Having rewritten the collegiate document guide over 4 seasons at Iowa, Caitlin Clark introduced Thursday that she is coming into the upcoming WNBA Draft and forgoing the chance to return to the Hawkeyes for a fifth yr.
Clark’s choice, which comes simply days earlier than Iowa’s closing regular-season house sport Sunday in opposition to No. 2 Ohio State, had been looming over each the faculty {and professional} video games in current weeks as she set each the ladies’s NCAA Division I and main faculty girls’s basketball scoring information.
“This season is way from over and we’ve got much more targets to realize,” she stated 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 document 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 event championships and their first Last 4 berth since 1993. Her group misplaced to Louisiana State within the NCAA closing final season.
“It’s unimaginable to completely categorical 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 employees who all the time let me be me,” Clark stated. “Hawkeye followers who crammed Carver each evening; and everybody who got here out to assist us throughout the nation, particularly the younger children.
— Caitlin Clark (@CaitlinClark22) February 29, 2024
“Most significantly, none of this may have been doable with out my household and pals who’ve been by my aspect by way of all of it. Due to all of you, my goals got here true.”
Past any counting stats, Clark’s affect could 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 area attendance information for ladies’s basketball — the exceptions have been Iowa’s impartial website video games at a Thanksgiving event. Earlier than Thursday’s announcement, the typical value of admission for Iowa’s house finale in opposition to the Buckeyes was already stated to be greater than $555, in response to TickPick, making it the costliest girls’s basketball sport ever. That worth ought to solely enhance following information of her choice. Clark’s presence additionally has introduced document tv rankings, as she and Iowa have participated within the most-watched girls’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 yr like that is my final yr.” She stated she would decide about whether or not to remain in Iowa Metropolis or flip professional based mostly on her intestine. Holding an extra yr of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic she vowed to not let the selection to remain or go weigh on her. She bolstered that on Thursday, whereas nonetheless saying she was excited for what was to return. Clark at the moment leads the nation in factors (32.2) and assists (8.7) per sport, and is favored to take house Participant of the Yr 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 yr, common supervisor Lin Dunn acknowledged that quite a few potential draftees holding the choice to return to high school left “slightly little bit of query of who we’d be capable of get.” However Dunn stated 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 stated.
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 Yr final summer time. “I believe simply how versatile she is,” Boston informed The Athletic earlier this season about what makes Clark particular. “Simply her imaginative and prescient on the courtroom. I believe that’s tremendous vital, and I believe she simply does an excellent job with that at Iowa.”
Indiana, which has gained simply 18 video games mixed up to now two seasons, is seeking to make its first postseason look since 2016 and to snap the longest lively playoff drought within the league. Within the speedy aftermath of Clark’s choice, the group’s social media accounts despatched out a submit reminding followers that season tickets have been accessible, urging them to “hop on board.” Fever guard Erica Wheeler stated in a submit on X, previously Twitter, that she was already fielding requests from family and friends, in addition to some folks 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 together with her from Iowa to Indiana. The WNBA stands to learn from her presence as nicely. In its twenty seventh season final summer time, the league reached over 36 million whole viewers throughout all nationwide networks, up 27 % from 2022 and its highest mark since 2008. The league’s All-Star Recreation 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 probably solely speed up that development and the curiosity surrounding the game.
“It’s nice for ladies’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 informed 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 Pictures)
