Having rewritten the collegiate file ebook over 4 seasons at Iowa, Caitlin Clark introduced Thursday that she is getting into the upcoming WNBA Draft and forgoing the chance to return to the Hawkeyes for a fifth 12 months.
Clark’s determination, which comes simply days earlier than Iowa’s remaining regular-season residence sport Sunday in opposition to No. 2 Ohio State, had been looming over each the faculty {and professional} video games in latest weeks as she set each the ladies’s NCAA Division I and main school ladies’s basketball scoring information.
“This season is much from over and now we have much more objectives to realize,” she mentioned Thursday in a social media announcement. But Clark has cleared the way in which to grow to be the No. 1 decide within the April draft for the Indiana Fever. Her skilled debut is poised to be among the many most anticipated in WNBA historical past.
From her first sport with the Hawkeyes in 2020, Clark’s affect has been obvious. She scored 27 factors in 26 minutes in her collegiate debut, flashing the offensive brilliance that has grow to be commonplace by way of her profession in Iowa Metropolis. She recorded the lone 40-point triple-double in NCAA Match historical past and is the one participant within the NCAA period to file 3,000 factors, 750 rebounds and 750 assists. She has set program information for single-game scoring (49) and profession factors, having scored 3,650 factors, whereas main the Hawkeyes to 2 convention match championships and their first Ultimate 4 berth since 1993. Her workforce misplaced to Louisiana State within the NCAA remaining final season.
“It’s not possible to totally specific my gratitude to everybody who has supported me throughout my time at Iowa — my teammates, who made the final 4 years the very best; my coaches, trainers and workers who at all times let me be me,” Clark mentioned. “Hawkeye followers who crammed Carver each night time; and everybody who got here out to help us throughout the nation, particularly the younger youngsters.
— Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) February 29, 2024
“Most significantly, none of this could have been attainable with out my household and buddies who’ve been by my facet by way of all of it. Due to all of you, my desires got here true.”
Past any counting stats, Clark’s affect may be seen and felt within the frenzy surrounding each sport she performs. Of the Hawkeyes’ 32 regular-season contests this season, 30 both bought out or set enviornment attendance information for girls’s basketball — the exceptions have been Iowa’s impartial web site video games at a Thanksgiving match. Earlier than Thursday’s announcement, the typical worth of admission for Iowa’s residence finale in opposition to the Buckeyes was already mentioned to be greater than $555, in keeping with TickPick, making it the costliest ladies’s basketball sport ever. That worth ought to solely enhance following information of her determination. Clark’s presence additionally has introduced file tv scores, as she and Iowa have participated within the most-watched ladies’s basketball sport ever on six totally different networks.
The 6-foot guard started her senior season saying she was going to “deal with this 12 months like that is my final 12 months.” She mentioned she would decide about whether or not to remain in Iowa Metropolis or flip professional primarily based on her intestine. Holding an extra 12 months of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic she vowed to not let the selection to remain or go weigh on her. She strengthened that on Thursday, whereas nonetheless saying she was excited for what was to return. Clark at present leads the nation in factors (32.2) and assists (8.7) per sport, and is favored to take residence Participant of the 12 months honors for the second consecutive season.
In mid-December, when the Fever realized that they’d maintain the No. 1 decide for the second consecutive 12 months, normal supervisor Lin Dunn acknowledged that quite a few potential draftees holding the choice to return to high school left “a little bit little bit of query of who we would have the ability to get.” However Dunn mentioned she would urge all gamers who can enter the WNBA to enter the W. “I’m prepared for them to return out, come on into the professionals, transfer on with their lives, let anyone else play. I’m encouraging all of them to return on out,” Dunn mentioned.
No. 1 ⏳
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) February 29, 2024
Dunn, and people on the Fever, are little doubt euphoric on the alternative to fit Clark onto their roster alongside 2023 No. 1 decide Aliyah Boston, who was the league’s unanimous Rookie of the 12 months final summer time. “I feel simply how versatile she is,” Boston advised The Athletic earlier this season about what makes Clark particular. “Simply her imaginative and prescient on the court docket. I feel that’s tremendous essential, and I feel she simply does an awesome job with that at Iowa.”
Indiana, which has received simply 18 video games mixed prior to now two seasons, is trying to make its first postseason look since 2016 and to snap the longest lively playoff drought within the league. Within the fast aftermath of Clark’s determination, the workforce’s social media accounts despatched out a put up reminding followers that season tickets have been out there, urging them to “hop on board.” Fever guard Erica Wheeler mentioned in a put up on X, previously Twitter, that she was already fielding requests from family and friends, in addition to some individuals she had not heard from in a very long time who wished tickets. “I can’t assist them,” she said.
Clark has already partnered with main manufacturers like Gatorade, Nike and State Farm, and her nationwide platform will journey along with her from Iowa to Indiana. The WNBA stands to learn from her presence as effectively. In its twenty seventh season final summer time, the league reached over 36 million complete viewers throughout all nationwide networks, up 27 p.c from 2022 and its highest mark since 2008. The league’s All-Star Sport was the most-watched in 16 years, and the 2023 WNBA Finals, that includes the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty, was the most-watched in 20 years. Clark’s arrival, which can formally come on Monday, April 15, when the draft takes place in Brooklyn, will possible solely speed up that pattern and the curiosity surrounding the game.
“It’s nice for girls’s basketball. It’s going to be nice for the WNBA when she is available in. Her sport goes to translate,” Becky Hammon, a Naismith Basketball Corridor of Famer and the coach of the two-time defending champion Aces advised The Athletic in mid-January. “She’s particular. She’s generational.”
The Athletic’s James Boyd contributed to this report.
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(Photograph: Andy Lyons / Getty Photos)