WCBB, the first player to do such a feat.
The Hawkeyes entered this year’s March Madness as the 1-seed, but not the favorites as powerhouse and undefeated South Carolina were the clear ones. In the elite eight, Clark had a 41 piece to lead Iowa over the stacked LSU tigers with Flau’jae Johnson, Angel Reese, and Hailey Van Lith. This was a very highly anticipated matchup as the two programs matched up in the 2023 National Championship where the Tigers came on top. In the Final Four, Clark matched up against Paige Bueckers and the dynasty of the Uconn Huskies where they also came on top by a score of 71-69. The game broke record for not just womens, but mens college basketball. Facing South Carolina in the championship, they eventually fell ending Clark’s tremendous career.
Although Clark did not come up with a national championship, her influence on the game of basketball is undoubtedly one of the greatest things to happen to the sport of basketball.
