Dick Weiss on College Basketball
PHILADELPHIA–I’m trying to figure out where to put Caitlin Clark in the pantheon of the greatest women’s college players of all time.
I’m still partial to Cheryl Miller, who led USC to two national championships in 1982 and 1983 and made America a major player on the global stage and 6-4 Breanna Stewart who won four consecutive Most Outstanding Player awards for UConn, when the Huskies won four consecutive titles from 2013 through 2016.
But no one has ever moved the needle in terms of popularity of the women’s game like Iowa’s 6-0 senior All-America guard.
Caitlin Clark has become must-see TV and her presence alone has insured sellout crowds everywhere he plays. She is the face of the sport and the best
known player in men’s or women’s basketball. ESPN, which has the Final Four, should send her roses for insuring record viewership.
Clark is the best pure long-range shooter I’ve watched in all my years of following the women’s sport from its infancy.
A female version of Steph Curry.
Clark has already set all the NCAA career scoring record.
And she is leaving a legacy that will never be eclipsed.
Clark was a stone-cold baller last night against defending national champion LSU, scoring 41 points, contributing 12 assists and adding five rebounds as
the Hawkeyes defeated the SEC Tigers, 94-87, in an Elite Eight game that featured two high scoring teams that should deserved to go to the Final Four if the selection.
committee had put them in different regions.
Clark was the dominant force on the court with her nine threes and his slick, up the court passes that haven’t been seen since Sue Bird played for Connecticut in the early 2000s.Knowing Clark’s ultra-competitive personality, it would be easy to characterize this game as revenge for last season’s loss to the Tigers in the national
title game. Clark had 30 points in that game. but she was outplayed by Reese, who went viral at the end of the game when she flashed her ring finger at Clark.
But Clark refused to go down that path in post-game.
“We focus on Iowa. We do what Iowa does, and we’ll come out on top,” Clark said. “It’s not about last year. You worry too much about the past, you’re going to get caught up with in that. It’s about being present, being where your feet are.”
Clark’s feet were planted firmly on the ground against LSU. This is a player who doesn’t feel pressure. She may have had a few moments this season where she did not react well when things went unexpectedly sideways, but she always feels every shot she takes will go in, even the ones from 35 feet.
And she made certain she controlled the outcome. Clark scored or assists on all but seven of Iowa’s 32 field goals. And her body check of archrival Angel Reese under the basket in the second quarter sent LSU’S 6-3 All-America center stumbling off the court and into a camera man. Reese rolled her ankle, the same one she
injured in the SEC tournament, and despite returning to the game shortly after, she nor LSU were ever the same. Reese played through the pain and finished with 17 points and 20 rebounds.
But the spotlight belonged to Clark.
“She’s just a generational player and she just makes everybody around her better,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “That’s what the great ones do.”
Mulkey and Clark had a moment in the handshake line. “I told her, ‘I’m sure glad you’re leaving.’ I said, ‘Girl you something else. Never
seen anything like it.”’
Iowa will play perennial national power UConn Friday in what will be a repeat of a Sweet 16 game four years ago, which was filled as a battle of two freshmen.
phenoms, Clark and Page Bueckers, the 2021 national Player of the Year. UConn won easily, 92-72. “We were a young team,” Clark said. “We had no
experience.”
They do now. This will be. another chance to erase a devastating memory. UConn coach Geno Auriemma has already planted the seed
for the matchup this week when he called Bueckers “the best player in women’s college basketball.”
Be careful what you ask for. Clark and her teammates are playing at a high level. And even though UConn advanced to a 23rd Final Four by defeating top seeded Southern California in a Region final, the Huskies have limited depth, playing with Bueckers and four other players, since five of Auriemma’s players are out with season ending injuries.
And Clark is playing with the type of intensity and focus of legends.
