Walking off the floor at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Caitlin Clark looked far from defeated. Her Hawkeyes were seconds away from their second-straight national championship loss, but Clark still managed a smile as she embraced her teammates and coaches. Raising both hands in the air, she interlocked her fingers to form a heart, thanking her parents and the thousands of fans donning black and gold.
No chair-kicking. No towel over the head shrouding her face. No, ‘Woe is me,’ act. In a sport where she loomed larger than any other coach or player, Clark never made her rare failures or many successes about herself.
“Passion, tenacity. You could certainly see the emotion, she never gave up,” said Iowa fan Leah Ostby, who attended the Hawkeyes’ 2024 Final Four and title game matchups. “She gave it her all every single minute she played … She just gave it all to us. Every single time she put that jersey on, she gave all of herself.”
Even amidst the laser focus on a national title, Clark never lost sight of the bigger picture.
“People aren’t going to remember every single win or every single loss,” Clark said in her postgame press conference. “I think they’re just going to remember the moments that they shared at one of our games or watching on TV. Or how excited their young daughter or son got about watching women’s basketball … Those are the things that mean the most to me.”
Is she Magic Johnson? She has more assists than anyone in the Big Ten.
Is she Steph Curry? She has more three-pointers than anyone in the women’s game and surpassed Curry’s record for most triples in one NCAA Tournament.
Is she Michael Jordan? Well, she enjoys golf and is certainly competitive (apparently she picks up technical fouls in practice).
There will never be another @CaitlinClark22 & there will never be another 2️⃣2️⃣.
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 10, 2024
The #Hawkeyes will retire Clark's No. 22. pic.twitter.com/bTyWRXwJir
Comparisons are inevitable. But even as she ends her college career without a national title, Clark stands alone.
“I really think that when she came in as a freshman, she said, ‘We’re going to the Final Four,’” Hawkeye head coach Lisa Bluder said of Clark. “And a lot of people laughed at her, maybe laughed at her for coming to Iowa, quite honestly. But she believed. We believed. And she got everyone else in the locker room to believe.”
Bluder’s words extend way beyond the court. Because of Clark, people believe in women’s basketball as a sport worth watching, following, and embracing. Yes, she exists in the continuum of outstanding players proceeding her – Breanna Stewart, Candace Parker, A’ja Wilson, Maya Moore, Cheryl Miller, Diana Taurasi. But it’s impossible to deny that Clark has led a watershed moment for the appeal and visibility of the women’s game.
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Even those who get the best of Clark have to admit it. Look no further than victorious South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, her words unprompted amidst the falling confetti in the aftermath of the national championship.
“I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” the coach said. “She carried a heavy load for our sport and it is not going to stop here on the college tour … You’re one of the GOATs of our game. We appreciate you.”
For the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity and privilege to bear witness to Clark’s career, both as a fan and reporter for The Daily Iowan and NBC Sports. No matter the viewpoint, it’s easy to see how much she’s grown the sport of women’s basketball.
Just one year ago, going to Iowa women’s basketball games was simple. Arrive 20 minutes before tip-off, flash my student ID, and stroll in for free. On weeknight games my friends and I had practically a whole row to ourselves, reclining our feet on the chair backs in front of us and taking in the sight of one No. 22.
No shot was too far, no pass was too risky. Fear, caution, and hesitation weren’t in her vocabulary. For Iowa sports fans like myself, Clark was a well-known secret, her popularity confined within state lines outside of the occasional ESPN highlight post. But one Final Four trip later, the national spotlight clung to Iowa City, and getting a ticket to a home game was like winning the lottery.
RELATED: As Caitlin Clark made history on the court, Iowa fans reveled in the thrill of a transcendent star
Instead of walking up to the ticket booth the day of the game, I was waking up at 8 a.m. sharp and dashing to the library for the best Wi-Fi connection. Single-game student tickets for the second half of the season dropped in one hour. Despite my preparation, I still ended up in an online waiting room, watching with dread as a loading screen determined my fate.
Thankfully, I still ended up with student tickets at $5 apiece and attended as many home games as possible. If I didn’t get to a game at least 30 minutes early, I’d be perched up in the nosebleeds of Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Making the tiring trek up and down stairs and between rows at the 15,000-plus seat stadium, Clark’s impact was evident in practically everyone I talked to.
There was 9-year-old Griffin Mance, whose birthday wish was to go to an Iowa women’s game. He and his mom made the hour-plus drive from Geneseo, Illinois, and watched Clark break the NCAA women’s scoring record against Michigan.
There was Alaina Holmes, a middle-school basketball player from Chelsea, Iowa, who told me how Clark’s demeanor on the court inspires confidence in herself.
There was my own roommate, who’d rather watch an episode of anime than any sporting event besides the Super Bowl. But Clark was mandatory viewing to him. Meanwhile, I couldn’t even pay him to go to a Hawkeye men’s hoops game.
And Clark’s influence goes far beyond Iowa City. Over Iowa’s spring break, I attended a Chicago White Sox game on the south side. While sitting in the left field bleachers, I noticed a man in front of me donning earbuds and barely watching the late inning of a tie ballgame.
Instead, his eyes were transfixed on the Hawkeyes’ Sweet 16 matchup against Colorado. After Clark drilled a shot from long-range, he let out a long, slow whistle, shaking his head in disbelief.
But perhaps the most memorable sight was all the male fans, young and old, donning Clark’s jersey. I got a jersey of my own, and admittedly, it felt odd at first. But when I talked with 76-year-old Margaret Cretzmeyer, whose father coached track at Iowa, it became crystal-clear what was unfolding 52 years after the creation of Title IX.
“It means there’s an acceptance for women who excel in sports, just like there is for men who excel at sports.”
RELATED: 36 of Caitlin Clark’s 40 games as a WNBA rookie will be nationally televised
But for all Clark’s admirers, there will still be some detractors. People will say she’s too emotional or too combative with officials. They will point to LSU guard Pete Maravich and declare him the scoring champ because he played for only three years without a three-point line. Yet the criticism makes Clark’s accomplishments all the more impressive.
“She is so unbothered by the haters and she stays in her lane,” Ostby said. “I think when you see a confident young woman, for some reason, a lot of people’s tendency is to try to chip away at that. I’m sure it’s a very concerted effort on her part because she’s human … It doesn’t affect her and that is so rare.”
Carver-Hawkeye Arena and Iowa City will lose Clark next season – She’ll be off to the pros as the consensus No. 1 overall pick. Fans will likely follow her to the next level, but plenty will stay connected to the college game she transcended.
I asked my roommate if he would be getting tickets for games next year. He simply scoffed – it wasn’t even a question.
“I’m a full convert,” he said with a smile.
About the Author
Matt McGowan is a sophomore at the University of Iowa and has been on the staff of The Daily Iowan, the university’s student newspaper, since his freshman year. With The Daily Iowan, Matt has covered women’s tennis, men’s wrestling, and other sports. He has been on the football beat since the spring of 2022 and is the editor of The Daily Iowan’s Pregame edition, a weekly print solely devoted to football. Check out one of his favorite stories, a profile on Iowa center Logan Jones.
